community development
community-development

### Timeline Here's a brief history of community infrastructure (online & off), and some notable milestones. #### 2021 - April 19, 2021 [100th Weekly Code Community Check-In!](https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/issues/9526) - March: finetune subscription features like adding digests, and turning off email notifications for moderators - February: new "color by tag community" on [tags page](/tags) - January - February: Continue migrating testing infrastructure off Travis CI and onto Github Actions #### 2020 - Fall: Begin migrating testing infrastructure off TravisCI in advance of its closing date December 31, 2020 - Summertime migrations to Google Cloud by Sebastian begins saving us money - May: MapKnitter Cloud Exporter launches - January: end of 5+ years of in-kind donations of hosting from Rackspace - January: [@emash](/p/emash) joins the team as Full stack developer (through June 2020) - [@warren](/p/warren) changes role to Lead Code Coordinator #### 2019 - Internationalization of publiclab.org website - Now supports 11 languages - Finalized support / new UI for anonymous map creation in MapKnitter - 5+ years of major in-kind donation from Rackspace comes to an end - overall, 27 people paid in some capacity in the Coding Community - Home-made Disaster Kit card game by Emilio - [Blurred Location launches](/notes/warren/09-27-2019/blurred-location-and-variable-location-privacy)! - Switch to Google Search for Nonprofits - multi-person realtime editing in MapKnitter - Reply by Tweet! - Browser notifications added to the Public Lab website - July 1-3 First ever Teacher Training on community science in the classroom #education #GulfCoast - Tuesday June 26 - first Newcomers OpenCall starting 15 minutes before the main OpenCall publiclab.org/n/19731 - Tuesday June 4 - first "Code Open Call", the start of a new weekly video meeting dedicated to software contributors and mentors - Weekly check-ins among the software contributor community began rotating through other repos, not just plots2. ([issue 5034](https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/issues/5034)) - tags graph visualization prototyped by @bsugar in 2017 went live on /tags ([github](https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/issues/1502)) #### 2018 - RailsGirls improve Search - GDPR compliance - Emoji reactions added to website - first Crisis Convening held in Newark with community disaster responders from Houston, New Orleans, Miami, Puerto Rico, coastal NY and NJ - tag display on content moves up into the righthand sidebar - moved the lefthand sidebar to the right - @sagarpreet adds "map of maps" to mapknitter.org - completely refactored https://infragram.org/ based on https://publiclab.github.io/infragram/ - complete 3 year evaluation study, big update to /evaluation - first video trolling incident prompts improved moderation processes - security update reveals approximately ~40,000 real account holders on publiclab.org (out of more than a million total accounts) - Embedded a Trello boards into certain pages (/Barnraising, /evaluation), to make tasks more visible visible - Privacy-aware "add your location" feature on profile pages powers the map at the top of /people - @souravirus rewrites activity graphs to be interactive - improved /questions to have a tag search - Added tag search and sorting functions to /tags page - Removed sidebars on major pages like /questions, /tags ####2017 - added ability to display profile pictures for all Contributors to the "Community Toolbox" project, and created ours: https://publiclab.github.io/community-toolbox/ - last Annual Barnraising at LUMCON, shift to all "Regional Barnraisings" to focus on local issues ([note](/notes/stevie/05-17-2017/last-annual-barnraising-looking-to-the-future)) (november) - two of our Google groups (the main list, and later, that Barnraising list) were flagged as spam. Even though both were re-instated after less than a week, we realize that GoogleGroups is an unstaffed, declining platform and redouble our efforts to move entirely into website subscriptions - created community playlist on our YouTube channel, and enough people subscribed so that we could get custom URL youtube.com/publiclab (june) - Fourth Regional Barnraising: Appalachia, held in Morganton, West Virginia - first chatbot created to be a friendly, supportive voice in the chatroom (june) - connected IRC, Riot, Gitter, and the non-profit Slack Channel #irc so that everyone can chat in the same place - "first-timers-only" culture is re-iterated inside each Summer of Code project, students experience new contributors joining their projects - non-profit program staff adjustments: @bronwen joins as Open Hardware Community Manager (formerly Kits Manager), @gilbert joins as Advocacy Manager (new position). Margie joins as Director of Partnerships. Long term staff @mathew and @becki phase out. ####2016 * Benjamin Sugar created the [first tag cloud of all content on publiclab.org](/notes/liz/09-15-2016/first-draft-of-tag-graph) (september) * reached 10,000 contributors on spectralworkbench.org, 10,000 subscribers to the mailing lists * began use of [Gitter](https://gitter.im/publiclab/publiclab) chatroom (november) * gradually transitioned from organizers-only calls (starting in summer by changing one call per month to be open to the public; holding last call in September) towards OpenCalls (October 11) * standard template for first-timers-only issues & encouragement of others to post issues in that way [note](/notes/warren/10-31-2016/create-a-welcoming-first-timers-only-issue-to-invite-new-software-contributors) (october) * [Third Regional Barnraising](/wiki/barnraising-val-verde-ca): Los Angeles, held in Val Verde, California (july) * [Code of Conduct](/conduct) published (july) * [Webjack](https://publiclab.org/wiki/webjack) Project by Richard * New Search API introduced in publiclab.org website by Ujitha * Internationalization of publiclab.org website - Translation in German by Jitesh * "Streaks" https://publiclab.org/wiki/streak (june) * hashtagging implemented by [Ananyo](https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/issues/138) * dashboard 2.0 launched * modularization in codebases with implications for copyleft licensing * plan for user testing developed with @weatherpattern & @ann, and connected to org-wide evaluation "quantitative snapshot" * outreach to developers via public presentations & use of new github tags "help-wanted" "first-timers-only" yields new contributors * Moderation improvements April 2016: basic guidelines posted at [/moderation](http://publiclab.org/wiki/moderation), all first time posters now moderated, moderators group expanded to mailing lists and website * first "first-timers-only" issue created in Public Lab March 16, 2016: [329](https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/issues/329), followed by [309](https://github.com/publiclab/plots2/issues/309). First Timers Only culture came to us through SpinachCon2016, Gregor Martynus of [Hoodie](http://hood.ie), BostonJS, and Name Your Contributors project by Richard Littauer, see [note](/notes/warren/03-04-2016/bostonjs-talks-focused-on-welcoming-new-coding-contributors). * 4th top level language group created: China, via WeChat (january) ####2015 * Code of Conduct written for Annual Barnraising 2015 * by the end of 2015, there are 67 organizers from 11 countries * publiclaboratory list surpasses 4000 members * regional "umbrella" mailing list created for northwest; becomes the first regional list that is bigger than the list for the name-brand city (Vancounver) it encompasses * SpectralWorkbench 2.0, including a [Procedures System](/notes/Sreyanth/07-14-2015/stepwise-procedures-to-guide-users-through-testing) by [Sreyanth](http://publiclab.org/profile/Sreyanth) * Public Lab's 5th Anniversary (read about it in [GrassrootsMappingForum #7](/wiki/forum#Issue+#7+The+5+Year+Anniversary+Issue+(May+2015))) * [illustrated guide to joining the Public Lab community](/wiki/how-to-get-involved-with-public-lab-illustrated) by [Molly Danielsson](/wiki/www.mollydanielsson.com) * [Second Regional Barnraising](/wiki/2015-regional-barnraising): Midwest, held in Chicago, Illinois * first ever Organizers Survey. Key topics: decision-making among organizers, active/inactive status. * Organizers Welcome pack becomes a physical mailing, including printed Handbook and [Event Packs](http://store.publiclab.org/collections/publications/products/events-pack) (also new for 2015) * [Public Lab Fellows Program](/wiki/fellows) created in program areas Open Air, Open Land, Open Water * [MapKnitter2.0 launches](http://publiclab.org/notes/warren/02-13-2015/announcing-mapknitter-2-0) * [WhereWeBreathe](/wiki/indoor-air-quality-monitoring) project on indoor formaldehyde monitoring and mitigation * The [blog](/blog) is rebooted, reviving a type of narrative writing that had been somewhat lost since the shift from [grassrootsmapping.org](http://grassrootsmapping.org/) to publiclab.org * Early versions of "[Lending Library](/wiki/lending-library)" based out of Portland leverages the shipping experience of our kits program and our non-profit access to discount USPS Library Mail rates for moving more expensive tools or calibration equipment around the community. Existing chapter-based tool