Get Involved in Ubuntu-Women !

Introduction

So you want to get involved but dont know how or where to start? At the outset, we are a community driven adventure which means our software, artwork, testing and development, marketing, documentation and other aspects of Ubuntu have been created, tested, used and discussed openly by people around the world participating in the Free (as in speech) community driven via the Internet. Anyone using Ubuntu is part of this global community.

You are welcome to help shape and improve Ubuntu to meet your needs by using Ubuntu in your everyday life and recommending it to others, helping other users, translating programs or documents to your native language, or testing the software and reporting bugs, creating artwork or writing documentation, fixing software bugs, creating new software or keeping others' software up to date. Some of the following tasks would be under the aegis of specialist groups in Ubuntu (Ubuntu-devel, Documentation, Translation teams, ...) and your work will finally converge with the main Ubuntu ecosystem.

Join us

No effort is small and whatever you bring to this community, will be appreciated. So read on to find out how you can make a difference in Ubuntu-Women.
  • Add your name to the Ubuntu-Women Team on Launchpad and create your profile and send a mail to the list so we can get to know you better.
  • Subscribe to the Ubuntu-Women mailing list to ask questions and discuss anything relevant to Ubuntu or chat with us via IRC in the #ubuntu-women channel at freenode.net
  • Use our Wiki to suggest your new idea to improve Ubuntu. There are many people who can help, guide and point out resources to accomplish it.
  • Women already involved in the Ubuntu community can aggregate their blogs to Planet Ubuntu-Women by mailing the list or by writing to: Elizabeth Bevilacqua {lyz@ubuntu.com} with a short self-introduction.
  • If you are active in the Ubuntu community (or Debian/Gnome/KDE/other upstream communities), please take some time to volunteer for our Mentoring program where each One, can teach One, a cool way to share your knowledge with others in the community.

Get Involved in Ubuntu !

Technical skills

  • Women developers can write code and help develop new software.
  • Testing the current Ubuntu beta releases and submitting bug reports via Launchpad.
  • Package and/or maintain software to be included in the next release.
  • Squash bugs (bug-triaging) on Malone/Launchpad

If you are a programmer and want to start testing, coding or maintain packages, join the Masters of the Universe, and subscribe to the relevant mailing lists set up for those. An IRC channel, #ubuntu-motu-school is available for those interested in maintaining packages, testing, or any other software development task. The Easy MOTUing page has some details and a list of mentors. You can also subscribe to the Ubuntu-MOTU mailing-list.

  • For newcomers, we have a mentoring program along the lines of Each-One-Teach-One ! For Example : Sometimes you may know or have a vague idea of the packages (the dependency hell, ...) but are still unsure which source files can be modified or how it may affect other applications. The ubuntu-developer lists are limited to highly technical data exchange by developers, and package owners may not have time or inclination to mentor newbies. Ubuntu-Women members can provide information pertaining to application development, testing, and bug triaging and redirect people to the correct mailing lists. If you prefer there are Mentors willing to share their knowledge and skills.

You could also triage bugs for Ubuntu and/or if you run a few servers yourself, the server team needs your help.

Documentation skills

If you understand technical details and have the linguistic ability to convey those ideas to the end user in a simple and lucid style, then the Ubuntu Documentation Team needs your help in the following areas :
  • reporting typos in current documentation (manuals, howtos, Help, release info.),
  • proofreading current and new documentation,
  • reading and summarizing feedback on documentation,
  • advising on formatting and publication,
  • contributing specific sections to documents,
  • working with a team on specific documents,
  • overseeing the work on a specific document,

Internationalization skills

Translate Ubuntu into your local language by joining the Ubuntu Translation Project or :
  • Test translated applications and documentation for typos and quality assurance,
  • Write locales for your language: language, encodings, fonts, formats, appropriate language and graphics.
The Rosetta FAQ is a good place to start before joining an existing translation team for your language, or start one if it doesn't already exist.

Create Art work

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu are looking for graphical artists who can create attractive desktop icons and images. You can join the Art team and contribute high quality artwork like wallpapers, screensavers, etc...

Report Bugs

While using Ubuntu, (or Kubuntu, Edubuntu and Xubuntu) if you come across a hardware or software problem (called a bug) in the software please don't hesitate to file a bug report on it. Even if you don't know what to say, simply telling us that it doesn't work is often good enough. Here is short introduction on reporting bugs.

Community building

Ubuntu is generally about collaboration and community building and you can :
  • Maintain a presence on mailing lists in key projects outside Ubuntu and share information to keep Ubuntu current and relevant.
  • Write a page like this for our website or wiki.
  • Share ideas and experience, help users via IRC and Forums.
  • Plan and implement features in Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu.
  • Running or helping to run specific tutorials or courses, to meet user needs (e.g. Basic Linux Commands), general courses, or for specific groups.
  • Lobbying decision-making groups to achieve the best changes for Ubuntu.
  • Liaison between different groups within Ubuntu, or between Ubuntu and other groups.

Each individual has many unique abilities which they can bring to this project and the above are only illustrative examples. Whatever ideas, skills or experience you have, it can benefit Ubuntu, and reward you with achievement and interest.

In fact, if you think there are areas we haven't covered, where you could encourage others positively in Ubuntu-Linux, tell us about them! Take the first step and become a Mentor or Mentee, and you will be glad you did ! Come, join the Ubuntu world !

Explore The Ubuntu World !

And much more!

Check out these external resources: