What is UniFOSS?

Universities for FOSS is movement to consolidate all efforts toward building active FOSS communities in Indian colleges and universities. We work to enable a free flowing of knowledge, ideas and projects.

To achieve this, we are connecting a diverse network of learners, creators and thinkers, who believe that Universities can be a place to learn through productive discourse, experimentation and exploration. Our philosophy is a rejection of the current state of affairs, where Universities are in the business of providing a rigid, Procrustean, and prepackaged form of education, with the goal of optimizing rankings, or profits, or both, as opposed to the pursuit of the deep satisfaction that comes with learning.

If many of these beliefs describe you or your community, UniFOSS is the platform for you:

The idea of a society rooted in openly sharing ideas, knowledge, and code to help others grow with you excites you
You love FOSS in ways that go beyond its benefits to your career, and you want the ecosystem of FOSS in India to thrive
You are a strong believer in creating value, one that impacts society positively, which pushes you to be a producer rather than a consumer
You love tinkering and building things, often just for fun
You value authentic interactions, and the humanity of tightly-knit communities
You want to push back against the crass commodification of education built around a fixed image of what one's career should be

Think of UniFOSS to be a souk (also known as chowk or bazaar) for the meeting points of ideas from various places that gave way to prosperity.

We want to make Universities a source of innovation. We want to be curious again. We want to love learning again.

How to join UniFOSS

UniFOSS primarily operates out of a Zulip realm that is invite-only.

To be a part of this realm, you need to know someone who is already a part of UniFOSS. We want to grow our community slowly and organically, which is built around a web of trust, where everybody is well-known to someone else.

We do this to ensure that our community always remains authentic and lets us have control over the kind of culture we want.

How to get invited

The best way to get invited is to connect with someone who is known to the UniFOSS community. We don't mean this at a superficial level. Since the person who invites you has to introduce you, and is generally responsible for you, you must gain their trust.

Some general guidelines that may help:

Participate in meetups of groups or people affiliated to UniFOSS, and connect with them
Contribute to FOSS projects whose maintainers and community members are affiliated to UniFOSS
If you do choose to cold contact someone from the UniFOSS community, you need to demonstrate that you are a good steward of Open Source, and your presence will bring value to our members

How to invite someone

If you are already a member of UniFOSS, and you know someone who can bring value to the community, DM any moderators¹ of the Zulip realm and send them the email address of the person you want to invite. The moderator will send the invite to your contact.

Once your contact accepts the invite, it is your duty to introduce them. You can always ask your contact how they would like being introduced. Not being introduced is not an option ;-)

It is also your responsibility to help them assimilate into the UniFOSS community. You will also be held accountable for the people you invite.

Some guidelines to keep in mind inviting others

Invite people you trust to be active in our communities activities, be it through discourse, meetups, Unit activities etc.
Prefer inviting people who can add to the diversity of our community – whether it be diversity of fields of interest, gender, socio-cultural backgrounds etc.
Ensure that your contact is made aware of our Code of Conduct
Do not invite people you have barely met or known. If they have demonstrated that they can provide value to our communities, but you don't know them well, inform the UniFOSS core team about this and we'll collectively make a decision.

as of now, Atharva Raykar

What can you do here?

Now that you are a part of the UniFOSS network, what can you do?

Since we strongly believe in tinkering, exploration and experimentation, it does not sit right with us to define any kind of bounds for what you can do as a part of UniFOSS.

That said, here are some ideas, put into broad categories for your inspiration.

Units and SIGs

Have a look at what various Units and SIGs are upto and be a part of their activities – it is quite possible that being a part of their activities led you to UniFOSS in the first place.
Create your own Unit by teaming up with other members in the UniFOSS community. Almost all the activities we suggest here can be done as a part of an existing Unit, or one that you have created. A Unit can be associated with an existing project, community or movement.
If you are a part of a FOSS community, you can have your members connect with the wider FOSS community at UniFOSS – just follow the invitation process.

Discourse

Share exciting things you have learnt recently – start a new topic that can give way to thoughtful discussion.
Conversely, participate in discussion threads. Feel free to ask any questions you may have – we are of the belief that there are no "stupid" questions.
Create or be a part of an unstructured meetup. This can be virtual or physical, whenever that is possible.
Pitch a project idea – see if you can get people interested or have it be actionable in some way.

Talks and Meetups

Organize a meetup – it can have a theme, or be open to all topics.
Help other people with their conference talk proposals, or take help from others for your own.
Let other people know about interesting conferences that they can attend.

Open Source Projects and Contributions

Help people contribute to and be a part of Open Source projects, or learn from those who already contribute.
Create an Open Source project (which would make a Unit, of course) by teaming up with members of the community.

Networking

To get a lot of the above activities in motion, you may need to do a fair bit of networking – so feel free to chat and chill with the members of UniFOSS and get to know people in it better.

Organisation Structure

UniFOSS has a highly decentralised structure. Our main goal as an organisation is to improve and consolidate individuals passionate about FOSS throughout the country. Thus, our organisation aims to intervene as little as possible in the activities of an individual or Units.

Individuals

UniFOSS obviously is comprised of individuals – who may or may not be a part of any Unit or SIG (see below). An individual can always choose to join a Unit or SIG which interests them, or form a group to start their own Unit.

Unit

What is a Unit?

A Unit can be any FOSS community, or a group of individuals with a specific goal or cause. It can either be a FOSS project, or an existing college club.

What is the scope of a Unit?

A Unit is in no way subordinate to UniFOSS. They are completely autonomous and can be organised in any way they prefer, they can have their own logos, branding, etc. Do what's best for your Unit. The only requirement for a Unit is they need to adopt a clear Code of Conduct¹ that is reliably enforced.

UniFOSS will disaffiliate with any Unit that fails to keep a high standard of behaviour. Harrassment of any kind is not tolerated.

What would a Unit look like?

There are no expectations here for what a Unit could look like as long as it's related to FOSS in some form. Go nuts, get as creative as you'd like:

An existing college club
A Unit of people interested in open hardware
A Unit of people working on a FOSS project of their own
- Could even be a group of people maintaining an open source cookbook!
A Unit of people interested in the Open Source aspect of art and design

If you are starting your own Unit, and need some pointers for how they can be organised, have a look at our guide.

How would a Unit be formed?

As mentioned, the only requirement of a Unit is that they need to adopt a clear Code of Conduct¹ that is reliably enforced. If you're all set to create your Unit, please refer to our guide to see how you can create your Unit.

Special Interest Group

What is a SIG?

A Special Interest Group, or a SIG, is a group that is created around goals that UniFOSS wants to achieve as an organization and exists solely for the purposes of giving UniFOSS a minimal governance structure. In other words, SIGs operate at an organizational level. Their primary is to ensure that UniFOSS as a movement is doing well.

What is the scope of a SIG?

A SIG, in most cases will not interfere with the functioning and running of a Unit, if a SIG were to interfere with the functioning of a Unit, it would solely be in cases that threaten to violate standards that UniFOSS sets as an organization: examples being failure of a Unit to enforce their Code of Conduct or the deviation of a Unit's goals to something that does not align with the values of UniFOSS.

It's highly important that the goals of a SIG are well defined so as to prevent overlapping responsibilites between SIGs as much as possible.

What would a SIG look like?

A few great examples of SIGs would be:

Contributor Experience (ContribEx): ContribEx is responsible for improving the overall contributing experience of existing members of UniFOSS, as well as people getting started with not just UniFOSS, but FOSS in general. If, for example, a Unit needs help with forming/enforcing a Code of Conduct or would need help with improving one of their projects in terms of making contributing easier (provided said Unit owns projects), ContribEx would be the SIG that would provide these Units with the nescessary tools and assistance with doing so.
Logistics: Logistics could handle the organizational aspect of events, if a Unit wants to conduct an event, Logistics is the group that would help them out and provide necessary assistance.

