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I couldn't find anything about how non-coders can help out on OpenHatch. Am I missing something? It looks like they only want people who code: https://openhatch.org/search/

The OP implied that open source projects are looking for non-coders to do non-coding things, but I can't imagine what that would be, as 99% of OSS is the code, is it not? (Let's face it, Google searches of forums is a better way to find out how software works than documentation, which is often obtuse, patchy, or outdated). What use does OSS have for a psychology PhD student with skills in analytical thinking, statistics, and scientific computing (but no real coding experience)?

I'm with the other here who pointed out that, after spending 8-12 hours a day using a computer, I don't want to come home and sit down in front of a computer to work on a project for free, especially a project that might never make it. I want to chill out. Coding, for me, is the exact opposite of relaxing. I'd rather listen to music and close my eyes. That's relaxing.

Glad you you like our idea! Some of what we'll working on in the coming year is the fiddliness that (most) people are currently encountering during the installation process. We've also recently been doing some user testing, so we're looking forward to improving on that front as well. Of course, the federation is our top priority code-wise, but we've got people working on all levels.

Since it can be hard to see your own bugs, we're always happy to take feedback on the installation process, usability or look and feel if you want to chat with us via email or on IRC (#mediagoblin on freenode.net) And in true do-ocracy style, we welcome anyone who wants to come and "scratch their own itch" and add to MediaGoblin's functionality in a way that would make it more useful, exciting or appealing for themsleves.

This is good advice. I've gotten to know the guts of some massive core systems mostly by cleaning up code, making minor bug fixes, and adding a new feature (10 digit SSNs instead of nine).

Openhatch is a great place to get started....

OpenHatch is a non-profit dedicated to matching prospective free software contributors with communities, tools, and education.

http://openhatch.org/

Very useful for beginners.
http://openhatch.org/search/?q=&toughness=bitesize
http://openhatch.org/search/?q=&contribution_type=documentation&toughness=bitesize

OpenHatch is a non-profit dedicated to matching prospective free software contributors with communities, tools, and education.

http://openhatch.org/

Very useful for beginners.
http://openhatch.org/search/?q=&toughness=bitesize
http://openhatch.org/search/?q=&contribution_type=documentation&toughness=bitesize

OpenHatch is a non-profit dedicated to matching prospective free software contributors with communities, tools, and education.

http://openhatch.org/

Very useful for beginners.
http://openhatch.org/search/?q=&toughness=bitesize
http://openhatch.org/search/?q=&contribution_type=documentation&toughness=bitesize

It already exists: https://openhatch.org/

I registered a while back but haven't really bother to use it.

Right on, thanks! Looks like they also just officially released epub and mobi versions.

It's actually baked into the curriculum -- it's not missing. If you read the announcement website, you can see that it's really about teaching how to contribute, not just be a passive user.

We had 51 applicants for 20 slots. We expanded it to the 30 most enthusiastic people.

Hey all! I'm going to be working on organizing more, similar events going forward.

If you want to stay on top of that, or try to organize an event near you, join the mailing list for OpenHatch events: http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events

This is part of the OpenHatch project, an ongoing effort to help new contributors get involved in open source. If you want to stay in touch with OpenHatch, join us on #openhatch on irc.freenode.net or follow the links on our "About" page, http://openhatch.org/about/.

Hey all! I'm going to be working on organizing more, similar events going forward.

If you want to stay on top of that, or try to organize an event near you, join the mailing list for OpenHatch events: http://lists.openhatch.org/mailman/listinfo/events

This is part of the OpenHatch project, an ongoing effort to help new contributors get involved in open source. If you want to stay in touch with OpenHatch, join us on #openhatch on irc.freenode.net or follow the links on our "About" page, http://openhatch.org/about/.

https://openhatch.org/

http://code.google.com/soc/

If anyone is interested in elite type games but on planets then you might be interested in helping out on my project.

I have a list of bit sized bugs here: https://openhatch.org/+projects/Hardwar

...or you can just come by the forums and say hi. Even some encouragement would be good. http://forum.hardwar.org/

Two suggestions for you on that front.

