Join the Community: Open Source is Nothing Without You

During the American Library Association meeting in Chicago in 2013 I gave an "ignite" talk on open source software in libraries. (The "ignite talk" format, if you're not familiar, is one in which "each speaker is allocated five minutes of presentation time and is accompanied by 20 presentation slides. During presentations, each slide is displayed for 15 seconds and then automatically advanced." ((Definition from Wikipedia.)) ) The talk was geared to inspiring community involvement and commitment in open source projects. The abstract:

The open source method for developing software works best when everyone contributes a little bit to the process. Do you benefit from open source? Do you wish the open source you use was a little better? Don’t know why the community nature of open source is important? Hear what you can do to make the world a better place by nudging your favorite open source project along a path to perfection.

The slides synchronized to audio are embedded below and are on Slideshare.

Image Credits

Attributed photographs from Flickr and Wikimedia Commons; used under Creative Commons derivatives-okay licenses.

• Community by niallkennedy
• Netscape Navigator 1.1 Diskette by Robert Occhialini
• Symbol of Faculty of Philosophy SPbGU courtesy of Wikimedia
• Foot-in-Mouth by Jason Trommetter
• Freedom of Thought Ben Franklin courtesy of Wikimedia
• stacks of money by tristam sparks
• Mobius strip by Ttog
• Raise your hand if you're a geek! Keep them up if you don't care! by colorblindPICASO
• CALL by Leo Reynolds
• Donations by Matthew Burpee
• Helping Hand by Michael Kalus
• Sort out these wires.. #thingsiwanttodothisweekend by whatleydude
• Stack of Howl Books by Cria-cow
• Engrish! by prettydaisies
• Blue Screen di Windows by Alessandro Demetrio
• Talking and Listening by MTSOfan
• No pictures! by Rick Hobson
• Code on the Wall by Nat Welch
• Open here by Nick Sherman