exchanges continue as usual. Two Open Hours dedicated to this topic. * the Public Lab non-profit organizes its programs into [initiative areas](/wiki/nonprofit-initiatives) -- Open Air, Open Water, Open Land and Civic Kits -- in order to enable cohesive community collaboration across hardware, software, expertise, and locale. * plots-nyc (also NJ!) becomes first local mailing list to top 200 members. ####2014 * by end of 2014, there are 62 organizers from 8 countries * PublicLabTV launched at Barnraising 2014 * [First Regional Barnraising](/wiki/barnraising-northeast-2014): Northeast, held in Plymouth, Massachusetts * organizers handbook (including undersigning of statements, and nomination of new organizers by sending one's own filled-in profile) * "New organizer welcome & orientation" email is standardized * Organizers Summit (event type piloted in June during regional barnraising, full event held in November at Annual Barnraising) * first federal grant * paper research notes, notepads * community cards: "welcome to Public Lab" messaging printed on brown cardstock * "Ask a Question / Answer a Question" tagging system [see all questions](http://publiclab.org/tag/question:*) * new, simplified front page on publiclab.org * ability to award a barnstar & have it displayed on awardee's profile page via dropdown menu on research notes * subscribe to tag (RSS) * http://publiclab.org/tags lists popular tags on the site * http://publiclab.org/stats shows a year of activity at a glance * select the language of a research note or wiki page with power tag * co-authorship of research notes via powertag * images supported in research note comments * in-line wiki editing * callouts on publiclab.org via @username send email notifications * [OpenHour](/wiki/openhour) / live call events is first community wide audio/visual channel * [barnstar brainstorming](http://publiclab.org/wiki/barnstar-brainstorm) * Event template and RSVP feature on research notes * international edition of Grassroots Mapping Forum features XXX countries/regions * chat room (IRC) integrated into all publiclab.org pages * regional "umbrella" mailing lists created for northeast, midwest * third top-level language specific list is created, Public Lab Portugues * plots-spectroscopy list reaches 1000 members, surpassing grassrootsmapping as the largest tool-specific list * publiclaboratory list reaches 3000 members ####2013 * ability to comment on research notes * ability to write one research note in response to another * ability to "like" research notes, and "follow" them to receive email updates * tabbed wiki pages * "toolshed raising" event type * lists created for software developers, education, and writing * [Mapknitter Club / Cartography Collective](http://publiclab.org/wiki/public-lab-cartography-collective) * [Start a chapter](http://publiclab.org/wiki/start-a-chapter) page created * [Guide to starting new projects](http://publiclab.org/wiki/new-projects) * PDF print stylesheets for wiki and research note pages * research note templates * Sign-up page integrated anti-spam questionnaire "Turing Test" * publiclab.org [launched](http://publiclab.org/notes/warren/04-18-2013/introducing-a-new-public-lab-website), replicating all publiclaboratory.org features + adding user dashboard, profile pages, and supporting international characters (UTF-8) * OpenID used across all sites to authenticate against one's PublicLab.org account * plots-infrared list launches, along with plots-airquality and plots-waterquality * publiclaboratory list reaches 1500 members * so #wintercamp happened * creation of github.com/publiclab community repo ####2012 * creation of [organizers](/wiki/organizers) group * creation of /lists overview page and tracking of [list growth](http://publiclab.org/wiki/mailing-lists#Graphs) * [barnstars](/notes/liz/4-13-2012/barnstars) created & [begins proliferating](/wiki/barnstars) * user dashboard when logged in on website * kit boxes include "Welcome to the community!" messaging * first sticker printed (CONFIRM THIS) * [illustrated guides translated into 10 new languages](http://publiclab.org/wiki/guides#Translations) * publiclaboratory list reaches 500 members, surpassing grassrootsmapping list ####2011 * barnraising event type * [Grassroots Mapping Forum](/forum) (print publication for offline data distribution) * publiclaboratory.org launches, pioneering the "research note" and creating the wiki knowledge base (January 2011) * publiclaboratory list * laboratoriopublico list (Spanish) ####2010 * BP Oil spill -- short story at the top of [this page](/wiki/stories) ####2009 * grassrootsmapping list (first posts in Spanish) * http://grassrootsmapping.org/...


