Hi everyone!
We wanted to let you know that OpenRefine has been selected to participate in the fall 2025 Birdaro training program.
From Birdardo's syllabus:
Based on the preferences that participants indicated in their application forms, we’ve decided to create a Birdaro training module that focuses on governance and documentation to support projects as they scale and consider best practices for sustainability. This module of the Birdaro training program equips open-source teams with essential governance structures and documentation practices for successful collaborations at scale. Through a combination of workshops, lightning talks, and an intensive multi-week course, participants will develop practical skills in team readiness assessment, decision-making frameworks, volunteer management, and the creation of documentation to support participation and collaboration such as contributor guides or team playbooks.
@Rory @ej2432 and @jfaurel will be attending weekly workshops and lighting talks, and completing homework to earn a certificate at the end of the program in December. With the support of @Martin and @Ainali, they will present a lightning talk on October 16. The main theme of that session will be:
Supporting community member contributions via mentoring, scaffolding, and feedback
Crucial to the scaling of many open-source projects is the ability to recruit and retain contributors, which can involve helping them to navigate community and project norms by offering onboarding, ongoing feedback, and documentation. In this session, speakers will showcase the role of a Contributor Experience Team in reviewing pull requests, mentoring new contributors, and creating clear guidelines. We’ll also explore different mentorship models in open-source, how office hours can support contributors, and balancing new contributor and experienced maintainer perspectives.
The specific topic discussed in the lightning talk will be: Approaching a new project for the first time, both as a potential contributor and as a maintainer reviewing that initial contribution.
If you are interested in contributing to the slides for that lightning talk, or if you have any questions about this training, please let us know!