The document discusses how non-developers can contribute to open source software projects like Elgg. It provides examples of how contributing to community, documentation, and evangelism are important ways to give back beyond writing code. These include moderating forums, helping new users, writing user documentation, holding meetups, and spreading awareness of the project on social media and blogs. The key message is that community is the most important aspect of an open source project.

1. Not a Developer?
Not a problem!
Giving back is more than code!
Brett Profitt • ElggCamp SF 2012 • brett@elgg.org • @brettprofitt

2. Conversations: The curious
"I love Elgg. Is there a plugin that...?"
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

3. Conversations: The demanding
"I love Elgg. You need to write a plugin that..."
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

4. Conversations: The threatening
"I use Elgg. I'm going to switch to Socialize
Wowzer X-Treme Pro Elite unless you..."
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

5. Conversations: The true love
"I love Elgg. How can I help?"
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

6. An OSS project is more than code
● Community
● Documentation
● Evangelism
● (Others, but we only have 20 minutes!)
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

7. Community
● Moderate community site
● Try and comment on plugins
● Help newbies
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

8. Community - Adopt a newbie
example
Matt Beckett helps a newbie
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

9. Documentation
● Non-technical docs
● Lessons learned
● Docs for users
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

10. Community - User documentation
Arvixe's Elgg blog by Rodolfo Hernandez
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

11. Evangelism
● Telling people about Elgg
● Holding meetups
● Tweeting, suggesting it to people to try,
blogging
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

12. Community - Evangelism
Elgg Meetup LDN (Laura Gill) and NYC (Mike
Kasper, Rene Yap)
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

13. Community is #1
● Everything is important, but community is #1.
● Plans to improve the Elgg community
○ New theme
○ Improved plugin repo
○ Karma plugin
○ Ignore users
@BrettProfitt • SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai

14. Not a Developer?
Not a problem!
SpeakerRate: http://el.gg/as3ai
Brett Profitt • ElggCamp SF 2012 • brett@elgg.org • @brettprofitt