How would a SIG be formed?

A SIG can broadly be formed under the following two scenarios:

If there is a clear need for help in the community for a specific area, across multiple Units, a SIG would be created for that area.
If a Unit either grows in strength or scope such that the 'assets' (knowledge, ability to assist with issues of a specific nature, etc) of such a Unit can be beneficial to UniFOSS as a community and not just the members of that Unit, then such a Unit would be asked if they would like to be 'graduated' to a SIG to help better serve the needs of the community, if the Unit is not comfortable doing so, that is completely okay as well.

If a Unit does not create their own Code of Conduct, by default, our own Unit Code of Conduct will be applicable to them.

Active Units in UniFOSS

Contact Points for the UniFOSS team

Moderators on the Zulip realm:

Atharva Raykar
Ishita Chaudhary
Kunal Bhat
Madhav Jivrajani
Royston Tauro
Samyak S Sarnayak
Siddhant Rao

If you are not on our Zulip realm, you can contact us at NEEDSWORK: make email ID.

Contact Points for Units

coming soon!

Code of Conduct

Why?

We want to ensure your experience at UniFOSS leaves you happy and satisfied. We aim to ensure every participant in this movement feels safe and welcome.

Having this Code of Conduct also helps you know what our standards for acceptable behaviour are, as well as provide a clear picture of how we enforce this.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies to all communication channels, Special Interest Groups, events, meetups or any activity that operate under the UniFOSS name.

It also applies to individuals representing UniFOSS in public spaces. Examples of this include using an official social media handle or email address, or acting as an appointed representative of UniFOSS for any event.

This Code of Conduct does not apply to any Unit of UniFOSS. You will have to refer to the Code of Conduct for that particular Unit to know about what is considered acceptable.

Our Standards

For individuals

Examples of behaviour that contributes to a positive environment for our community include:

Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
Helping people learn something new, without being judgemental
Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
Accepting responsibility and apologizing to those affected by our mistakes, and learning from the experience
Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the overall community

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

The use of sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
Trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
Public or private harassment
Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or email address, without their explicit permission
Use of microaggressions, especially with an intent to make others feel unwelcome

For Units

Activities of Units are not subject to this Code of Conduct, but it is a mandatory requirement that Units have their own Code of Conduct that is promptly enforced.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported to the community leaders responsible for enforcement at [NEEDSWORK, make email ID].

All complaints will be reviewed and investigated promptly and fairly.

All community leaders are obligated to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident.

Community leaders will follow these Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

1. Correction

Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behavior deemed unwelcome in the community.

Consequence: A private, written warning from community leaders, providing clarity around the nature of the violation and an explanation of why the behavior was inappropriate. A public apology may be requested.

2. Warning

Community Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.

Consequence: A warning with consequences for continued behavior. No interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, for a specified period of time. This includes avoiding interactions in community spaces as well as external channels like social media. Violating these terms may lead to a temporary or permanent ban.

3. Temporary Ban

Community Impact: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior.

Consequence: A temporary ban from any sort of interaction or public communication with the community for a specified period of time. No public or private interaction with the people involved, including unsolicited interaction with those enforcing the Code of Conduct, is allowed during this period. Violating these terms may lead to a permanent ban.

4. Permanent Ban

Community Impact: Demonstrating a pattern of violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior, harassment of an individual, or aggression toward or disparagement of classes of individuals.

Consequence: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.

For Units

A Unit may receive up to two warnings for not effectively enforcing their Code of Conduct.

If no corrective action is taken, the Unit will be disaffiliated from UniFOSS.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 2.0, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct.html.

Community Impact Guidelines were inspired by Mozilla's code of conduct enforcement ladder.

Unit Code of Conduct

Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct

Our Pledge

We as members, contributors, and leaders pledge to make participation in our community a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, level of experience, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.

We pledge to act and interact in ways that contribute to an open, welcoming, diverse, inclusive, and healthy community.

