The Art of Community

,praise.21958 Page i Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:44 AM Praise for The Art of Community “The Internet provides the potential to separate us into a cacophony of discor- dant voices or to congregate us as purpose-driven communities. Jono Bacon, in his insightful The Art of Community, teaches the latter path, detailing the principles of successful community-building in a way that will appeal to both neophyte and expert alike. Given the increasingly critical role of community managers in the technology industry and beyond, The Art of Community should find a place on any businessperson’s bookshelf, not to mention that of the PTA president, book club organizer, or union activist. Yes, it’s that good.” —MATT ASAY,ALFRESCO AND C|NET “Jono Bacon truly understands communities, and, more importantly, how to build communities that thrive. This is the definitive guidebook to building successful communities—definitive because it is based on Jono’s extensive experience as community manager for Ubuntu, a product that inspires an Apple-esque devotion in very large part because of its vast and dedicated community. For developers and entrepreneurs who want to learn how to tap into the power of community, as Ubuntu has done so masterfully, this book is a must-read.” —IAN MURDOCK, FOUNDER OF DEBIAN AND VICE PRESIDENT OF EMERGING PLATFORMS AT SUN “One thing that’s impressed me about Jono Bacon—something one can notice back when he and others were building a community around their pioneering Linux podcast—is that he simply gets the concept of community. It comes out in most everything he says and most every decision he makes. This is the kind of a person you want writing a book on the topic. Open source community building cannot be boiled down to a formula. It’s a constant effort, a soft science, an art, and Bacon is an ideal art teacher.” —DAN GOLDSTEIN, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING,LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL, AND PRINCIPAL RESEARCH SCIENTIST,YAHOO!RESEARCH ,praise.21958 Page ii Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:44 AM “The success of the open source software movement demonstrates that no obstacle is insurmountable when people come together around a shared vision. In The Art of Community, Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon gives readers a profound glimpse into his hands-on experience as the orches- trator of one of the movement’s most powerful communities. His book offers valuable lessons on effective leadership and community building. Its compel- ling combination of useful theory, real-world best practices, and instructive personal anecdotes make it a richly comprehensive guide for both aspiring and experienced community leaders.” —RYAN PAUL,ARS TECHNICA “Communities are very complex ecosystems of human beings. Cultivating, growing, shaping, and guiding the community to make it productive is defi- nitely as much (or even more) art as science. In The Art of Community, Bacon does an excellent job of explaining in detail the considerations for managing and cultivating a healthy open source community. He provides a blueprint for developing and maintaining an open source community in a programmatic way, and his attention to detail and understanding of the dynamics of communities make this book an invaluable resource for anyone looking to build and maintain a community. Drawing from his own extensive experience, Bacon does a great job of explaining how to help foster a community, and provides great advice, ranging from choosing infrastructure, measuring growth, and even hiring a community manager. All in all a must-read for any community manager.” —MARK R. HINKLE, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY,ZENOSS,INC. “Jono Bacon has long been an insightful voice for the open source community. Now his artful stories distilling the ethos of organizing people and activities on the Net, at conferences, and in our daily routines provide a framework for successful, community-building strategies.” —PETE KRONOWITT,LINUX AND OPEN SOURCE STRATEGIST,INTEL ,praise.21958 Page iii Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:44 AM “In The Art of Community, Jono Bacon once again shows that his nom de guerre is apropos. He breaks down the soft science of community management in a way few others could. With his trademark British humor, he deftly explores the intricacies and subtleties of his trade. The result is both informative and enter- taining, and is a must-read for those looking to better understand the soft science that is community management.” —JEREMY GARCIA, FOUNDER OF LINUXQUESTIONS.ORG “To a soundtrack of heavy metal, free-software geekstar Jono Bacon recounts the story of how he learned to gently yet productively manhandle groups of unruly Internet folks gathered around a common topic or cause. His process and methods are set out in his book, The Art of