From 86b61d46eb1a87d4551e93ef5b21fceeff2de524 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Alya Abbott Date: Thu, 5 May 2022 13:57:37 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] portico: Add Recurse Center case study. --- templates/zerver/footer.html | 3 + templates/zerver/for-communities.html | 5 +- templates/zerver/for-education.html | 5 +- templates/zerver/for-events.html | 7 +- templates/zerver/for-open-source.html | 41 ++- templates/zerver/for/communities.md | 14 +- .../zerver/for/recurse-center-case-study.md | 243 ++++++++++++++++++ templates/zerver/for/use-cases.md | 1 + templates/zerver/landing_nav.html | 3 + .../zerver/recurse-center-case-study.html | 36 +++ zerver/tests/test_docs.py | 1 + zproject/urls.py | 5 + 12 files changed, 337 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-) create mode 100644 templates/zerver/for/recurse-center-case-study.md create mode 100644 templates/zerver/recurse-center-case-study.html diff --git a/templates/zerver/footer.html b/templates/zerver/footer.html index bee1f83c58..ea94bff3e5 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/footer.html +++ b/templates/zerver/footer.html @@ -56,6 +56,9 @@
  • {{ _("Rust language community") }}
    • +
  • + Recurse Center +
    • diff --git a/templates/zerver/for-communities.html b/templates/zerver/for-communities.html index 2f6a4d8dce..379e99bf0e 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/for-communities.html +++ b/templates/zerver/for-communities.html @@ -23,8 +23,9 @@ on Zulip Cloud Standard!

    - Learn how the Lean theorem prover community and -
    the Rust language community are using Zulip. + Learn how the Recurse + Center, Rust language, +
    and Asciidoctor communities are using Zulip.
    diff --git a/templates/zerver/for-education.html b/templates/zerver/for-education.html index a20a54c86e..1389f71ad8 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/for-education.html +++ b/templates/zerver/for-education.html @@ -25,8 +25,9 @@

    Online, in-person, and anything in between.
    Free for most classes!

    - Learn how Technical University of Munich and -
    University of California San Diego are using Zulip. + Learn how Technical University of Munich, +
    University of California San Diego, +
    and Recurse Center are using Zulip.
    diff --git a/templates/zerver/for-events.html b/templates/zerver/for-events.html index 5a1ec879ab..35005c8b5a 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/for-events.html +++ b/templates/zerver/for-events.html @@ -22,10 +22,13 @@

    Zulip for conferences and events

    -

    Conferences, workshops, hackathons. In-person, online, and anything in between.

    +

    Conferences, workshops, hackathons. In-person, online, and anything in between. +
    Zulip Cloud Standard is free for + academic conferences and most other non-profit events! +

    - Zulip Cloud Standard is free for academic conferences and most other non-profit events! Contact sales@zulip.com to check whether your organization qualifies, or request sponsorship today. + Learn how the Recurse Center is using Zulip.
    diff --git a/templates/zerver/for-open-source.html b/templates/zerver/for-open-source.html index b4bd1a2d22..f932b1fa15 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/for-open-source.html +++ b/templates/zerver/for-open-source.html @@ -28,10 +28,9 @@

    - Learn how the Rust language - community and -
    the Lean theorem prover - community are using Zulip. + Learn how the Rust language, + Lean theorem prover, +
    and Asciidoctor communities are using Zulip.
    @@ -55,6 +54,17 @@ and feature ideas, engage with users, answer questions, and onboard new contributors.

