Skill Enhancement and Capacity Building for African Open Source contributors
Funding Area: Capacity building / Construcción de capacidad
Problem Statement: Our proposed project supports open source by creating courses to help Africans participate in open source, no matter a student’s community of interest.
Proposed Activities: The duration of the project will be one year, running from November 2023 to December 2024. During this period, specific tasks will be completed in each phase. From November to December 2023, we will focus on creating open-source newcomer modules. By February, we would have set up the Moodle LMS and developer tools. Between March and June, video recording, transcription, localization, and the launch of content will take place. July to September will be dedicated to crafting community-specific newcomer courses using CHAOSS as a pilot community. From October to November 2024, there will be additional video recording, transcription, and localization of the course contents. By December 2024, the project team will measure and determine the success of the project and afterwards share it with other communities. The resources required include open-source guides, Moodle LMS, a Video recorder/Webcam/Microphone setup, CHAOSS documentation and community knowledge base, surveys, and conference talks. The expertise required for this project includes a scriptwriter, content developer, content editor, video editor, data analyst, and facilitator.
Openness: The course contents will be accessible to the public on a Github repository with an MIT license. Additionally, there is a Slack channel dedicated to asynchronous communication for discussions related to this work. Every week, the proposed work will be discussed both in the CHAOSS global meetings and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Working Group, allowing other community members to participate and contribute. For developing and delivering the course content, the open-source Learning Management System (LMS) Moodle will be used. To further involve the wider open source community, we intend to deliver presentations at conferences and inspire communities to adopt our open source newcomer courses.
Challenges: The primary challenges that we foresee in successfully executing this project include: ensuring that the course content is sufficiently localized for different African regions; providing prompt feedback, assistance, and responses to participants’ queries; ensuring compatibility of the technology and tools used in the courses with all participants' devices; confronting restricted availability of high-speed internet connection, and addressing issues like technical challenges. By closely considering and robustly addressing these obstacles, we aim to triumph over potential setbacks and successfully carry out the project.
Neglectedness: Yes, the CHAOSS Project has received funding from the Ford Foundation to establish and support CHAOSS Regional Chapters (CHAOSS Africa (already existing), CHAOSS LATAM and CHAOSS Balkans) that can facilitate local outreach activities, meeting people where they are to help overcome the very early open source engagement barriers. The Ford-funded work helps raise awareness and improve engagement with open source globally, not only in Africa. It also includes discussions of open source used in software development processes, foundations that broker open source projects, available open source mentorship programs, and open source as a career development activity. The Ford support will help our proposed work precisely focus on African communities.
Success: Participation Rate: We will measure the number of sign-ups (enrollments). This will help us to assess interest and determine if contributors (and other participants) actively participate in the courses we provide. Completion Rate: This will monitor how many of the enrolled participants actually complete the entire course in order to evaluate learner engagement. Contribution Quality: We will ask participants (opt-in) how they believe the courses improved the quality and quantity of their contributions made to open source. Learner Satisfaction: We will regularly collect feedback from participants regarding their experiences with the courses using participant surveys, focus groups, and interviews. The data collected will be used to gauge learner satisfaction, identify areas for improvement, and implement necessary course changes accordingly. Adoption by other open-source communities: We will track enrollment and completion rates from participants who are not CHAOSS members in order to measure the adoption of the course content by other open-source communities as learning resources.
Total Budget: $22,975
Budget File: pdf
Affiliations: The CHAOSS Project (https://chaoss.community/)
LMIE Carveout: Yes. CHAOSS Africa is a regional chapter of the CHAOSS project focused on creating initiatives and metrics around solving the challenges of Open Source Communities in Africa. Our team, contributors, and maintainers live in Low-and Middle-Income Economies (e.g., Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda) as defined by the World Bank.
Team Skills: Our team possesses a diverse range of skills and expertise that are highly relevant for this project. Adeyinka is a multidisciplinary software engineer focusing on server-side programming, database management, and DevOps. Ruth, on the other hand, is an expert in open source program management, technical writing, and public speaking. Focusing specifically on Kubernetes, cloud computing, and DEI aspects, Anita has valuable experience as both a developer advocate and technical writer. Lastly, MaryBlessing specializes in community leadership and the advancement of DEI within the bounds of open source. In addition, We all are active contributors to the CHAOSS project with Ruth leading the African chapter. Overall, our collective experience yields us the depth of knowledge necessary for creating effective onboarding courses.
Submission Number: 130
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