Timeline

Here's a brief history of community infrastructure (online & off), and some notable milestones.

2019

• Weekly check-ins among the software contributor community began rotating through other repos, not just plots2. (issue 5034)
• tags graph visualization prototyped by @bsugar in 2017 went live on /tags (github)

2018

• (add more here!)
• RailsGirls improve Search
• GDPR compliance
• Emoji reactions added to website
• tag display on content moves up into the righthand sidebar
• moved the lefthand sidebar to the right
• @sagarpreet adds "map of maps" to mapknitter.org
• complete 3 year evaluation study, big update to /evaluation
• first video trolling incident prompts improved moderation processes
• security update reveals approximately ~40,000 real account holders on publiclab.org (out of more than a million total accounts)
• Embedded a Trello boards into certain pages (/Barnraising, /evaluation), to make tasks more visible visible
• Privacy-aware "add your location" feature on profile pages powers the map at the top of /people
• @souravirus rewrites activity graphs to be interactive
• improved /questions to have a tag search
• Added tag search and sorting functions to /tags page
• Removed sidebars on major pages like /questions, /tags

2017

• added ability to display profile pictures for all Contributors to the "Community Toolbox" project, and created ours: https://publiclab.github.io/community-toolbox/
• last Annual Barnraising at LUMCON, shift to all "Regional Barnraisings" to focus on local issues (note) (november)
• two of our Google groups (the main list, and later, that Barnraising list) were flagged as spam. Even though both were re-instated after less than a week, we realize that GoogleGroups is an unstaffed, declining platform and redouble our efforts to move entirely into website subscriptions
• created community playlist on our YouTube channel, and enough people subscribed so that we could get custom URL youtube.com/publiclab (june)
• Fourth Regional Barnraising: Appalachia, held in Morganton, West Virginia
• first chatbot created to be a friendly, supportive voice in the chatroom (june)
• connected IRC, Riot, Gitter, and the non-profit Slack Channel #irc so that everyone can chat in the same place
• "first-timers-only" culture is re-iterated inside each Summer of Code project, students experience new contributors joining their projects
• non-profit program staff adjustments: @bronwen joins as Open Hardware Community Manager (formerly Kits Manager), @gilbert joins as Advocacy Manager (new position). Margie joins as Director of Partnerships. Long term staff @mathew and @becki phase out.

2016

• Benjamin Sugar created the first tag cloud of all content on publiclab.org (september)
• reached 10,000 contributors on spectralworkbench.org, 10,000 subscribers to the mailing lists
• began use of Gitter chatroom (november)
• gradually transitioned from organizers-only calls (starting in summer by changing one call per month to be open to the public; holding last call in September) towards OpenCalls (October 11)
• standard template for first-timers-only issues & encouragement of others to post issues in that way note (october)
• Third Regional Barnraising: Los Angeles, held in Val Verde, California (july)
• Code of Conduct published (july)
• Webjack Project by Richard
• New Search API introduced in publiclab.org website by Ujitha
• Internationalization of publiclab.org website - Translation in German by Jitesh
• "Streaks" https://publiclab.org/wiki/streak (june)
• hashtagging implemented by Ananyo
• dashboard 2.0 launched
• modularization in codebases with implications for copyleft licensing
• plan for user testing developed with @weatherpattern & @ann, and connected to org-wide evaluation "quantitative snapshot"
• outreach to developers via public presentations & use of new github tags "help-wanted" "first-timers-only" yields new contributors
• Moderation improvements April 2016: basic guidelines posted at /moderation, all first time posters now moderated, moderators group expanded to mailing lists and website
• first "first-timers-only" issue created in Public Lab March 16, 2016: 329, followed by 309. First Timers Only culture came to us through SpinachCon2016, Gregor Martynus of Hoodie, BostonJS, and Name Your Contributors project by Richard Littauer, see note.
• 4th top level language group created: China, via WeChat (january)

