praise for the art of community

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Praise for The Art of Community

The Internet provides the potential to separate us into a cacophony of discor-

dant voices or to congregate us as purpose-driven communities. Jono Bacon,

in his insightful The Art of Community, teaches the latter path, detailing the

principles of successful community-building in a way that will appeal to both

neophyte and expert alike. Given the increasingly critical role of communitymanagers in the technology industry and beyond, The Art of Community should

find a place on any businesspersons bookshelf, not to mention that of the PTA

president, book club organizer, or union activist. Yes, its that good.

MATT ASAY, ALFRESCO AND C|NET

Jono Bacon truly understands communities, and, more importantly, how to

build communities that thrive. This is the definitive guidebook to building suc-

cessful communitiesdefinitive because it is based on Jonos extensive experi-

ence as community manager for Ubuntu, a product that inspires an Apple-esquedevotion in very large part because of its vast and dedicated community. For

developers and entrepreneurs who want to learn how to tap into the power of

community, as Ubuntu has done so masterfully, this book is a must-read.

IAN MURDOCK, FOUNDER OF DEBIAN AND VICE PRESIDENT OF EMERGING

PLATFORMS AT SUN

One thing thats impressed me about Jono Baconsomething one can notice

back when he and others were building a community around their pioneering

Linux podcastis that he simply gets the concept of community. It comes outin most everything he says and most every decision he makes. This is the kind

of a person you want writing a book on the topic. Open source community

building cannot be boiled down to a formula. Its a constant effort, a soft sci-

ence, an art, and Bacon is an ideal art teacher.

DAN GOLDSTEIN, PROFESSOR OF MARKETING, LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL,

AND PRINCIPAL RESEARCH SCIENTIST, YAHOO! RESEARCH


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The success of the open source software movement demonstrates that no

obstacle is insurmountable when people come together around a shared

vision. In The Art of Community, Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon

gives readers a profound glimpse into his hands-on experience as the orches-

trator of one of the movements most powerful communities. His book offers

valuable lessons on effective leadership and community building. Its compel-

ling combination of useful theory, real-world best practices, and instructive

personal anecdotes make it a richly comprehensive guide for both aspiring

and experienced community leaders.

RYAN PAUL, ARS TECHNICA

Communities are very complex ecosystems of human beings. Cultivating,

growing, shaping, and guiding the community to make it productive is defi-

nitely as much (or even more) art as science. In The Art of Community, Bacon

does an excellent job of explaining in detail the considerations for managing

and cultivating a healthy open source community. He provides a blueprint for

developing and maintaining an open source community in a programmatic

way, and his attention to detail and understanding of the dynamics of com-

munities make this book an invaluable resource for anyone looking to build

and maintain a community. Drawing from his own extensive experience,

Bacon does a great job of explaining how to help foster a community, and

provides great advice, ranging from choosing infrastructure, measuring

growth, and even hiring a community manager. All in all a must-read for any

community manager.

MARK R. HINKLE, VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY, ZENOSS, INC.

Jono Bacon has long been an insightful voice for the open source community.

Now his artful stories distilling the ethos of organizing people and activities on

the Net, at conferences, and in our daily routines provide a framework for suc-

cessful, community-building strategies.

PETE KRONOWITT, LINUX AND OPEN SOURCE STRATEGIST, INTEL


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In The Art of Community, Jono Bacon once again shows that his nom de guerre is

apropos. He breaks down the soft science of community management in a way

few others could. With his trademark British humor, he deftly explores the

intricacies and subtleties of his trade. The result is both informative and enter-

taining, and is a must-read for those looking to better understand the soft sci-

ence that is community management.

JEREMY GARCIA, FOUNDER OF LINUXQUESTIONS.ORG

To a soundtrack of heavy metal, free-software geekstar Jono Bacon recounts

the story of how he learned to gently yet productively manhandle groups of

unruly Internet folks gathered around a common topic or cause. His process

and methods are set out in his book, The Art of Community, where Jonos

non-ego-driven account of community building will aid all manner of

bosses, since almost every subject matter these days has a community with

hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even (as in the case of World of

Warcraft) millions of people clamoring around it. (Even David Hasselhoff!)

