COMMUNITY FTW What makes a good community? lynn root @roguelynn Thursday, December 6, 12 

Ruby folks? Thursday, December 6, 12 I’m assuming not many ruby people in here. 

Python folks? Thursday, December 6, 12 Yay, friends! 

appreciate attitude best blog change code conferences culture development different documentation done environment form github group hard https incredibly job language learn level libraries local popular love ninja open people post projects public sexism source talk testing tools tutorials welcoming whole women work years personalities diversity WHICH LANGUAGE? Thursday, December 6, 12 I solicited both communities about what comes to mind re: their respective communities. Can you guess which community is this? 

Code wars? Thursday, December 6, 12 Of course there’s going to be folks bitching about one language over the other. Alex Gaynor does a great job of that. But folks choose Haskell for the intellectual challange; Java is forced upon many. It can simply come down to either the right tool for the job, or personal preference. (Unfortunately) I’ll be learning Ruby as part of my job, but made it clear to my manager that Python will always have my heart. 

Who the f&ck cares? Let’s just make it better. Thursday, December 6, 12 

“The importance of community is not in the crusade, but in how you unify people to march forward together, side by side.” -Jono Bacon, The Art of Community Thursday, December 6, 12 I just love this quote. 

About me. Thursday, December 6, 12 

Shadow Man Engineer. PyLadies SF Founder. Econ nerd. Thursday, December 6, 12 I come from a math/finance/econ background, but never loved anything more than learning how to code. {{ Story time -> path to engineer }} I created my own community of learning how to code within the past year, and, if I may toot my own horn, has grown to a pretty awesome community. 

Community-driven ethos. Thursday, December 6, 12 There’s this term called community-driven ethos. It’s basically people getting together because they all share the same interests. I started my community because I wanted to learn, and learn with others. For some reason, folks kept returning, so I must have been doing something right. 

Hey, you’re a nerd. Me too. Let’s hang out. kthxbai. Thursday, December 6, 12 It essentially breaks down to this: we’re nerds, we like the same stuff, we make language jokes, share hatred of testing, etc. An aside: I was told once that I can’t be a nerd or a geek or whatever because I socialize. Well, fuck. 

a.k.a. a sense of belonging. Thursday, December 6, 12 It just boils down to having a sense of belonging. We were all awkward, ansty teenagers, trying to fit in or understand social dynamics. Some of us, myself included, are still trying to understand social dynamics. But that urge to belong somewhere still lies within us. We can harp on that to create our respective communities bigger, stronger, and more cohesive. 

What I do. Thursday, December 6, 12 Run PyLadies. - Goal: increase women’s involvement w/i Python - hack nights - Essentially, when PyLadies hosts an event, we’re all there for the same reason. To hack. Whether we’re beginners, or learning a second programming language, or old pros, we’re all just being geeky together. - speak about getting women involved - workshops - always available - create a safe space - PyLadies CoC - women +1 (of either gender) hack nights - men have come up to me many times saying they appreciate the PyLadies hack nights more than general hack nights (more social, friendly, focused, and helpful) - women-only workshops (lower the confidence issues) - help women get to where they want to go - new skills - financial aid programs - building connections & relationships - lot of cross-bonding w/i the group: bioinformatics, mathematics, professional transitioning - smaller groups breaking off to meet up and learn/hack together - jobs filled Socialize. - I enjoy the hallway track a little bit too much at conferences - Meet developers of interesting projects - Meet others who run into the same problems/share advice - Encourage others to: - Attend conferences - Speak at conferences/meetups - Contribute to OSS 

What you can do. Thursday, December 6, 12 Build up your community, big or small: - Diversity outreach - The Python Software Foundation has a keen interest in increasing diversity - helps out with funds for PyLadies; has taken control of PyLadies scholarship funding (to help with tax-free donations, etc) - Always seeks out new areas to improve diversity - Helps out with smaller community, like sponsoring small conferences (e.g. Phillipines) - Reaches out to groups like BlackGirlsCode - Supports the Ada initiative - RailsBridge & RailsGirls hosting intro workshops; builds up your language community - Encourage your coworkers, friends, colleagues, community members to speak and get involved - Meetup.com is quite popular in the US - perhaps it could be effective for this local community - Mentor those that are just entering into the industry - Invite everyone to contribute to open source - A great way to get new folks involved is to help with documentation / tutorial writing/improvement. - PyLadiesSF had a sprint w/ the local Django community to improve the tutorial for easy understanding - Consider adapting or asking for a Code of Conduct for a conference, community, event, etc - PyCon CoC - Plone community CoC - PyLadies & DSF CoC in dev - Important: Many folks ask “why is a CoC needed?” - Part of the problem if don’t understand importance; and it’s obviously not for you. - Important because: - negates the excuse “I didn’t know” - offense is in the ear of the listener - goal is make sure everyone has a good experience, to feel safe in the community - Harassment or jokes in poor taste, while if not meant in ill-will, will be heard not only by the person at the harassment/jokes’ expense, but is heard by others. If someone else overhears/sees something said in poor taste, he/she may effectively think it is okay to say or do those things, and it spreads. “Oh this dude just made a ‘make me a sandwich/get in the kitchen’ joke; he’s like me in thinking women belong in the kitchen” and harassment will propagate. 

Diversity outreach. Involvement. Mentor. Invite/Encourage. Safe Space. Thursday, December 6, 12 Build up your community, big or small: - Diversity outreach - The Python Software Foundation has a keen interest in increasing diversity - helps out with funds for PyLadies; has taken control of PyLadies scholarship funding (to help with tax-free donations, etc) - Always seeks out new areas to improve diversity - Helps out with smaller community, like sponsoring small conferences (e.g. Phillipines) - Reaches out to groups like BlackGirlsCode - Supports the Ada initiative - RailsBridge & RailsGirls hosting intro workshops; builds up your language community - Encourage your coworkers, friends, colleagues, community members to speak and get involved - Meetup.com is quite popular in the US - perhaps it could be effective for this local community - Mentor those that are just entering into the industry - Invite everyone to contribute to open source - A great way to get new folks involved is to help with documentation / tutorial writing/improvement. - PyLadiesSF had a sprint w/ the local Django community to improve the tutorial for easy understanding - Consider adapting or asking for a Code of Conduct for a conference, community, event, etc - PyCon CoC - Plone community CoC - PyLadies & DSF CoC in dev - Important: Many folks ask “why is a CoC needed?” - Part of the problem if don’t understand importance; and it’s obviously not for you. - Important because: - negates the excuse “I didn’t know” - offense is in the ear of the listener - goal is make sure everyone has a good experience, to feel safe in the community - Harassment or jokes in poor taste, while if not meant in ill-will, will be heard not only by the person at the harassment/jokes’ expense, but is heard by others. If someone else overhears/sees something said in poor taste, he/she may effectively think it is okay to say or do those things, and it spreads. “Oh this dude just made a ‘make me a sandwich/get in the kitchen’ joke; he’s like me in thinking women belong in the kitchen” and harassment will propagate. 

Community is not a yes or no type of question. It’s a “how?” Thursday, December 6, 12 Creating a strong sense of community isn’t a yes/no type of question. It’s a how - and requires action, outreach, and genuine interest in elevating the level of community-driven ethos w/i Ruby & Python. 

fin. @roguelynn Thursday, December 6, 12