The OOo Community Mapping Project is an exercise to create a visual representation of the OpenOffice.org community and project, and to celebrate the collaborative efforts of the global contributors.

As a contributor to OpenOffice.org, my goal in creating this project is to collect and map stories from the early days of OOo to the present day. These stories will be used to create an interactive visual map of the world and present a snapshot of OpenOffice.org's story at OOoCON in Beijing. 

There are many millions of users of OpenOffice.org around the world today. Preserving the history of OpenOffice.org  and recording the accomplishments of the open soure project is something I've been hoping to do for a few years now. This effort requires input from everyone in the OOo community to help tell the OpenOffice.org story to the world. Whether this is in English, or any other language, we will accept any and all stories, and use as many contributions as possible in the final community map. 


Contributing is easy, here's how:

Fill out a questionnaire if you are a user or a contributor. It may be any of the following:

• Short story about your contribution, your local community contribution, or an account of someone you work with that has made a difference
  
• A story about an OOo milestone - i.e. when your project launched and you can submit this individually or with your project team
  
• A message to the OpenOffice.org community, or even how OpenOffice.org has made a difference for you as a user. 

You can add photos of your or from OOo events or video of your stories, or link to news stories. We will integrate this into a World Map with timelines (if provided). If you decide to add a video, the subject can be about contribution, or a messages to the community.

The final map incorporating your contributions will be made available, linked from the OOo site for all to see. Some of the content will also  be presented as a short visual launch at the OOoCON in Beijing.

If you want to see some examples, check out these sample contributions and get an idea of what we're going for and some sample maps.

Once mapped, we believe, this will be the first Open Source community mapping exercise of its kind, and OpenOffice.org has been known for many firsts. I look forward to working with you to creating a wonderful visual story of the life of OpenOffice.org so far!

Best
Zaheda Bhorat