OLPC:Welcome

NOTE: The contents of this page are not set in stone, and are subject to change! This page is a draft in active flux ... Please leave suggestions on the talk page.

Welcome

Welcome to the One Laptop per Child project! There are lots of opportunities for everyone to get involved in the project, from hardware to software to less technical content creation. Some ways to contribute are:

• developing software, like creating new activities for Sugar
• developing hardware, like periphals for the XO
• contributing artwork through the art community
• developing educational plans
• helping test activities, like joining the Review Squad
• see Getting involved in OLPC for more ideas and guidelines

Getting Started

1. [Get a wiki account]!
2. Check out some useful starter pages:

• the OLPC Community Portal gives some good guidelines for getting around on the OLPC wiki
• [Wikieducator tutorial pages] are great if you're not familiar with using wikis
• The table of contents provides a directory of useful links
• OLPC FAQ provides a FAQ directory (the official OLPC FAQ is here)

3. Look for relevant communities that you can get involved in
4. Start contributing!

If you are lost or confused, feel free to go the #OLPC-help irc channel, which can be accessed through [this] site (if you are not a regular irc user). You can also access the [OLPC Community Support] forums

Editing your user page

Customizing your user page helps other wiki users learn more about your interests and specializations, which helps them to include you in projects that would interest you.

• talk about your activities, experience and specializations
  • tell us what you like to do and what interests you
• add a fun photo or two
• try adding some Olpcboxes to your user page (you can find some examples here)
  • OLPC boxes give useful information about users and automatically add users to relevant categories (like Category:User en-N, which signifies a native English speaker)
  • they also jazz up your user page

Uploading files

Sharing general works is one way to contribute positively to the internet community. A good way to share your work with everyone is to put on [Wikimedia Commons]. Note that media uploaded to Wikimedia Commons must be under a free content license that will allow others to use, modify, and redistribute your work. To learn more about uploading to Wikimedia Commons, check out the Wikimedia upload tutorial.

Not all work is appropriate to share - you shouldn't upload pictures from your family reunion to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons. For more personal media that you still want to be able to store and share with interested parties, look at some of these resources:

• [Flickr] is a great place to store images, and allows both copyright and Creative Commons licensing
• video and audio storage resources will be added soon

Communities

There are a number of communities on the OLPC wiki, dedicated to different purposes. A basic directory can be found here.

Contribution Communities

Contribution communities are based around groups of people who have a shared skill, interest, or concentration and want to contribute to the project with a specific skill.

• Art community members contribute artwork and graphic design to realize various projects
• other communities will be added soon!

Regional Communities

Regional communities are based around grassroots organizations and other groups of interested people who are near one another.

• regional community groups can be found at Regional community groups
• interested users can also join the [Grassroots] mailing list

University Chapters

University chapters are college or university organizations dedicated to contributing to the One Laptop per Child project. More information, including a directory of chapters, can be found at the University program main page.