Week 11 Blog 💻

🧠 Thoughts on Code.gov:

Are there tasks or issues that interest you?

As I as looking through the open tasks on the Code.gov website, I noted that there are filters that facilitate the process of searching through and choosing issues. Being able to filter between the skill level, time required, and the type of issue makes it easier to find tickets that interest me and are well-suited for me. I used these filters to see how many tickets were available when I tailored my preferences, but I was intrigued by the various tasks that were open so I decided to look through them all.

There are numerous tasks/issues that I found that interested me, including:

• Design a Code.mil Logo
• Add Documentation on How to Do Good OSS Documentation
• Document Site Code vs. Style Code
• Have a User-Friendly Project Inventory
• Reduce Image Sizes
• Footer Email Reference

These tickets are ones that either caught my attention (despite the filters) or matched my filters of being suitable for an individual at a beginner skill level and requiring a small amount of time to work on it.

Are there ways to contribute?

There are ways to contribute! I noticed that as I clicked the title of each open task that I was intrigued by, it led me directly to the open issue in a Github repository. For different tasks, there are different repositories. The common ones that I found include: GSA/code-gov-style, Code-dot-mil/code.mil, and GSA/code-gov-front-end. When delving into each repository, I found that each one either has a CONTRIBUTING.md or has a link to a website that discusses how to make contributions. When exploring each ticket, I noticed that almost every issue I was interested in had detailed work plans/information expanding on it, as well as numerous detailed labels, which would help individuals find these tickets and resolve them.

However, I also saw that for almost every ticket it was at least a year old and most of them had individuals whom were already in the process of resolving it. Although almost every ticket had lively, helpful conversations between contributors, I was hoping that the community would be more involved on a daily basis in order to make progress on the tasks. As I looked through the tickets, along with the repositories that contained them, I felt that there were ways to contribute and Code.gov attempts to make this process as simple as possible for individuals. However, I believe that the community should be more involved in order to keep the project lively and make progress on it!

How do you feel about the government’s initiative?

I feel that the government’s initiative is extremely intriguing! I believe that it is beneficial for the government to be tied into open source because this will lead to progression on issues and engagement from contributors. I especially feel that the government allowing for individuals to help out through Open Source will create a strong connection between the government and the community. However, although I do believe that the government’s initiative has the ability to be effective, it will unfortunately not make progress if it does not attempt to create a more engaging, active community. It is extremely discouraging to contributors to notice that issues remain open for long periods of time and pull requests are not accepted quickly. Despite this, I believe that the government’s initiative could gain traction if the community was willing to devote more time to it. Furthermore, I believe that the government trying to tie themselves into the Open Source community is a good start and shows that they believe that being involved in the Open Source world will be beneficial.

🏥 Thoughts on the COVID-19 Open Source Project on Github:

Does this seem like a project to which you might be able to contribute?

After looking through the 2019 Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Data Repository by Johns Hopkins CSSE, I believe it is a project I would be able to contribute to! Since COVID-19 is a pandemic (affecting all countries, and people, globally), there are new statistics to be accounted for every day, whether these numbers are going up, down, or remaining the same. By having all of this data recorded in this Open-Source project, it allows for the community to get involved and relay accurate, well-researched information. This Open-Source project also keeps the Coronavirus statistics in an organized, singular place, which then allows for individuals to keep up with the global statistics on a daily basis.

As I examined the project, I immediately noticed that the README.md contained links to the visual dashboard for both desktop and mobile. I also noticed that the respository linked an abundance of various links to data sources as well as an email to contact them if an individual needs to. When I navigated to the issues section, it was clear that there were many tickets I could work on considering there are over 1,000 issues and they all seem relatively easy to work on if the individual does an extensive amount of research to ensure the information is accurate. When searching through the issues, it was easy to determine which ones I would like to work with because there were clear labels. The labels included: "bug," "documentation," "good first issue," and many others. Therefore, I believe that this project is one in which I would be able to contribute.

