Hacking Open Source Participation

As you learned earlier IRC is often core to how open projects communicate. 'Working in the Open' means that in addition to IRC being a way to ask for help, it is also a great way to witness a community working together. 'Lurking' in open communities is a great way to evaluate whether or not the community is a match for you!

Steps to get started with IRC

1. Install IRC Depending on your environment, and preferences there are a number of ways to connect on IRC. You can follow Open Hatch's instructions here, or Errietta's blog post here.

2. Connect to #openhatch on Freenode (irc.freenode.org) and say 'hello!'

3. Connect to #introduction on Mozilla (irc.mozilla.org) and say 'hello!'

4. Register your nickname

Discussion

1. What is the difference between a Network and a channel?
2. How do you think having a structure of networks and channels makes it easier for open projects to be found, and to communicate?
3. How does IRC make projects more accessible ?

Please respond in any format you prefer, provide a link in comments or tweet #sc4gEd :)