Author Comment Last activity Moderation
liz "Report back: https://publiclab.org/notes/liz/12-19-2023/public-lab-open-source-meetup-in-nairobi " | Read more » 3 months ago
liz "Potential date for the event where community members and staff would work together to prioritize topics may be August 20, so we'll be designing the..." | Read more » over 3 years ago
liz "One more bit on this. The question being posed here is how would you (meaning anyone reading this :), prefer to have a conversation about which Top..." | Read more » over 3 years ago
PatanjaliAurved "Such a great information for me i am a provider of patanjali shops thanks. Click Here " | Read more » over 3 years ago
liz "Thank you so much for writing back Katie! Short answer is that Topics are curated "Research areas" that area relevant to environmental justice inqu..." | Read more » over 3 years ago
kgradow1 "What is the relationship between the Topics page and the Tags page? I'd be excited to see water, soil, air, and organizing prioritized as categori..." | Read more » over 3 years ago
liz "Great post! I'm wondering if anyone has noticed the 17 Topics that are now featured on this site's Navigation Bar and in the footer? If so, what do..." | Read more » over 3 years ago
zengirl2 " So far I'm also favoring a combo method. I think most people like the idea of small tasks they can work on since this is a volunteer community. Th..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
warren " I like the idea of an "update post" which kind of provides a working/coordination/discussion space while it's happening. This also leaves a nice t..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
stevie "@sashadev-sky I agree, some combination of the two could be best! I also really like the "regular schedule" idea. Maybe an active review on a mon..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
stevie " Hi @gauravano this is great! on 3: This is a really helpful idea. I hadn't thought of a place where people could carry on updates and conversatio..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
kazim1122 " This is an amazing and unique article.click here for more information " | Read more » almost 5 years ago
gauravano "Hi, great post @stevie! Here are some things which make check-ins successful: Announcing in chatroom after opening check-in -- Sometimes, the co..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
stevie " @organizers -- thoughts on this? " | Read more » almost 5 years ago
sashadev-sky " @warren @stevie This is definitely interesting to think about! With our check-in process, what has worked is: 1) Imposing a schedule (ex. sundays..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
warren "@sashadev-sky @gauravano @aashnaaashna (who posted this week's) -- what are some of the things that make our Check-In process work or not work, tha..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
warren " This is great, thanks for posting @stevie! I pinged in on the chatroom to hear from some of the folks who've been involved in facilitating the Wee..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
stevie " Here's a post with a couple ideas on how we could go about something like this: https://publiclab.org/notes/stevie/05-24-2019/idea-to-distribute-t..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
stevie " Agree! I think part of the process would include (or culminate in?) updating the wiki pages. " | Read more » almost 5 years ago
JSummers "How would this differ from wiki pages? Seems to me that the difficulty with wiki pages is keeping them up to date. That appears to be the problem ..." | Read more » almost 5 years ago
warren "There are probably lots! https://publiclab.org/requests https://publiclab.org/getting-started https://publiclab.org/welcome " | Read more » about 6 years ago