When we think about the user experience that GNOME provides, we usually focus on implementation and design. It is these factors that are thought to affect the quality of the experience that we provide. However, social factors also play a major role in determining the quality of our software: modules need a sufficient number of contributors, and they need to be organised so that modules can move forward and keep on top of bugs.

In this talk, I’m going to discuss how the social dimension of the GNOME project affects the quality of our software. I will outline some issues with the current situation, and will propose some ideas and initiatives that can help us address them. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate that we need to work on the social as well as the technical aspect of GNOME if we want to improve the quality of our user experience.

Allan Day

I have been contributing to GNOME for 4 or 5 years. I spend most of my time on design, and am a member of the design team, but I also contribute to the Engagement Team. I’ve been working as a part of the Red Hat Desktop Team for almost 3 years.