• Use a tag to mark certain bugs as "good for newcomers." GNOME has been doing this for years, and a bunch of other projects do it, too. If you want you can get them included in the OpenHatch index.
• Make sure your web page says you want help! If you want to make this really easy, just add a big button for prospective helpers to click. One way to do that is to grab our big green button.

Two suggestions for you on that front.

• Use a tag to mark certain bugs as "good for newcomers." GNOME has been doing this for years, and a bunch of other projects do it, too. If you want you can get them included in the OpenHatch index.
• Make sure your web page says you want help! If you want to make this really easy, just add a big button for prospective helpers to click. One way to do that is to grab our big green button.

OpenHatch was mentioned previously, but I'll mention it again for completeness sake. I'm now getting a "500 Internal Server Error from it." (Slashdot effect). Also, there's a list of projects with mentors on the "Teaching Open Source" wiki. Furthermore, as people noted, most open source projects could use some help and you can approach those that interest you.

Finally, touting my own horn, I'd like to note that I'm willing to mentor people with their first steps in my own open source projects. Hack on!

OpenHatch, a website I help run, exists to help people find ways they can contribute to free and open source software.

(It was covered on Slashdot a few weeks ago.)

We have a few things that you might like:

• The volunteer opportunity finder, a listing of free software projects' "bitesized" buts, organized by project, language, or type of help wanted (e.g. writing documentation). We index thousands of bugs from hundreds of projects.
• The "I want to help!" button, a way to express interest in helping a project even if you don't know what to do. For an example, check out the people who want to help GNU social.
• Project pages like Gally's, where existing contributors have written about what kind of help they want.

If you want to work on a project which has contributors in your area (maybe you want to get together for a hackathon, or to ask questions about how something in the code works), check out the ubiquitous People Map. You can see everyone on the site or browse by project or skill.

OpenHatch is itself free software, and we have a small and growing volunteer contributor base. (-:

Let us know what you do or don't like!

OpenHatch, a website I help run, exists to help people find ways they can contribute to free and open source software.

(It was covered on Slashdot a few weeks ago.)

We have a few things that you might like:

• The volunteer opportunity finder, a listing of free software projects' "bitesized" buts, organized by project, language, or type of help wanted (e.g. writing documentation). We index thousands of bugs from hundreds of projects.
• The "I want to help!" button, a way to express interest in helping a project even if you don't know what to do. For an example, check out the people who want to help GNU social.
• Project pages like Gally's, where existing contributors have written about what kind of help they want.

If you want to work on a project which has contributors in your area (maybe you want to get together for a hackathon, or to ask questions about how something in the code works), check out the ubiquitous People Map. You can see everyone on the site or browse by project or skill.

OpenHatch is itself free software, and we have a small and growing volunteer contributor base. (-:

Let us know what you do or don't like!

OpenHatch, a website I help run, exists to help people find ways they can contribute to free and open source software.

(It was covered on Slashdot a few weeks ago.)

We have a few things that you might like:

• The volunteer opportunity finder, a listing of free software projects' "bitesized" buts, organized by project, language, or type of help wanted (e.g. writing documentation). We index thousands of bugs from hundreds of projects.
• The "I want to help!" button, a way to express interest in helping a project even if you don't know what to do. For an example, check out the people who want to help GNU social.
• Project pages like Gally's, where existing contributors have written about what kind of help they want.

If you want to work on a project which has contributors in your area (maybe you want to get together for a hackathon, or to ask questions about how something in the code works), check out the ubiquitous People Map. You can see everyone on the site or browse by project or skill.

OpenHatch is itself free software, and we have a small and growing volunteer contributor base. (-:

Let us know what you do or don't like!

OpenHatch, a website I help run, exists to help people find ways they can contribute to free and open source software.

(It was covered on Slashdot a few weeks ago.)

