What open source and J.K. Rowling have in common Importance of storytelling in open source projects
Channel: FOSDEM
Date: 2018-03-10

by Justin W. Flory

At: FOSDEM 2017

One of the most well-known writers of literature, J.K. Rowling is a master ofstorytelling. What you might not have guessed is that open source and J.K.Rowling have something in common. The importance of storytelling in opensource projects is as important as some of Rowling's famous characters inHarry Potter. In this session, speaker Justin W. Flory introduces the role ofstorytelling in open source projects and how to uncover that narrative. Therea variety of tools and methods that can be used to help tell the story ofproject, particularly with data analysis. By the end audience members willunderstand the role of crafting the story of their open source project and howit motivates the community, what methods are available for writing this story,and what the outcome of focusing on storytelling results in.

J.K. Rowling has an ability to see a story and bring it to life throughpowerful methods of storytelling. But what you might not have guessed is thatopen source and J,K. Rowling both have something in common. The importance ofstorytelling in open source projects and communities is as important as someof Rowling's famous characters in Harry Potter. Finding ways to derive thestory of a project community from lines of code, commit messages, and IRCconversations is a challenging but worthwhile task.

In this session, speaker Justin W. Flory introduces the role of storytellingin open source projects and how to best uncover that narrative. There are avariety of tools available to project communities to help them extract data toperform an analysis and mix of methods you can use regardless of what data youhave available. Justin pulls from his experience as one of the foundingmembers of the Fedora Community Operations team, working with team memberswith backgrounds in writing and data analysis, and the editor-in-chief of theFedora Magazine.

By the end of the session, audience members will understand the role ofcrafting the story of their open source project and how it motivates thecommunity, what methods are available for writing this story, and what theoutcome of focusing on storytelling results in.


Room: K.1.105 (La Fontaine)
Scheduled start: 2017-02-05 11:00:00