1. Who Do You Want to be Today?
Thoughts on Community
Leslie Johnston
code4lib 2013

2. Before I begin: a cautionary tale about
doing things when you first think of
doing them.

3. I have been thinking a lot lately
about communities and community
building.
Why?
Because I recently shifted my job,
which required a partial contextual
shift as to my place in a number of
communities.

4. But then, it’s not unusual
for me to be thinking about
where I fit in.

5. Geek/Nerd/Wonk?

6. Curator/Archivist?

7. Woman?

8. Leader?

9. I have many identities and
participate in quite a few
communities.
And that’s as it should be.

10. But where does community
fit into what we
(we? which we?)
do?

11. Everywhere.

12. Let’s talk about software
development.

13. Building software requires a
community of people who
care, whether they are
stakeholders, developers,
or users.

14. Releasing software
requires a similar
community of people who
care.

15. Sustaining software requires a
community of people who
_really_ care ... enough to
contribute time to identifying
requirements, writing code,
testing, documenting, and
evangelizing.

16. And USING the software.
I cannot even begin to
stress how important this
is.

17. So…how do you build a
community?
And sustain it?

18. Communication.

19. Inclusiveness.

20. Consideration.

21. On that note, everyone
should read this blog post
on conference tweeting:
http://ryan.cordells.us/blog/2013/01
/26/mea‐culpa‐on‐conference‐
tweeting‐politeness‐and‐community‐
building/

22. And even more
communication.

23. And a sense of
ownership.
I’ve seen projects fail
because they’re shared
with the world but no one
really takes ownership.

24. Well, not always fail.
But certainly not THRIVE.

25. And that’s what we’re
looking for in our
communities and in our
projects.
That they thrive.

26. So what defines a
successful community or
product?

27. Participation.

28. Enthusiasm.

29. A sense of pride.
I’m part of that.
I made that happen.
That succeeded in part
because of me.

30. Adoption.

31. And now we will discuss.
Leslie Johnston
Library of Congress
lesliej@loc.gov