📗3 Starter Files

The second step is creating your three starter files (Readme, Contributing Guidelines, Code of Conduct) to walk people through the project

1. Readme File:

This is stored in the root file of your Github Repository. The readme should answer the following questions:

• What does this project do?

• Why is this project useful?

• How do I get started?

• Where can I get more help, if I need it?

📍 Quick Tip

The readme should have links to all important pages of the repository. See the sample Readme for more details.

Sample Readme

Sample readme of the DPGA Application Portal aka Webapp

"👋 Hello! Welcome to the repository which hosts the code for the Digital Public Goods Alliance Webapp!

The frontend of the Webapp can be found here.

🔎 What does the webapp do?

At the user end, the Webapp provides a platform for open source digital products to submit their applications to be accepted as Digital Public Goods.

At the back end, the Webapp provides a mechanism for the DPGA team to evaluate, accept, reject, and monitor the submissions. It allows DPGA reviewers to loop in experts for more nuanced opinions as well as get in touch with nominees for further clarifications.

The Webapp also keeps track of the number of DPG applications being processed per day and logs every action taken on a submitted application from a reviewer, expert or admin panel.

✅ Why is this project important?

Updating this project is useful in ensuring that we are following the best practices in evaluating applications and that each application is complying with the latest standardsset out by the DPGA board. Once an application is approved, it is listed on our registry, where governments, ministries and private stakeholders can discover and implement them.

🙋🏽 What is our aim and how can you help?

We need everyone’s help if we want to build a more tech-inclusive world and attain the SDGs set out by the United Nations for 2030.

We actively encourage people to contribute to this project.

Please see our Contributing Guidelines to learn more about how you can participate. All contributions must adhere to our Code of Conduct. To understand how to navigate through this repository and its files, please view our Repository Guide The various features and capabilities of the Webapp are hosted in the Applications folder. Please refer to the file Tech Architechture for a summary. Details about how this project can be deployed and the various software used can be found in the file Tech Infrastructure present in this repository. You can also get involved with the larger DPGA ecosystem in other ways.

⚖️ Governance

Please see this link to view more about how the DPGA is governed.

🙏Lastly, welcome to our community - DPG Evangelists and Creators of a more inclusive world! We are glad to have you here!"

2. Contributing Guidelines File

A contributing file tells your audience how to participate in your project. For example, you might include information on:

• How to file a bug report (try using issue and pull request templates)

• How to suggest a new feature

• How to set up your environment and run tests

In addition to technical details, it is an opportunity to communicate your expectations for contributions, such as:

• The types of contributions you’re looking for

• Your roadmap or vision for the project

• How contributors should (or should not) get in touch with you

📍 Quick Tip

The Contributing File should be linked from your Readme so that it is easier to find. Detailed Issue, PR, New feature templates can be found on the templates section of this Gitbook.

Sample Contributing File

This sample file is taken from the GitHub repo of the DPGA Application Portal aka Webapp

👋 Hi there!

Thank you for considering contributing to the Digital Public Goods Alliance! It is people like you who help us in our mission of making a more digitally inclusive world. There are many ways to contribute to this project, including but not limited to, submitting bug reports, feature requests, improving documentation and writing code that can be incorporated into the Webapp itself. Please go through this document to help standardise your contributions and questions. This will help us capitalise on time and run a smoother communication + implementation process. To learn how to deploy this project in a local environment, make sure to check out the TechInfrastructure file Note: All contributions must adhere to our Code of Conduct

List of things you can help us with:

• Sharing the love for DPGs (through social handles like twitter)

• Coding (see our open issues)

• Documentation (enhance our documentation surrounding our applications, review process and governance)

• Design (submitting mock designs of how the webapp could be better)

• Community (other ways to engage with us)

Procedures for specific contributions:

🐛 Reporting Bugs

To report a bug, please raise an issue with us on this repository and follow the Bug Report template

❗New Feature Request

To submit a request for a new feature please raise an issue with us on this repository and follow the New Feature template

🔨 Creating Pull Requests

To create a pull request, please follow the Pull Request template. This will help us go through all submissions + changes quickly and push them into production.

💁 Further Assistance

To get in touch with us for further assistance or feedback, please open an issue. We will review it and come back to you.

🙏 Sensitive Information

To contact us about sensitive information, please email us with the subject line as ‘Github: Senstive information / Security issue’

3. Code of Conduct File

This file helps in setting expectations of behaviour regarding how contributors can interact with one another and it also helps in enforcing guidelines in case of violations

📍 Quick Tip

One organisation can have a single code of conduct file - they do not need to be separate for each repository within the organisation.

Sample Code of Conduct File

This is taken from the DPGA Standard Repository. The same file is linked on the DPGA Webapp Repository as well.

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 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

• Giving and gracefully accepting constructive feedback

• Accepting responsibility and apologising 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 behaviour include:

• The use of sexualised 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 community 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 behaviour may be reported to the community leaders responsible for enforcement by emailing [e-mail] or contacting Lucy Harris. 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 behaviour deemed unprofessional or 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 behaviour 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 behaviour. 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 behaviour.

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 behaviour, 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.

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.

For answers to common questions about this code of conduct, see the FAQ at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/faq. Translations are available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/translations.