    +
    +
    + Rust development would not be moving at the pace that it has been without Zulip. +
    +
    + — Rust Language team + co-lead Josh Triplett +
    + How the Rust language community uses Zulip ↗ +
    @@ -144,15 +154,18 @@
    - Choosing Zulip over Slack as our group chat is one - of the best decisions we’ve ever made. Zulip makes - it easy for our community of 1000 Recursers around - the world to stay involved, even years after their - batches finish. No other tool has a user - experience that scales to a community of our - size. + The core of the Recurse Center is the community, and the + core of our online community is Zulip… Switching to + Zulip has turned out to be one of the best decisions + we’ve made, and it’s impossible to imagine RC today + without it. No other tool has a user experience that + scales to a community of our size.
    -
    Nick Bergson-Shilcock, founder and CEO, Recurse Center
    +
    — Nick Bergson-Shilcock, founder and CEO, + Recurse Center
    + How the Recurse Center + community uses Zulip ↗
    @@ -296,7 +309,7 @@ that is going on.
    - RJ Ryan, Mixxx + — RJ Ryan, Mixxx Developer
    @@ -353,7 +366,7 @@ discussion work!
    - Aleksey Kladov + — Aleksey Kladov , Senior software engineer, NEAR Protocol
    diff --git a/templates/zerver/for/communities.md b/templates/zerver/for/communities.md index 1f7457456f..ae5f5262ec 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/for/communities.md +++ b/templates/zerver/for/communities.md @@ -1,11 +1,11 @@ -> “Choosing Zulip over Slack as our group chat is one of the best -> decisions we’ve ever made. Zulip makes it easy for our community of -> 1000 Recursers around the world to stay involved, even years after -> their batches finish. No other tool has a user experience that -> [scales to a community of our -> size](https://www.recurse.com/blog/112-how-rc-uses-zulip).” +> “The core of the Recurse Center is the community, and the core of our online +> community is Zulip… Switching to Zulip has turned out to be one of the best +> decisions we’ve made, and it’s impossible to imagine RC today without it. No +> other tool has a user experience that scales to a community of our size.” > -> — Nick Bergson-Shilcock, founder and CEO, Recurse Center +> — Nick Bergson-Shilcock, founder and CEO, [Recurse +> Center](https://www.recurse.com/); check out [the story of how the Recurse +> Center uses Zulip](/case-studies/recurse-center/) ## Zulip: Designed with communities in mind diff --git a/templates/zerver/for/recurse-center-case-study.md b/templates/zerver/for/recurse-center-case-study.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..f2910e3616 --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/zerver/for/recurse-center-case-study.md @@ -0,0 +1,243 @@ +[The Recurse Center](https://www.recurse.com/about) (RC for short) offers +educational retreats for anyone who wants to get dramatically better at +programming. Since its founding in 2011, [over 2000 +participants](https://www.recurse.com/10-years) have attended the program, +either in person in New York City or (since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic) +remotely from anywhere in the world. Participants range from experienced +professional programmers to new programmers transitioning into the industry. The +retreats are free for everyone, and RC is funded entirely through its +[integrated recruiting agency](https://www.recurse.com/hire). + +[A major highlight](https://www.recurse.com/why) of RC’s program is its active +online community of current participants and alumni. “The core of the Recurse +Center is the community, and the core of our online community is Zulip,” +[writes](https://www.recurse.com/blog/112-how-rc-uses-zulip) Recurse Center +[co-founder and CEO](https://www.recurse.com/team) Nick Bergson-Shilcock. +“Switching to Zulip has turned out to be one of the best decisions we’ve made, +and it’s impossible to imagine RC today without it.” + + +> “The core of the Recurse Center is the community, and the core of our online +> community is Zulip… Switching to Zulip has turned out to be one of the best +> decisions we’ve made, and it’s impossible to imagine RC today without it.” +> +> — [Nick Bergson-Shilcock](https://github.com/nicholasbs), Recurse Center +> [co-founder and CEO](https://www.recurse.com/team) + + +## Choosing Zulip in 2013: “One of the best decisions we’ve made” + +The Recurse Center was an early adopter of Zulip. They began to use the product +in January 2013, when it was still in private beta. Even then, Zulip’s +thoughtful design made it stand out. “We wanted a private chat system that was +persistent, easily searchable, and which supported syntax highlighting for code +snippets,“ says Recurse Center co-founder and CEO Nick Bergson-Shilcock. “Zulip +gave us all the benefits above, along with a slew of others we hadn’t expected.” + +When the startup building Zulip was [acquired by Dropbox in early +2014](https://zulip.com/history/), Zulip product development was put on hold for +a year and a half. Because of Zulip’s advantages over the alternatives, Recurse +Center continued using Zulip all through that time: "We strongly prefer Zulip to +other options for several reasons – its message threading being a key one,” +[wrote](https://www.recurse.com/blog/90-zulip-supporting-oss-at-the-recurse-center) +RC CEO Nick Bergson-Shilcock in 2015. + +From the early days, the RC community has been passionate about Zulip. When +Dropbox generously decided to [release Zulip as open source +software](https://blogs.dropbox.com/tech/2015/09/open-sourcing-zulip-a-dropbox-hack-week-project/) +in 2015, Recurse Center alumni [flew out to San +Francisco](https://www.recurse.com/blog/90-zulip-supporting-oss-at-the-recurse-center) +for a week to help