Would you contribute if you had time?

I have contributed to this project and would definitely continue to contribute to this project in the future! I believe that it is simple to find issues and resolve them. There are over 1,000 issues and I believe it is helpful to the project and the community involved to continue resolving these issues and updating information as the days go on. I decided to resolve Issue #2233 since the user who opened this ticket seemed kind and explicitly stated what missing information needed to be added. They also linked a website containing the accurate data in order to guide the contributor towards what should be fixed. I opened a pull request for this issue and left a comment on the issue, notifying the user who opened the ticket that I had opened up a pull request. I am looking forward to getting my pull request merged and continuing to contribute to this project!

👩‍💻 Thoughts on the Visit by Vicky Brasseur:

Upon the virtual visit to our class by Vicky Brasseur, I felt extremely grateful and informed by her presentation and was elated that she was able to deliver an immense amount of helpful information within the hour and fifteen minute span that our class takes place. I specifically thought her ideas concerning meeting the needs of people who do not use FOSS and expanding on how we can meet those needs caught my attention. Throughout her presentation, I feel that Vicky Brasseur used simple diction and relatable examples in order to establish her point. By stating that focus should also be placed upon those individuals who are less technical and more so those we see in our daily lives. Emphasizing on Vicky Brasseur's theme of inclusivity, it is imperative that the experiences, needs, and skills of both users and contributors are accounted for. I believe that by including these individuals in to FOSS and addressing people's problems then solutions can be made which will be beneficial to all those involved.

Furthermore, I was intrigued by the real reason people use Slack instead of IRC. As someone who uses Slack currently for my internship, and has used Slack previously for my position as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant at Hunter, I was always curious as to why Slack was used as the preferred tool for messaging and channels. However, I agree with Vicky Brasseur’s view that users gravitate towards Slack because of the experience and environment. Through my extensive use of the Slack, I believe it is a simple, positive tool that allows me to view messages and channels effectively and I can understand why others would be drawn to this as well.

🔮 Progress on Gatsby Project:

As I have noted, I have chosen Issue #22794 to work on! Throughout this week, I have made progression on this ticket. I have began writing the documentation for the issue and plan on finishing up within the next few days in order to open up a pull request. I will continue to stay in touch with other contributors and consistently ask questions in order to assure that I am fulfilling the requirements of the issue. I am hoping to get a pull request merged within the next week! Then I will begin working on other issues that I have found on Gatsby.

📚 Research I Have Done This Week/Contributions:

As I have continued to research open source throughout this week, I wanted to do more through making further open source contributions, learning more about open source, and even expanding on what I have learned through class, research, and contributions. I have made a contribution to a project this week! This project includes: the 2019 Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 (2019-nCoV) Data Repository by Johns Hopkins CSSE! I am also looking into other projects, such as Vispy, Bokeh, and Magenta.
This past week, I had also stumbled upon a video that caught my attention called Hackers Find Missing People For Fun. As I watched, the narrator detailed a new project called “Trace Labs” in which hackers compete to find missing people. In the video, it is described as crowdsourced Open Source Intelligence for missing persons. As I navigated to the Trace Labs Website to learn more about this project, it is stated that the project is designed to facilitate the process of finding missing persons locations. Through this, they are “Collecting open source intelligence (OSINT) on missing persons and providing that to law enforcement. We do this through CTF events at conferences and daily OSINT operations.”

Although different from Open Source Software, I was extremely intrigued by the mention of Open Source throughout the video and even the comments section. I was curious to learn more about the relation between OSS and OSINT, if any, and the differences. I found myself with a heightened curiosity and interest in this project specifically because of the knowledge that I have obtained about Open Source Software throughout this class. I feel that it is very exciting that I am able to learn more about different branches of Open Source, interact with those whom have knowledge about Open Source in the comments, and also find a project that I may be interested in keeping up with solely through taking this class.

I have also continued working on an issue for Gatsby! I will continue to make contributions throughout this following week.