Hopes for Our Group Project

For our group project, I hope we can contribute to something that feels meaningful but also that looks like it needs some UIUX fixing. I would prefer working on something still widely used, so that our contributions can realistically be accepted and also for bragging rights. Ideally, it would be something related to web development, game development or education tools, since those are areas I feel more comfortable with.

I think one thing that may stand in our way is the learning curve. Many open source projects have large codebases, unfamiliar structures, and contribution guidelines that can feel overwhelming at first. It can also be overwelming if that project is more math-based than you’d expect. The development environment setup worries me as it seems intimidating.

In terms of what I can contribute, I feel confident front-based, git, and I’m comfortable with structure. I might not be the strongest at complex backend logic, but I can contribute consistently in areas where clarity and design matter.

Small Contributions So Far

So far, my small contributions have mainly involved opening issues for the course site, and some wikipedia edits. I also attempted to set up development environments and looked through beginner-friendly issues to see what might be manageable for us. The biggest challenge for me was thinking what do I want to work on next? Well I’m proud of any contribution I made, even if it’s just wikipedia. But what next? Should I jump from wiki all the way to something like Visual Studio Code? That sounds scary.

Overall, this week made me realize that contributing to open source is less about making huge changes and more about taking small, consistent steps. I’m just not sure if I can find any more small steps to take after contributing to wikipedia. What’s is there next that isn’t crazy big.