Year: 2013

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My Twitter Digest for 11/01/2013

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My Twitter Digest for 10/31/2013

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Suggestions on How Non-Programmers Can Contribute to Techie Projects

I get asked a lot by people who are interested in helping out open source projects, but have absolutely no programming skills. What can they do? Well, here’s a few ideas how non-programmers can contribute to open source projects.

It is worth noting that it is best to contribute to software that you actually use yourself. That way you feel the benefits.

via How non-programmers can contribute to open source projects | opensource.com.

There are many ways to contribute to an open source project that go well beyond being a crack programmer in the language of the day. Indeed many of the suggestions cover ground that many Teknoids are already familiar with in other contexts. We love documentation, for example. Here’s the list:

  • Use the product
  • Bug test
  • Write documentation
  • Translation
  • Evangelize
  • Donate
  • Be professional

It is possible to help out other projects and organizations, like CALI, using these suggestions. For example, you could help out CALI by using and recommending our resources, reporting bugs you find, or write some docs on how your law school community could use CALI resources. And let us know if you’re doing any of these, we appreciate all of the support we get.

 

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My Twitter Digest for 10/29/2013

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OwnCloud 6 Beta Introduces ownCloud Documents, Collaborative Editing for ODF Docs

I’m talking about collaborative editing! This feature is implemented in an app called “ownCloud Documents” and will be part of ownCloud 6. People can view and edit their ODF text documents directly in the browser, inside your ownCloud. Another cool thing is that you can invite users from the same ownCloud to work collaboratively on the same document with you. Or you can send invitation links by email to  people outside your server to collaborate with you on the document.

via own clouds, social networks and free desktops: Welcome “ownCloud Documents”.

If the addition of collaborative editing features to ownCloud actually works, this is going to be a pretty big breakthrough in the the open source space. It will in effect create a system that will replicate the features of Dropbox plus Google Docs, all in space that is user controlled. It provides the potential for creating self-hosted private and secure collaborative and storage space for groups in a way that just can’t be easily accomplished now.

I’ll be trying the features of ownCloud 6 beta out and will let y’all know how it goes.

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My Twitter Digest for 10/24/2013