Community, where Jono’s non-ego-driven account of community building will aid all manner of bosses, since almost every subject matter these days has a community with hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even (as in the case of World of Warcraft) millions of people clamoring around it. (Even David Hasselhoff!) Be forewarned, capitalist! There is no chapter called ‘How to Turn Commu- nities into Dollars,’ but following Jono’s suggestions may yield you what every leader (even a capitalist) wants: a loyal and passionate community will- ing to collaborate to achieve a common goal.” —IRINA SLUTSKY, GEEKENTERTAINMENT.TV “If you listen to open source fans, you might get the idea that the community is elves who come out of the woodwork to fix your broken software while you sleep. In The Art of Community, Jono Bacon explains how reality is a little more complicated, and what the community needs in return. This book will help you get started with the diverse skills required to keep a collaborative community on track, including copywriting, social software selection, conflict resolution, and measuring if it’s all working.” —DON MARTI, CONFERENCE CHAIR,OPENSOURCE WORLD, AND ORGANIZER, WINDOWS REFUND DAY,BURN ALL GIFS DAY,FREE DMITRY, AND FREEDOMHEC ,praise.21958 Page iv Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:44 AM “Who would have known, when I first met a scruffy student from Wolver- hampton Uni at a LUG meeting all those years ago, that he would end up being the name on the Internet synonymous with the word ‘community.’ The fact that the Internet’s Jono Bacon is now one of the foremost authorities on building and nurturing a community shows that in a volunteer project no one cares about your questionable dress sense, dodgy taste in music, or strange choices in facial hair—all that matters are your contributions, and your ability to get on with, and inspire, others. “In this book, Jono draws upon a wealth of experience from projects small to big (and when you consider the worldwide phenomenon that was LugRadio, and the worldwide phenomenon that is Ubuntu, you’re talking pretty big) to lay out a blueprint for creating and sustaining communities, as well as using real-world examples from prime ministers to celebrity chefs to ground the topics in a wider context. There is a nice balance in that many of the examples are based on success stories, but Jono is brave enough to also illustrate his points with some of his (relatively few) mistakes. “This book will be useful for anyone looking to build a volunteer community around any kind of project or cause, whether it involves software, open source, raccoons, or none of the above.” —PAUL COOPER,MOBLIN UI&APPS ENGINEERING MANAGER,INTEL “As a rock-solid book, The Art of Community is not only about communities, but also management, organization, and even marketing—it is the bible for community leadership. This book should have been out a long time ago, and read- ing through the chapters made me reflect on almost every important situation I had to face with teams, from conflicts all the way to handling buzz. It would have helped solve some of the issues I was stuck in much faster than I did (although all the issues solved in the end were exactly how Jono described it). I am eager to apply more of this wisdom on the current projects I am involved in.” —SEIF LOTFY, GNOME FOUNDATION,ZEITGEIST COFOUNDER AND TEAM LEADER ,praise.21958 Page v Thursday, July 30, 2009 9:44 AM “Few people, in my experience, understand how to create, build, and support community better than Jono Bacon. With The Art of Community, Jono’s taken his experience, his intelligence, as well as his great humor, and has effectively distilled it into an indispensable book for anyone who wants to start a community (whether around software or any other shared interest or endeavor, really) or participate in one in a positive and productive way. Jono understands that communication and authenticity are at the core of effective partic- ipation, and goes beyond the theoretical to provide practical guidance on things like governance, process, conflict resolution, and avoiding burnout that is right on the mark. The Art of Community is an excellent book!” —DAVID SCHLESINGER, DIRECTOR,OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES, ACCESS CO., LTD.; GNOME FOUNDATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER “Jono Bacon, in The Art of Community, takes you on a personal journey to the heart of what it takes to have and become part of a productive and well-oiled community.” —AMBER GRANER,UBUNTU COMMUNITY MEMBER “Jono Bacon’s The Art of Community is a wonderful meditation on building communities using modern infrastructure tools and practices gleaned from the Free and Open Source Software movement. Jono’s examples, taken from his work on Ubuntu, give a good picture of a working community and how it functions.

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