X-Git-Url: https://sipb.mit.edu/gitweb.cgi/wiki.git/blobdiff_plain/1729dc369fa56f984473abf690494d9664a72087..277df1a89b675a3541fbbd2c0628101a336d011b:/join.mdwn diff --git a/join.mdwn b/join.mdwn index 1232681..9fdc1a2 100644 --- a/join.mdwn +++ b/join.mdwn @@ -1,44 +1,92 @@ -# Joining SIPB - -We are MIT's volunteer student computing group, improving computing at -MIT since 1969. Today, SIPB projects provide innovative services and -special expertise to the MIT community. We have an office just -outside the Athena cluster in the student center W20, and you are -welcome to come by to ask us for help or to hang around and use our -computers. - -## Membership - -If you are interested in contributing to SIPB's computing services and -in helping users with unusual computing questions, consider becoming a -member. Full membership in SIPB is granted after sustained -contribution to the organization, and confers several benefits: - -Prospective members interested in becoming full members should attend -our weekly meetings regularly, participate in SIPB activities like -hackathons, cluedumps, and IAP classes, and either create a new SIPB -project or help with some existing SIPB projects. This process -generally takes about a term of active participation. +[[!meta title="Joining SIPB"]] + +## Becoming a Member + +If you are interested in contributing to SIPB's computing services and in +helping users with unusual computing questions, consider becoming a member. +Full [[membership|members]] in SIPB is granted after becoming **socially +integrated** and "**Furthering the Goals of SIPB**" for a sustained period. + +### Becoming Socially Integrated + +A big part of the value of SIPB is in the social interaction. Many members +spend much of their spare time hanging out in the SIPB office: hacking on +personal, SIPB, or class projects or chatting with fellow SIPB members about +topics technical and otherwise. + +Prospective members are encouraged to **hang out around the SIPB office** during +meetings (they're Mondays at 7:30PM) and at other times (check the door icon on +[sipb.mit.edu](http://sipb.mit.edu/) to see if the office is open). (Coming to at least four meetings is required to be membered, though usually this happens before prospectives are otherwise ready to be membered.) + +You can also participate in SIPB activities like hackathons, +[cluedumps](http://cluedumps.mit.edu/), and [IAP +classes](http://sipb.mit.edu/iap). Our [[calendar]] contains many of our +events. + +### "Furthering the Goals of SIPB" + +"Furthering the Goals of SIPB", or FTGOSing, usually means **working on some SIPB +[[projects]]**. + +Our technical [[projects]] can generally absorb arbitrary amounts of attention. If +you are already familiar with the relevant skills, you may be able to find the +bugtracker and just get started. Even if you don't have those skills, if you +talk to people involved in a project you're interested in they'll probably be +happy to help somebody enthusiastic learn the necessary skills. + +We also have a number of more organizational projects, such as running +[cluedumps](http://cluedumps.mit.edu/) in the fall, and [IAP +classes](http://sipb.mit.edu/iap). Prospectives often take the lead on +organizing these. + +You can also start your own SIPB project if you're so inclined. The best way +to start a SIPB project is to pick some computing-related problem that is +important to you, find some like-minded individuals, and try to solve it, +discussing your ideas and plans around the SIPB office, and reporting on your +progress to the SIPB. The most successful SIPB projects have often been things +that the people involved really wanted to do, and found resources or +collaborators to do them through SIPB. + +### A possible route + +There are many possible ways to get involved in SIPB, but one route is: + +1. Take a look at the [[Projects]] page, and identify a project that looks +interesting. +2. Look around the website, the bugtracker, and especially any tickets marked +as being good for new contributors (look for terms like "hackathon", "starter", +or "straightforward") to get a better sense of what the project is currently +doing. +3. Ideally, come up with one or more "tickets" you find interesting. This could +be a task from the project's bugtracker, or just something that bothers you +about using the project yourself. +4. Talk with somebody involved in the project for advice on which possible +ticket is best to start with and how to implement it. +5. Code your thing, and talk to somebody involved in the project to get it +committed. + +If you follow something like this process and get some contributions into some +SIPB project, you're probably doing fine at FTGOS. You probably can't do all of +that on your own, though. That's fine, since you also need to get socially +integrated. Feel free to talk to people around SIPB about each of those steps, +and somebody will probably be happy to help you through them. ## The office -Prospective members are encouraged to hang out in the SIPB office +The office fills with people working together in a hackathon. + +Prospective members are encouraged to hang out in the [[SIPB office|office]] anytime it is open, which it is on a typical weekday afternoon and evening. We strive to make it a fun and comfortable place to work on projects, homework, or anything else by providing an array of amenities: - - -## You + +* Nice chairs, big monitors, many computers, table space for laptops +* Music: ours (CDs or [LAMP](https://lamp.mit.edu/)) or yours (via a certain ["printer"](http://sipb.mit.edu/doc/using-sipbmp3/)) +* Tons of equipment and supplies from video adapters to an oscilloscope to Band-Aids +* A diverse technical library, including popular textbooks +* Soda and snacks for late-night sessions, cheaper and closer than Verde's + +## Questions? If you have any questions about SIPB or the SIPB membership process, or ideas for projects, feel free to either drop by our office