1. How to get involved in KDE when you're not a developer Justin Kirby 16.01.2010 | San Diego, CA, USA | Camp KDE 2010

2. Justin Kirby 2 www.kde.org About Me ● Bioinformatics analyst ● Avid homebrewer ● Aspiring aikido master ● Linux user since ~2001 ● KDE user for ~3 years ● KDE promo contributor since July 2009

3. Justin Kirby 3 www.kde.org About my talk ● Long time user but never knew how to get involved ● I'm not a developer, and have zero ambition to become one ● You CAN contribute to KDE without knowing a single thing about writing code

4. Justin Kirby 4 www.kde.org Overview Documentation Bugs Promotion Art Usability Support

5. Justin Kirby 5 www.kde.org Overview ● Doing these things for a project – Frees up developer time to work on writing software! – Are great entry points to a project for aspiring developers – Perfect way to give back to KDE if you aren't a developer

6. Justin Kirby 6 www.kde.org Documentation ● Why does it matter? – Helps new users find their way around – Allows existing users to understand more advanced features ● How can I help? – Userbase ● Wiki driven home for all user related documentation and information ● http://userbase.kde.org/ http://userbase.kde.org/ – Translation ● KDE is global, translation teams make this possible

7. Justin Kirby 7 www.kde.org Get involved in Documentation ● Klassroom courses – Learn about how to add/edit to the Userbase wiki – Details at http://forum.kde.org/ ● Send an email or join the mailing list – kde-doc-english@kde.org kde-doc-english@kde.org – https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-doc-english ● Join the IRC channels (irc.freenode.net) – #kde-www – #kde-forum

8. Justin Kirby 8 www.kde.org Bugs ● Why does it matter? – Filing bugs notifies developers of problems – Helping triage bugs ● Saves developer's time ● Cuts down on developer frustrations ● How can I help? – Join the Bug Squad ● Participate in “Bug Days/Weeks” ● Participate in “Krush Days” ● Be a dedicated triage person for your favorite KDE application ● Report bugs when you find them

9. Justin Kirby 9 www.kde.org Get involved in Bug Triage/ Reporting ● Send an email or join the mailing list – bugsquad@kde.org bugsquad@kde.org – https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/bugsquad ● Join the IRC channel – #kde-bugs on irc.freenode.net ● Visit the Bug Squad homepage – http://techbase.kde.org/Contribute/Bugsquad ● Get involved in KDE Bug Weeks – http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=84473 http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=84473 ● Talk with Alex here at Camp KDE

10. Justin Kirby 10 www.kde.org Promotion ● Why does it matter? – Informs the world about the great things KDE is doing – Keeps the community updated on latest news ● How can I help? – Events/conferences ● Organizing/Presenting/Booths – Writing ● Dot articles ● Blogging (Planet KDE or otherwise) ● Release materials, brochures/flyers – And much more ● Branding, strategy, community building

11. Justin Kirby 11 www.kde.org Getting involved in Promotion ● Send us an email or join the mailing list – kde-promo@kde.org kde-promo@kde.org – https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-promo ● Visit our wiki pages – http://community.kde.org/Promo/ ● Talk to me or Jos at Camp KDE

12. Justin Kirby 12 www.kde.org Art ● Why does it matter? – Projects in KDE are always in need of good art – Good artwork helps to create an identity for the application or project ● How can I help? – Icons, splash screens and themes for an application – Flyers, brochures, banners for meetings – Designs for shirts, hats, and other KDE gear

13. Justin Kirby 13 www.kde.org Getting involved in Art ● Visit the KDE art web site – http://www.kde.org/getinvolved/art/ http://www.kde.org/getinvolved/art/ ● Join the IRC channel – #kde-artists on irc.freenode.net ● Send an email or join the mailing list – kde-artists@kde.org kde-artists@kde.org – http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-artists http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-artists

14. Justin Kirby 14 www.kde.org Usability ● Why does it matter? – Makes software easier to use – Improves our users' experience with KDE software ● How can I help? – Educate and provide feedback to developers on usability questions – Work with projects to help design usable interfaces – Generate case studies and usability reports

15. Justin Kirby 15 www.kde.org Getting involved in Usability ● Visit the KDE Usability web site – http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Usability ● Email or join the Usability mailing list – kde-usability@kde.org kde-usability@kde.org – https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability ● Talk to Celeste here at Camp KDE

16. Justin Kirby 16 www.kde.org Support ● Why does it matter? – As long as KDE software has users it will need people to help support them – Providing help to KDE users when they need it greatly improves the chances they will continue to use our software ● How can I help? – Answer questions when you can! ● IRC, Blogs, Twitter/Identi.ca, in person – Help point people to useful references ● Userbase, Forums, How-to blog posts

17. Justin Kirby 17 www.kde.org Getting involved in Support ● Help with documentation on Userbase! ● Write “how-to” blog articles ● Heavy traffic IRC channels – #kde – #kubuntu – #opensuse-kde – #fedora-kde ● Identi.ca groups – !kde – Distro specific groups

18. Justin Kirby 18 www.kde.org Questions? Comments? The End!