rOpenSci

Stefanie Butland

Steffi LaZerte

Many people in our community actively contribute to rOpenSci projects.
Many others would like to contribute but aren't sure how to go about
it.Wanting to get involved in rOpenSci or "give back to open source"
means different things to different people.Ideally, a person should be
able to find a way to contribute that meets their needs and fits our
mission.We created the [rOpenSci Community Contributing
Guide](https://contributing.ropensci.org/)^[1](#fn:1){.footnote-ref
role="doc-noteref"}^ to make finding paths to contributing more
transparent and sustainable.

<figure class="center">
<img src="contrib_guide_cover_sm.png" width="350"
alt="Contributing Guide book cover. Cartoon of six hypothetical rOpenSci community members" />
<figcaption><p>Cover illustration by <a
href="https://www.lydiakahill.com/">Lydia Hill</a></p></figcaption>
</figure>

We welcome contributors from a continuum of experience: from those who
consider themselves newcomers exploring the landscape and trying to see
where they fit, all the way to more experienced folks who know exactly
what they have to offer. We welcome code and non-code contributions from
people at any career stage, and in any sector.

> . . . users pursuing their own "selfish" interests build collective
> value as an automatic byproduct. (Tim O'Reilly on The Architecture of
> Participation^[2](#fn:2){.footnote-ref role="doc-noteref"}^)

Maybe you want to spend **30 minutes** sharing your package use case in
our public forum or reporting a bug, **1 hour** learning by attending a
Community Call, **5 hours** reviewing an R package submitted for open
peer review, or maybe you want to make an **ongoing commitment** to help
maintain a package. Our guide will walk you through the many avenues
available.

## Overview

The guide has three chapters.

1.  [rOpenSci & Our
    Community](https://contributing.ropensci.org/intro.html) shares our
    mission, what it means to be part of our community, and introduces
    you to some Humans of rOpenSci.

2.  [What brings you
    here?](https://contributing.ropensci.org/motivations.html) is framed
    around different motivations. To help you recognize yourself, we
    categorized what we think contributors want into:
    [Discover](https://contributing.ropensci.org/motivations.html#discover);
    [Connect](https://contributing.ropensci.org/motivations.html#connect);
    [Learn](https://contributing.ropensci.org/motivations.html#learn);
    [Build](https://contributing.ropensci.org/motivations.html#build);
    [Help](https://contributing.ropensci.org/motivations.html#help).
    Each has a set of "I want to" statements like "I want to discover
    packages I can use to facilitate my research and access open data".
    Clicking on any action under a statement takes you to Chapter 3 for
    a description of the relevant rOpenSci resource with details on how
    to contribute.

<figure class="center">
<img src="guide_build.png" width="600"
alt="screenshot of Chapter 2: Build" />
</figure>

3.  [rOpenSci
    Resources](https://contributing.ropensci.org/resources.html) brings
    pointers to all of our resources together in one place. Each has a
    brief description and "How to contribute" with a set of specific
    actions that link out to the primary resources needed.

<figure class="center">
<img src="guide_contribute.png" width="600"
alt="screenshot of Chapter 3: Dev Guide, How to contribute" />
</figure>

## A model for other communities?

In our dreams, the rOpenSci Community Contributing Guide can be a model
for other open source communities to enable more transparent and
sustainable participation.

We're always standing on the shoulders of giants, some of whom might not
think of themselves that way.The motivation, approach, design, tone, and
content of this guide was influenced by many who are cited in our
[bibliography](https://contributing.ropensci.org/bibliography.html).

## Thank you's

Thank you to [Julia Stewart Lowndes](/author/julia-stewart-lowndes/),
[Toby Hodges](https://github.com/tobyhodges) and the [rOpenSci
team](/about/#team) for their input. This work was supported in part by
a [NumFOCUS Small Development
Grant](https://numfocus.org/programs/sustainability) to rOpenSci.

::: {.footnotes role="doc-endnotes"}

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1.  ::: {#fn:1}
    Stefanie Butland, & Steffi LaZerte. (2020). rOpenSci Community
    Contributing Guide (Version v0.1.0). Zenodo.
    <http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4000532>; [Source available on
    GitHub](https://github.com/ropensci-org/contributing-guidance) [↩︎](#fnref:1){.footnote-backref
    role="doc-backlink"}
    :::

2.  ::: {#fn:2}
    Tim O'Reilly (2004). Open Source Paradigm Shift.
    <https://www.oreilly.com/pub/a/tim/articles/paradigmshift_0504.html> [↩︎](#fnref:2){.footnote-backref
    role="doc-backlink"}
    :::
:::


Many people in our community actively contribute to rOpenSci projects.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

Introducing the rOpenSci Community Contributing Guide