The Open Organization Ambassadors Program at Opensource.com

Our Vision

We are the Open Organization Ambassadors, a group of Opensource.com community members dedicated to teaching others about the ways open source principles can enhance (and ultimately reshape) organizational cultures.

We write about, discuss, and evangelize organizational cultures predicated on transparency, adaptability, collaboration, inclusivity, and community.

Our Commitments

We’re committed to:

• Learning. We’re researching open source values so we can better understand how they’re influencing today’s innovative organizational cultures, and we’re always refining the “open organization” concept, differentiating or distinguishing it from seemingly similar approaches to management and leadership.

• Helping. We’re a trusted resource for anyone interested in leveraging the power of open principles to improve their organizations.

• Translating. We explain community-specific vocabularies to general audiences seeking to understand the benefits of an open approach to management and leadership.

• Engaging. We draw others into productive dialogues and exploratory activities that illuminate the benefits of applying open thinking to organizational contexts.

Our Methods

We do all this by:

• Publishing informative and exploratory articles on the nature of openness in contemporary organizations

• Speaking at industry and community-focused events

• Connecting with and interviewing innovative leaders, managers, and practitioners innovating in an open manner

• Maintaining a repository of high-quality, immediately accessible, and vetted resources anyone can use to implement open principles in their teams or organizations

Our Members

To discuss your participation in the ambassador community, just contact the Opensource.com staff or an open organization ambassador. Of course, current members can—and do—nominate potential participants.

Our community consists of members from a wide variety of backgrounds—people from any number of different of domains who possess varying levels of experience and technical proficiencies. Successful ambassadors need simply:

• Consider themselves champions of open values and principles,

• Care about the ways those values can help create better organizational experiences for everyone, and

• Enjoy working productively with others who feel the same way.

Community members join the group through their participation Opensource.com, where they perform one of three common roles:

• Supporter
• Contributor
• Ambassador
• Ambassador Emertius

Membership Benefits

Members of the program receive the following benefits.

Supporter

Supporters receive:

• Priority assistance from the Opensource.com editorial team

• Advance notice of story ideas/writing opportunities

• Access to Opensource.com’s global publishing platform and content distribution system

Contributor

Contributors receive all benefits supporters do, as well as:

• Access to community networks (such as mailing lists and discussion forums)

• Opportunities to influence the direction of community-produced resources

• Opportunities to meet, interview, and interact with open source and open organization thought-leaders, advocates, and activists

Ambassador

Ambassadors receive all benefits supporters and contributors do, as well as:

• Complimentary copies of The Open Organization and associated companion volumes to distribute to their professional networks

• Invitation to monthly online ambassador meetings and annual in-person ambassador meetings

• Access to an ambassadors-only electronic mailing list

• Write privileges in ambassador community GitHub repositories

• Opportunities to network and engage with other ambassadors (in-person meetings, etc.) and to extend their professional connections

• Special designation as an ambassador on Opensource.com

Ambassador Emeritus

Ambassadors who hold that position for at least one year and leave the program in good standing are eligible for emeritus status.

Ambassators Emeriti receive all benefits supporters and contributors do, as well as:

• Standing invitation to monthly online ambassador meetings and annual in-person ambassador meetings

• Access to an ambassadors-only electronic mailing list

• Opportunities to network and engage with other ambassadors (in-person meetings, etc.) and to extend their professional connections

Membership Responsibilities

Supporter

Supporters will:

• Regularly promote open organization-themed stories and materials via social media outlets and other open source news, leadership, and management syndication venues (news aggregators such as LinkedIn, Reddit, Hacker News, etc.)

• Connect potential authors and other interested/engaged parties with the open organization community

Contributor

Contributors will undertake the same responsibilities as supporters, as well as:

• Provide original articles for publication on Opensource.com, typically one every two months

• Assist with and participate in community activities and events, such Twitter chats and book clubs

Ambassador

Ambassadors will undertake the same responsibilities as supporters and contributors, as well as:

• Provide original articles for publication on Opensource.com, typically one every two months (additionally, ambassadors can curate articles from writers in their respective professional networks for publication)

• Contribute to community-generated materials and resources, such as printed companion volumes and other downloadable materials

• Attend optional monthly community meetings

• Attend optional in-person meetings and working sessions

Ambassador Emeritus

Ambassadors Emeriti have no specific obligations. They are encouraged to participate in any of the above ways as time and interest permit.

Membership Duration

Supporters and contributors may remain in the program as long as doing so remains mutually beneficial for both participants and community.

Ambassadors serve one-year minimum commitments. At the conclusion of their respective terms, ambassadors will discuss plans to renew or complete their commitments.

Revision History

Version 2.1
Updated October 2019
The Open Organization Ambassadors at Opensource.com

License

Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International