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Contribute to the EAR member handbook

This handbook is like a wiki, maintained by EAR members. We invite members to help shape the handbook by suggesting changes and contributing new content. Join the #EAR Handbook channel in Zulip and we can support you in contributing.

Style and tone

Use active voice, avoid passive voice. Write in clear, plain language, and avoid jargon. Use positive statements rather than negative statements. Break long paragraphs into two or three short, concise sentences.

Use sentence case for page titles and headings.

Github

Github allows many contributors to all work on a single project. It has a system for storing files and proposing changes to them in a managed way, based on the open source git project.

All files that make up this handbook live in a Github repository (or “repo”) managed by the Ecosystem Action Research Github organization:

If you have a Github account, you can draft updated versions of the handbook and let people comment on your draft. You make a “pull request” to request that repo maintainers merge your changes into the canonical version of the handbook, the “main” version.

How to propose changes and request review in Github

Anyone can open issues and suggest changes to the handbook. All changes must be pushed to a branch other than the primary "main" branch. At least two other people in the EAR github team must review each pull request before it can be merged to main.

To suggest a change:

  1. Create a new branch for the group of changes you'd like to propose.
  2. Commit the changes.
  3. Create a pull request. Remember to publish your branch (if necessary) and push all suggested changes before opening a PR (pull request).
  4. Request review by tagging one or more EAR team members in the PR.
  5. Once two EAR team members have reviewed and approved the changes, anyone on the team can deploy changes to the main branch. This will trigger a static site deployment to handbook.ecosystemaction.com.

Technical support

Github accounts are free. If you need help setting up your account or using git, post in the #Software and tools channel and we’ll help you get sorted.