Opensource.com got started 8 years ago with a pen and pad of paper. The holder of that pen went around asking those he knew something along the lines of: "What's new in open source?" and "What open source story do you have to tell today?"
Eight years later, we're still asking that question, and we're getting a lot more answers. Our readership has grown into the millions, and we're publishing an open source story—or two or three—every day.
Indeed job trends
How it works today
We know some open source people—we had over 700 writers in 2017 (and over 200 brand new authors). We meet people every day—you can find us at various open source events every year. And those people know other amazing open source people—you can curate articles for us by sharing our how to write for Opensource.com page with your network.
The question we ask them is: "What cool open source thing do you have to share?"
We get in stories. We help craft and edit drafts. We suggest headlines and give feedback. And, then we publish and do our best to share these unforgettable stories out to the world.
Read more in our 2017 Year in Review.
What do you want?
One way we stay ahead is by asking ourselves: "What do our readers want and what can our contributors give?" What we do this year will be a mix of what worked well the year before and our best guess of what our readers want this year.
Two items we have to help guide us are our Editorial Calendar and our list of editorial topics.
Lifeblood: Community
The lifeblood of what we do every day at Opensource.com is our community.
If you're part of any open source project, you know all too well how important the people who are part of making that thing work... the relationships, the synergies (yes, I said it), the debates, the flow and sharing of ideas... right down to how it's all organized and run. Opensource.com is a living, breathing open source community that's constantly taking stock of how we're organized, how we're communicating, and the output of the work we're doing. Does it work? Does it make sense? Is it helping?
We believe so.
One way we're organized is by our writers and contributors. Our friends. At the highest level of involvement, we have our editors and Community Moderators. These folks keep the lights on. Then, if you contribute four or more articles a year, you're automatically inducted into our Contributor Club. We've also got a few ways anyone can get involved with just the click of a button: If you've never written for us before and want to pitch an idea or get our feedback, send us a message via our editorial webform. After the first time you write for us, you'll be invited to join our Writer's List email group to get, hash out, and firm up your next article idea.
It's all about you.
Opensource.com aims to be a reflection of the amazing work, projects, and people in open source today. If you've got something to say, pitch, or add to the good thing we've got going on here, drop us a comment or email.
3 Comments