As the OpenMRS community grows, it is important to offer opportunities for contributors, implementers & customers community members to connect with people in their area. We also need a more coordinated effort to build local representation and expertise. One approach for achieving these goals is to develop local communities. The purpose of this document is to introduce the OpenMRS local community building effort and describe its merits.
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Develop stronger relationships with community members.
Encourage leadership in members of local communities.
Build stronger local representation and identity.
Attract new volunteers to local and global communities.
Build and share local knowledge.
Build stronger connections from local communities to the OpenMRS central leadership.
Different Types of Local Communities
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Local groups that already exist will be encouraged to apply for formal recognition. Following an evaluation process by the community management team, they will be approved and recognized as an official local community.
To apply for formal recognition or inquiries, send an email to beryl@openmrs.org and community@openmrs.org.
Approval Criteria
The baseline requirement for a local community is that they must regularly meet virtually/in person to make progress on the stated goals of their group.
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Baseline for each community: OpenMRS Talk Category and custom URL, e.g., http://kenya.openmrs.org/
Dedicated OpenMRS.org wiki pages or wiki space
Dedicated OpenMRS.org JIRA issue tracking project(s)
IRC channel, e.g., #openmrs-kenya
Dedicated GitHub organization or set of repositories
Customized Local Community logo
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Technical expertise for OpenMRS-related efforts,
Increased priority for travel grants/awards for team members to represent OpenMRS at worldwide events, and
Additional resources as needed, such as local community-specific communication channels on slack etc, JIRA projects.
Governance
The OpenMRS global community management team will be responsible for the governance model for local communities. The initial team members are Michael Downey, Suranga Kasthurirathne, and Pascal Brandtare beryl (Community Coordinator) and Grace Potma (Director of Product). This team is responsible for setting up the process and will is responsible for maintaining the process as well considering applications for new local communities.
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The community management team will set up and maintain information here that outlines some ideas for local communities. These These could include recommendations such as urging all local community members to create and OpenMRS ID, etc.
All local/regional communities will be required to adhere to the OpenMRS Community Code of Conduct. The purpose of our Community Code of Conduct is to ensure that all of our community members have the best possible experience. We are all here to help each other learn, grow our skillsets and have a good time!
Documentation
Each local community, in coordination with the community management team, should develop documentation such as a wiki page with details about their local community.
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The following might be useful for local community coordinators:
OpenMRS Community Code of Conduct.
Ubuntu LoCo Portal. This is the portal for local Ubuntu communities and could provides some valuable resources and examples for developing and managing our community. See the great HOW-TO.
Python Local User Groups. The process for starting a Python user group is outlined on this page.
Blog post about organising a Mozilla community.