Your Guide to Making a Difference in Open Source

Documentation is one of the most important aspects of any project. It may not be intuitive to use the software. Take WordPress and Drupal, for example. It’s become easier now that you can spin up a virtual machine or a Docker image, but there are still many nuances that are not intuitive, and that is where good documentation plays an important role.

User testing is another way to contribute. How does the software operate on various platforms and operating systems? Providing feedback on usability and bugs. Community support by participating in forums and wikis by answering questions and supporting other users. I have been a Linux user since the late 1990s and in the early days before the World Wide Web existed, the chief support method was joining listservs and bulletin boards. Now, there are more resources for users, but community support continues to be a great help even for experienced users.

Financial contributions help maintain and develop the project. One way you can support open source is through the Github Secure Open Source Fund. I am a Linux Mint user, and I have made regular contributions to the project. GnuCash is another project I contribute to. Also consider contributing to podcasters like LateNight Linux. You can support Fosstodon and other Mastodon instances.

Advocacy is one of the principal ways I support open source. You can, too. Advocate for adopting open-source solutions in organizations, educational institutions, and among peers. Many folks in communities around the globe know nothing of open source and the benefits of using open-source software. Thirty-three years after the advent of Linux, a majority of the folks I come in contact with every day have never used it, nor do they understand the tremendous personal and professional benefits they might enjoy as users.

I advocated for the Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Library System to move away from a proprietary library system. The system adopted Koha, which Bywater Solutions supports. The library system saved over $60,000 per year and was ready for the pandemic when libraries were forced to close their doors. Moving from an expensive client-server proprietary system to an open-source one that needed only a Firefox browser to navigate was a game changer. I learned about Bywater and Koha from an open-source-using library director.