Hacking Open Source Participation

Getting Started on IRC

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 :)

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