Our Standards

Examples of behavior that contributes to a positive environment for our community include:

Demonstrating empathy and kindness toward other people
Being respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences
Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback
Accepting responsibility and apologizing to those affected by our mistakes, and learning from the experience
Focusing on what is best not just for us as individuals, but for the overall community

Examples of unacceptable behavior include:

The use of sexualized language or imagery, and sexual attention or advances of any kind
Trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
Public or private harassment
Publishing others' private information, such as a physical or email address, without their explicit permission
Other conduct which could reasonably be considered inappropriate in a professional setting

Enforcement Responsibilities

Community leaders are responsible for clarifying and enforcing our standards of acceptable behavior and will take appropriate and fair corrective action in response to any behavior that they deem inappropriate, threatening, offensive, or harmful.

Community leaders have the right and responsibility to remove, edit, or reject comments, commits, code, wiki edits, issues, and other contributions that are not aligned to this Code of Conduct, and will communicate reasons for moderation decisions when appropriate.

Scope

This Code of Conduct applies within all community spaces, and also applies when an individual is officially representing the Unit in public spaces. Examples of representing our community include using an official e-mail address, posting via an official social media account, or acting as an appointed representative at an online or offline event.

Enforcement

Instances of abusive, harassing, or otherwise unacceptable behavior may be reported to the community leaders responsible for enforcement at [insert appropriate email ID here]

All complaints will be reviewed and investigated promptly and fairly.

All community leaders are obligated to respect the privacy and security of the reporter of any incident.

Enforcement Guidelines

Community leaders will follow these Community Impact Guidelines in determining the consequences for any action they deem in violation of this Code of Conduct:

1. Correction

Community Impact: Use of inappropriate language or other behavior deemed unprofessional or unwelcome in the community.

2. Warning

Community Impact: A violation through a single incident or series of actions.

3. Temporary Ban

Community Impact: A serious violation of community standards, including sustained inappropriate behavior.

4. Permanent Ban

Consequence: A permanent ban from any sort of public interaction within the community.

Attribution

This Code of Conduct is adapted from the [Contributor Covenant][homepage], version 2.0, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct.html.

Community Impact Guidelines were inspired by Mozilla's code of conduct enforcement ladder.

Starting your own Unit

Does your Unit have a well-defined objective?

A Unit that serves a specific objective helps guide its decisions and activities quite nicely. It gives you an easy heuristic to evaluate how well your doing. Just ask yourself: "Is my Unit meeting my stated objective?".

Is there already a Unit that aligns with those objectives? What new thing does your Unit bring to the table?

We favour joining an existing Unit rather than the creation of a new Unit that will fragment a community.

With those two out of the way, make sure you have fulfilled these requirements:

At least three active members to start with.

There is no upper bound to the number of members of course.
A publicly available organisation page.
- This can be a website, GitHub or GitLab organisation, or any platform that can host your activities, and from which people can learn about your Unit.
You will be responsible for your own branding and expression. As a Unit, you have full autonomy over everything you do and how your community is managed, the only caveat being,
You must adopt a properly enforced Code of Conduct.

We have made this easy for you. If you do not explicitly create or adopt your own Code of Conduct, our Unit Code of Conduct will apply to your Unit. You must have your Code of Conduct publicly accessible in your Unit's organisation page.
You must have a public email address associated with your Unit.

This is to ensure that you can be contacted reliably, and also so that people have an outlet to report Code of Conduct violations.

How can you create your Unit?

If you've decided on a Code of Conduct that would be enforced within your Unit, to "officially" create it, all you would need to do is send in a PR adding the following information about your Unit to the Active Units page:

A link to your GitHub/GitLab/etc organisation.
A link to your Code of Conduct (if you choose to adopt the Unit Code of Conduct, link that).
Information about your Unit in terms of:
- Who you are. Ex: if you're a college club mention that, if you're a group of like minded people mention that, etc.
- What goals do you have.
  - Make sure that you've browsed the list of already active Units and what their goals are.

This is solely for the purposes of making information about your Unit accessible to the public.

The UniFOSS Canon