2015

• Code of Conduct written for Annual Barnraising 2015
• by the end of 2015, there are 67 organizers from 11 countries
• publiclaboratory list surpasses 4000 members
• regional "umbrella" mailing list created for northwest; becomes the first regional list that is bigger than the list for the name-brand city (Vancounver) it encompasses
• SpectralWorkbench 2.0, including a Procedures System by Sreyanth
• Public Lab's 5th Anniversary (read about it in GrassrootsMappingForum #7))
• illustrated guide to joining the Public Lab community by Molly Danielsson
• Second Regional Barnraising: Midwest, held in Chicago, Illinois
• first ever Organizers Survey. Key topics: decision-making among organizers, active/inactive status.
• Organizers Welcome pack becomes a physical mailing, including printed Handbook and Event Packs (also new for 2015)
• Public Lab Fellows Program created in program areas Open Air, Open Land, Open Water
• MapKnitter2.0 launches
• WhereWeBreathe project on indoor formaldehyde monitoring and mitigation
• The blog is rebooted, reviving a type of narrative writing that had been somewhat lost since the shift from grassrootsmapping.org to publiclab.org
• Early versions of "Lending Library" based out of Portland leverages the shipping experience of our kits program and our non-profit access to discount USPS Library Mail rates for moving more expensive tools or calibration equipment around the community. Existing chapter-based tool exchanges continue as usual. Two Open Hours dedicated to this topic.
• the Public Lab non-profit organizes its programs into initiative areas -- Open Air, Open Water, Open Land and Civic Kits -- in order to enable cohesive community collaboration across hardware, software, expertise, and locale.
• plots-nyc (also NJ!) becomes first local mailing list to top 200 members.

2014

• by end of 2014, there are 62 organizers from 8 countries
• PublicLabTV launched at Barnraising 2014
• First Regional Barnraising: Northeast, held in Plymouth, Massachusetts
• organizers handbook (including undersigning of statements, and nomination of new organizers by sending one's own filled-in profile)
• "New organizer welcome & orientation" email is standardized
• Organizers Summit (event type piloted in June during regional barnraising, full event held in November at Annual Barnraising)
• first federal grant
• paper research notes, notepads
• community cards: "welcome to Public Lab" messaging printed on brown cardstock
• "Ask a Question / Answer a Question" tagging system see all questions
• new, simplified front page on publiclab.org
• ability to award a barnstar & have it displayed on awardee's profile page via dropdown menu on research notes
• subscribe to tag (RSS)
• http://publiclab.org/tags lists popular tags on the site
• http://publiclab.org/stats shows a year of activity at a glance
• select the language of a research note or wiki page with power tag
• co-authorship of research notes via powertag
• images supported in research note comments
• in-line wiki editing
• callouts on publiclab.org via @username send email notifications
• OpenHour / live call events is first community wide audio/visual channel
• barnstar brainstorming
• Event template and RSVP feature on research notes
• international edition of Grassroots Mapping Forum features XXX countries/regions
• chat room (IRC) integrated into all publiclab.org pages
• regional "umbrella" mailing lists created for northeast, midwest
• third top-level language specific list is created, Public Lab Portugues
• plots-spectroscopy list reaches 1000 members, surpassing grassrootsmapping as the largest tool-specific list
• publiclaboratory list reaches 3000 members

2013

• ability to comment on research notes
• ability to write one research note in response to another
• ability to "like" research notes, and "follow" them to receive email updates
• tabbed wiki pages
• "toolshed raising" event type
• lists created for software developers, education, and writing
• Mapknitter Club / Cartography Collective
• Start a chapter page created
• Guide to starting new projects
• PDF print stylesheets for wiki and research note pages
• research note templates
• Sign-up page integrated anti-spam questionnaire "Turing Test"
• publiclab.org launched, replicating all publiclaboratory.org features + adding user dashboard, profile pages, and supporting international characters (UTF-8)
• OpenID used across all sites to authenticate against one's PublicLab.org account
• plots-infrared list launches, along with plots-airquality and plots-waterquality
• publiclaboratory list reaches 1500 members

• wintercamp

• creation of github.com/publiclab community repo

2012

• creation of organizers group
• creation of /lists overview page and tracking of list growth
• barnstars created & begins proliferating
• user dashboard when logged in on website
• kit boxes include "Welcome to the community!" messaging
• first sticker printed (CONFIRM THIS)
• illustrated guides translated into 10 new languages
• publiclaboratory list reaches 500 members, surpassing grassrootsmapping list

2011

• barnraising event type
• Grassroots Mapping Forum (print publication for offline data distribution)
• publiclaboratory.org launches, pioneering the "research note" and creating the wiki knowledge base (January 2011)
• publiclaboratory list
• laboratoriopublico list (Spanish)

2010

• BP Oil spill -- short story at the top of this page

2009

• grassrootsmapping list (first posts in Spanish)
• http://grassrootsmapping.org/