Many devs work on things in solitude, even those that share those projects online. Even more have ideas, but how could we interest people to collaborate?
I have an idea - probably a bad one - but an idea nonetheless: a streaming talk-show about people's ideas. Viewers would then be able to discover interesting projects they might be willing to participate in. With a good following, projects could also be promoted this way for use as well.
Why don't I do this myself? Well... I'm one of those people looking to collaborate 😅 It frankly isn't in the cards for me to spend much time on streaming. I'd rather leave that to the willing.
In any case, what could this look like?
Format
The most appealing format to me would be a host with about 5 guests. Each guest would get 5-10 minutes to present their idea or project, followed by another 5-10 minutes of discussion with the host and guests. That gives us about 50-100 minutes to listen watch people talk about their passion.
The goal wouldn't be to poke holes in a person's idea/project but to get a more complete picture of what was presented. Not only guests but viewers could ask questions per chat, and the host could select the most interesting ones.
Getting guests on the show
This is always a difficult one, but the most obvious route would be providing an easy method of contact, and a clear description of what people have to do to get on the show. Hosts are of course free to do what they want, but I think the basic requirements to get accepted could be an existing project page with:
- A README page or other description of the project
- A contributing guide New users should be able to join the project without wondering how
- Tasks tagged by difficulty that interested people can pick up or a list of unanswered questions New users should know how they can help developing the project
Hopefully with those, it would be clear that the guest has put a some thought into the project.
Beyond the talkshow
Since it's not possible to always be present as a viewer, a search list of VODs would be very helpful. The VODs would hopefully include a description with all the of the information necessary to find the guests' projects and presentation.
A public schedule might also be nice. It would serve as confirmation for guests and of course also serve a little advertisement for viewers.
Conclusion
A well-organized show with a corresponding (optional) website, promotion and selection mechanism could grow interest in development as a whole. That could lead to greater participation and collaboration on projects or at least entertain developers in a thought-productive manner.
Hopefully, this would be an incentive for people to sign up to get on the talk-show.
Clipart by Fractale from OpenClipart