Ubuntu – How to kickstart a group advocating digital literacy with Ubuntu

Try and make it as regular as possible, that way you'll get to meet people more often but others will be able to pop in if they know it's going to happen so that it doesn't have to be pre arranged. In Ireland we have 3 of them running, Dublin is on the last Wednesday of the month and people chose that date and it's worked out well.

What we've found is by picking somewhere central to meet up, people can have a bite to eat, or drink and chat. Making it relaxed and not a formal event is key to making it fun and for it to happen again and again.

It's a fun way to explain/show people new features you've found in a casual way, so I've showed the Loco Directory and let people use my laptop if I was running the latest release.

Make sure everyone is welcome, if there are new less technical people present and the topics are getting too technical, talk to them separately or perhaps suggest techy talk for another time.

Above all just have fun and chat about your community. Ubuntu hours are about your local area and the people in your community.

There are many, many ways to contribute to Ubuntu. Some require technical knowledge, but many do not.

Before contributing to Ubuntu, you should read the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, which lays out a standard of behavior for contributors.

(Mostly) Non-technical:

Perhaps the easiest way to contribute to the Ubuntu community is to provide support. Besides helping out friends and family, you can answer questions on IRC, the Ubuntu Forums, or on this exchange!

A new project that is looking for contributors is the Ubuntu Manual project. According to their website,

Getting Started with Ubuntu is a complete beginner's manual for Ubuntu, featuring comprehensive guides, How Tos, and information on anything you need to know after first installing Ubuntu.

Their Get Involved page says they are looking for authors, editors, translators, programmers, and designers -- there's something for everyone!

Another project for writers is the Documentation Team. They write the documentation that comes with Ubuntu and work on the help wiki.

The One Hundred Papercuts project calls for users to submit bug reports on small usability problems (paper cuts). This requires almost no technical knowledge and has a direct affect on the Ubuntu experience.

Ubuntu strives to look good, and it takes artists to make that happen. Submitting art is an easy way to make a visual impact on Ubuntu. Check out the Artwork wiki page for information about that.

A really fun way to get involved is to join and participate in your Local Ubuntu Community (LoCo). You can check out the list of Ubuntu LoCos to see if there is an active community near you. If there is none, you can start one yourself!

As Javier Rivera commented below, multilingual users should look at contributing translations. Someone new to translations can get started with the Translations Quick Start Guide.

More Technical:

If you're the programming sort, there's plenty of room for you to pitch in. I'm not an Ubuntu developer myself, but the Developers page on the Ubuntu website is a good place to get started.

At the beginning of a new project called Operation Cleansweep, there were over two thousand potential bug fixes on Launchpad just waiting to be applied. This project works to review those patches and get them applied to their projects.

Conclusion:

There are innumerable ways to contribute. These are only just a few! Technical knowledge is helpful, but not absolutely necessary.