We have a few things that you might like:

• The volunteer opportunity finder, a listing of free software projects' "bitesized" buts, organized by project, language, or type of help wanted (e.g. writing documentation). We index thousands of bugs from hundreds of projects.
• The "I want to help!" button, a way to express interest in helping a project even if you don't know what to do. For an example, check out the people who want to help GNU social.
• Project pages like Gally's, where existing contributors have written about what kind of help they want.

If you want to work on a project which has contributors in your area (maybe you want to get together for a hackathon, or to ask questions about how something in the code works), check out the ubiquitous People Map. You can see everyone on the site or browse by project or skill.

OpenHatch is itself free software, and we have a small and growing volunteer contributor base. (-:

Let us know what you do or don't like!

OpenHatch, a website I help run, exists to help people find ways they can contribute to free and open source software.

(It was covered on Slashdot a few weeks ago.)

We have a few things that you might like:

• The volunteer opportunity finder, a listing of free software projects' "bitesized" buts, organized by project, language, or type of help wanted (e.g. writing documentation). We index thousands of bugs from hundreds of projects.
• The "I want to help!" button, a way to express interest in helping a project even if you don't know what to do. For an example, check out the people who want to help GNU social.
• Project pages like Gally's, where existing contributors have written about what kind of help they want.

If you want to work on a project which has contributors in your area (maybe you want to get together for a hackathon, or to ask questions about how something in the code works), check out the ubiquitous People Map. You can see everyone on the site or browse by project or skill.

OpenHatch is itself free software, and we have a small and growing volunteer contributor base. (-:

Let us know what you do or don't like!

Try OpenHatch, a website that catalogues bugs needing fixin' in loads of opensource projects.

We are contacting project leads. I'm reaching out to my friends and the projects they're working on, and blogging about this stuff on Planet Debian (since I'm a Developer on Debian).

http://openhatch.org/wiki/Bug_trackers is where we ask that project leads write about their bug trackers so we can import them into openhatch.org/search/. We're trying to find more projects that label bugs as "bitesize."

On project pages, we're hoping that the people who add projects to their profiles follow the link and leave a note. Maybe we could nudge people with a bigger message, asking them to do that?

The site indexes projects that poeple say they are contributing to. There isn't anything about the site itself that is excluding Java based projects. If there are Java projects that need help and are marking easy and doc bugs on their tracker, you can submit a request to have that tracker added here: https://openhatch.org/wiki/Bug_trackers.

This is why OpenHatch focuses on projects that have bitesize bugs.

There are projects that *want* new contributors, and they're marking tickets in their bug trackers as good for newcomers.

You can read more about that at https://openhatch.org/blog/2009/get-involved-in-foss/.

(It's 2am, and I'm going to sleep!)

Thanks for these comments. I agree with your general tone -- that it's great when hackers help people *unlike* themselves.

With regard to HTTP vs. HTTPS, you write that HTTPS adds "extra overhead." That's true in two ways -- TCP round-trips and CPU load. For CPU load, our server really can afford it. It's disk I/O that hurts us. As for the round-trips and their effect on latency, if the client does pipelining and stays on the site for a little while, that mostly goes away. So I think the worst thing HTTPS can do is drive away users who can't handle the extra round-trips for the first few page loads. That's a possible problem.

I don't want OpenHatch users' web traffic to be snoopable by their ISP or people using the same coffee-shop wifi connection. By keeping HTTPS on, I'm making life easier for those who value privacy. It's not as if it's really harder to use a HTTPS connection than HTTP one, so it's no burden (except the round-trips) on those who don't care about privacy. I'm heartened by big developer-oriented websites like Launchpad and Ohloh using HTTPS by default.

As for text-mode email clients, well, I use what I love. (-: I don't spend all that much time taking care of the Alpine source; mostly I fix Debian-related bugs for Debian/Ubuntu users who want to use it.

You can see from https://openhatch.org/people/paulproteus/ that I've hacked on projects with more visibility than that, like http://search.creativecommons.org/.

I try to keep OpenHatch responsive to user feedback. So do check out the site and send us email, or file a bug, or chat with us on #openhatch on irc.freenode.net!