This article is part of an ongoing series about how to earn specific Fedora badges. Learn more about the Speak Up! badge!
“Speak Up!”: What is it?
The Speak Up! badge is categorized as a “Community Badge” and is defined in this Trac ticket. But what’s the real scoop behind the Speak Up! badge?
In short, the Speak Up! badge is awarded to anyone who says something in an official Fedora IRC meeting. A lot of important conversations and work in Fedora all happen in IRC, and meetings are the best time to get the pulse of a particular subgroup or team. It’s also a great time to introduce yourself to other contributors and begin moving towards becoming an active contributor. This badge is a great gateway towards earning many others!
How do I earn “Speak Up!”?
Earning Speak Up! requires you to be somewhat familiar with the Internet Relay Chat protocol (a.k.a. IRC). If you’ve never used IRC before, it’s like a large chat network. You connect to a particular IRC network, and you can join any number of chat rooms (called channels). The Freenode IRC network is a favorite of many open source projects and organizations. This includes Fedora! Fedora has several different IRC channels for all kinds of purposes. General support is in the #fedora channel, the Design Team is in #fedora-design, the Marketing team is in #fedora-mktg, the Fedora developers are in #fedora-devel, and the list goes on!
Usually on a regular basis, most of the Fedora subgroups have meetings where they discuss the tasks on their agendas, look at what needs doing, and welcome any newcomers! Introducing yourself in a Fedora IRC meeting is one of the best ways to begin the journey of becoming a contributor and meeting other contributors who are willing to help you get started.
You can check the Fedora Calendar app to see when a particular subgroup or team meets. For example, the Fedora Community Operations team meets on Tuesdays at 17:00 UTC in #fedora-meeting-2. Find the meeting time for a team you’re looking at contributing to and see if you can make yourself available for that time slot. When the meeting begins, introduce yourself towards the beginning. It doesn’t have to be complex! Just say hello, who you are, and maybe a few words on why or how you want to contribute. And that’s all it takes!
One thing to keep in mind is that to be awarded this badge, your IRC nickname must be the same as your Fedora Account System username, or you must specify your IRC nickname in your account. In Fedora IRC meetings, everything is logged, so the Meetbot will know if your username said anything in the meeting.
Congratulations, you have now earned the Speak Up! badge!
The “Speak Up!” tl;dr
- Make sure your IRC nickname is the same as your Fedora Account System username, or you have your IRC nickname specified in your account
- Find out when a subgroup or team that interests you is meeting on the Fedora Calendar app
- Find time to attend meeting, speak up and say hello! We don’t bite. 🙂