Be forewarned, capitalist! There is no chapter called How to Turn Commu-

nities into Dollars, but following Jonos suggestions may yield you what

every leader (even a capitalist) wants: a loyal and passionate community will-

ing to collaborate to achieve a common goal.

IRINA SLUTSKY, GEEKENTERTAINMENT.TV

If you listen to open source fans, you might get the idea that the community is

elves who come out of the woodwork to fix your broken software while you

sleep. In The Art of Community, Jono Bacon explains how reality is a little more

complicated, and what the community needs in return. This book will help you

get started with the diverse skills required to keep a collaborative community

on track, including copywriting, social software selection, conflict resolution,

and measuring if its all working.

DON MARTI, CONFERENCE CHAIR, OPENSOURCE WORLD, AND ORGANIZER,

WINDOWS REFUND DAY, BURN ALL GIFS DAY, FREE DMITRY, AND

FREEDOMHEC


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Who would have known, when I first met a scruffy student from Wolver-

hampton Uni at a LUG meeting all those years ago, that he would end up

being the name on the Internet synonymous with the word community. The

fact that the Internets Jono Bacon is now one of the foremost authorities on

building and nurturing a community shows that in a volunteer project no one

cares about your questionable dress sense, dodgy taste in music, or strange

choices in facial hairall that matters are your contributions, and your ability

to get on with, and inspire, others.

In this book, Jono draws upon a wealth of experience from projects small to

big (and when you consider the worldwide phenomenon that was LugRadio,

and the worldwide phenomenon that is Ubuntu, youre talking pretty big) to

lay out a blueprint for creating and sustaining communities, as well as using

real-world examples from prime ministers to celebrity chefs to ground the

topics in a wider context. There is a nice balance in that many of the examples

are based on success stories, but Jono is brave enough to also illustrate his

points with some of his (relatively few) mistakes.

This book will be useful for anyone looking to build a volunteer community

around any kind of project or cause, whether it involves software, open

source, raccoons, or none of the above.

PAUL COOPER, MOBLIN UI& APPS ENGINEERING MANAGER, INTEL

As a rock-solid book, The Art of Community is not only about communities, but

also management, organization, and even marketingit is the bible for com-

munity leadership. This book should have been out a long time ago, and read-

ing through the chapters made me reflect on almost every important situation Ihad to face with teams, from conflicts all the way to handling buzz. It would

have helped solve some of the issues I was stuck in much faster than I did

(although all the issues solved in the end were exactly how Jono described it). I

am eager to apply more of this wisdom on the current projects I am involved

in.

SEIF LOTFY,GNOMEFOUNDATION, ZEITGEIST COFOUNDER AND TEAM LEADER


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Few people, in my experience, understand how to create, build, and support

community better than Jono Bacon. With The Art of Community, Jonos taken

his experience, his intelligence, as well as his great humor, and has effectively

distilled it into an indispensable book for anyone who wants to start a com-

munity (whether around software or any other shared interest or endeavor,

really) or participate in one in a positive and productive way. Jono under-

stands that communication and authenticity are at the core of effective partic-

ipation, and goes beyond the theoretical to provide practical guidance on

things like governance, process, conflict resolution, and avoiding burnout that

is right on the mark. The Art of Community is an excellent book!

DAVID SCHLESINGER, DIRECTOR, OPEN SOURCE TECHNOLOGIES,

ACCESS CO., LTD.;GNOMEFOUNDATION ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Jono Bacon, in The Art of Community, takes you on a personal journey to the

heart of what it takes to have and become part of a productive and well-oiled

community.

AMBER GRANER, UBUNTU COMMUNITY MEMBER

Jono Bacons The Art of Community is a wonderful meditation on building

communities using modern infrastructure tools and practices gleaned from the

Free and Open Source Software movement. Jonos examples, taken from his

work on Ubuntu, give a good picture of a working community and how it

functions. The fact that the book is backed by a conference (http://www.

communityleadershipsummit.com/wiki/index.php/Session_Notes) and an online

community (http://artofcommunityonline.org/) means this fine effort will poten-

tially continue to grow into the watering hole for community gardeners, lead-

ers, and managers.

DANESE COOPER, OPEN SOURCE DIVA AND OSI DIRECTOR


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Beijing Cambridge Farnham Kln Sebastopol Taipei Tokyo


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Constant width
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