make it happen. Since then, Zulip has built the most active +open-source development community of any team chat software, with [75 +people](https://zulip.com/team) who’ve contributed 100+ commits. + +> “It’s not an exaggeration to say Zulip has made RC a stronger community.” +> +> — [Nick Bergson-Shilcock](https://github.com/nicholasbs), Recurse Center +> [co-founder and CEO](https://www.recurse.com/team) + + +## Zulip becomes the backbone of a worldwide community + +For years, the Zulip chat been the backbone of the Recurse Center community. +“Zulip is an integral part of the Recurse Center experience,” says Rachel +Petacat, [Head of Retreat](https://www.recurse.com/team) at Recurse Center, and +RC’s Director of Operations from 2014 to 2021. + +Zulip serves as a collaboration hub for the current participants and alumni. +“Participants use Zulip to ask and answer questions, get code review, and +coordinate pairing sessions, reading groups, informal seminars, and countless +other forms of collaboration. Zulip is even more essential for our alumni, who +are in over 100 cities around the world but remain heavily involved thanks to +Zulip,” [writes](https://www.recurse.com/blog/112-how-rc-uses-zulip) RC CEO Nick +Bergson-Shilcock. + +> [In the first ten years](https://www.recurse.com/10-years) since the Recurse +> Center was founded, the community sent **2.52 million** Zulip messages. + +[Zulip’s threading model](https://zulip.com/why-zulip/) makes it easy to have +focused technical discussions. It also perfectly accommodates participants at +different levels of engagement. Current RC members can immerse themselves in the +ongoing discussions, occasionally muting topics they don’t want to follow. RC +leaders monitor the community asynchronously, reviewing the ongoing +conversations a few times a day and jumping in as needed. Finally, alumni can +drop by on occasion to skim [recent +topics](https://zulip.com/help/recent-topics), catch up on their friends’ update +threads, or search the discussion history for a topic of interest. + +“Our community is 10 years old and spans continents,” RC’s Head of Retreat +Rachel Petacat says. “Zulip provides the continuity that lets us maintain our +culture over time.” + + +## A welcoming environment for all community members + +When new participants join the Recurse Center, Zulip becomes their port of entry +into the community. “With Zulip’s threading, new folks can get the full context +for a conversation, which makes the community feel welcoming,” Head of Retreat +Rachel Petacat says. + + +> “Zulip is more friendly to new users than Discord or Slack.” +> +> — Rachel Petacat, Recurse Center [Head of Retreat](https://www.recurse.com/team) + +Threading also gives each conversation its own space, which means that community +members never have to feel like they are interrupting when they speak up. +“Threading makes it easy for anyone to jump in,” Rachel explains. ”Folks don’t +feel like they’re stepping onto someone’s conversation.” + +Over the years, the Recurse Center has used Zulip’s customization features and +powerful, well-documented APIs to set up a space that really feels like a home +for the community. “We use so many custom emoji,” says Rachel Petacat. + +A whole crew of bots is on hand to help out, from Chatbot for quick chat intros, +to [RSVPBot](https://github.com/wtfcarlos/RSVPBot#readme) for creating and +managing calendar events, to +[Blaggeregator](https://github.com/recursecenter/blaggregator#readme), which +aggregates blog posts for the RC community. + + +## “I can’t imagine being able to operate Recurse Center without Zulip” + +Rachel Petacat is a long-time member of RC’s leadership team. Her job requires +keeping up with the ~45 members in the current batch, making sure they have what +they need to get the most out of their RC experience. + +To juggle everything she needs to get done, Rachel takes full advantage of the +flexibility between synchronous and asynchronous discussions that Zulip offers. +Realtime chat on Zulip is perfect for coordinating with other members of the +leadership team. “Zulip is one of the first tabs I open at the start of the work +day,” Rachel says. “I can check what’s happening, and plan my day. Other +organizers and I tag each other on Zulip if we need any help.” + +Rachel uses Zulip to follow the ongoing conversations, and help out as needed. +Zulip’s threading model makes it easy to review discussion threads every few +hours, and respond in context. “I read the discussions on Zulip once in the +morning and again in the afternoon, chiming in where I need to,” says Rachel. +With Zulip, Rachel is able to manage the community without her focus being +interrupted by the need to jump in before the moment has passed. “I can’t +imagine being able to operate the Recurse Center without Zulip,” Rachel says. + + +## An alum experience: Staying connected since 2015 + +One of the benefits of participating in RC is the opportunity to stay connected +with the community. “You'll be able to participate in the RC community online +forever,” the RC website [explains](https://www.recurse.com/why). “Almost 30% of +the RC community is regularly active [on +Zulip](https://www.recurse.com/blog/112-how-rc-uses-zulip),” an incredible +statistic for a 6-12 week program with many alumni who attended years ago. Many +alums drop in on Zulip to chat, pair-program, and host events. + +John Hergenroeder first attended RC back in 2015. In the Recurse Center, John (a +software engineer by profession) found the inclusive and welcoming programming +community he was looking for. + +Even with everyone sitting in the same room, Zulip served as a social hub for +John’s RC cohort. “People had different schedules, so we used Zulip to leave +questions, work artifacts, demos — anything you thought was interesting,” John +says. This let participants engage with the content asynchronously, and created +a lasting record for the community. “We even used a Zulip topic to coordinate +for lunch, to let people have their uninterrupted focus time,” John says. + +Since 2015, John has stayed connected with the RC alumni community on Zulip. “We +have a stream for alumni checkins, where each alum uses a dedicated topic to +post updates,” John explains. Some alums drop by weekly, while others might come +around once a year. “You can leave a note, and it’s OK if your friend reads it +a few months later,” John says. “Compare that with Slack, where if someone +doesn’t see a message in some channel on that day, they’ll *never* see it.” + +Without dedicating a lot of time, John is able to stay involved in the community +on Zulip, and share his expertise where relevant. “I scan [recent +topics](https://zulip.com/help/recent-topics) for places where I could help, and +rely on email notifications for private messages,” John explains. The experience +of keeping up on Zulip is in sharp contrast with Slack, which John uses at work: +“It’s so hard to keep up with the Slack firehose.” + +> “Zulip allows people who are engaging with the community at different paces to connect.” +> +> — John Hergenroeder, Recurse Center alum + + +## Zulip’s open-source ethos + +Zulip is developed as open-source software, with an active and growing +community; over 1100 people have contributed code to the project. As a long-time +Zulip user, John Hergenroeder appreciates the many thoughtfully designed +[features](https://zulip.com/features/) unique to Zulip. +“[Choosing](https://zulip.com/help/mention-a-user-or-group#silently-mention-a-user) +whether or not a mention notifies people is really handy,” John says. “[Global +times](https://zulip.com/help/format-your-message-using-markdown#global-times) +are great for organizing events, and +[spoilers](https://zulip.com/help/format-your-message-using-markdown#spoilers) +were perfect for chatting about the Advent of Code puzzles.” + +And if Zulip is missing some feature? “We can file an issue, or even go and make +it happen,” says John. Over the years, John has filed [11 +issues](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aissue+author%3Ajdherg+is%3Aclosed) +in the Zulip issue tracker that have been resolved, and dozens of Recursers have +contributed code to Zulip. It’s a radically different experience from trying to +give feedback to a corporation building a closed-source product. When he +encounters issues with Slack, John has his strategy: “When I come across a Slack +bug, I try to find someone I know who works there, because I have no idea if +anyone will pay attention if I go through support.” + + +## Going virtual: "For a while, Zulip *was* RC” + +Prior to 2020, the Recurse Center offered an immersive in-person retreat +experience in the heart of New York City. This paradigm was shattered when the +Covid-19 pandemic hit New York in March 2020, and the Recurse Center made the +difficult decision to [move all operations +online](https://www.recurse.com/blog/152-RC-is-online-only-until-at-least-May). + +Over time, the Recurse Center built out a custom virtual world (integrated with +Zulip) for online participants. But in the early days of the pandemic, it was +Zulip that replaced the physical space where RC participants had spent time +together and helped each other out. “At the time, all we had was Zulip, email, +our website, Zoom, and a rarely used forum,” recalls RC’s Head of Retreat Rachel +Petacat. “For a while, Zulip *was* RC.” + + +## An invaluable knowledge base + +Edith, who works as a technical writer, participated in virtual RC in 2020. Two +years later, she still uses Zulip every day to stay connected. + +Zulip’s combination of powerful search and topic-based threading makes prior +discussions both findable and useful. "It’s easier to build context with Zulip +than any other tool,” Edith says. “With other messaging services, information +tends to get lost. In Zulip, I often look something up from a while ago — +anything from discussion of niche programming topics, to whether anyone has +commented on a book I’m thinking about reading.” + +“You really feel that you’re joining a group of 2000 people who’ve been doing +this for 10 years,” says Rachel Petacat. “You can find someone who trod the same +path 6 years ago!” + +--- + +Check out our guides on using Zulip for [education](/for/education) and +[events](/for/events), and learn how Zulip [helps communities +grow](/for/communities)! diff --git a/templates/zerver/for/use-cases.md b/templates/zerver/for/use-cases.md index b106585a35..d300e35a83 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/for/use-cases.md +++ b/templates/zerver/for/use-cases.md @@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ * [Lean theorem prover community](/case-studies/lean/) * [Asciidoctor open-source community](/case-studies/asciidoctor/) * [Rust language community](/case-studies/rust/) +* [Recurse Center](/case-studies/recurse-center/) diff --git a/templates/zerver/landing_nav.html b/templates/zerver/landing_nav.html index caa4a5e7db..50761edd6f 100644 --- a/templates/zerver/landing_nav.html +++ b/templates/zerver/landing_nav.html @@ -86,6 +86,9 @@
  • Rust language community
    • +
  • + Recurse Center +
    • diff --git a/templates/zerver/recurse-center-case-study.html b/templates/zerver/recurse-center-case-study.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..8e080257fd --- /dev/null +++ b/templates/zerver/recurse-center-case-study.html @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@ +{% extends "zerver/portico.html" %} +{% set entrypoint = "landing-page" %} + +{% block title %} +Case study: Recurse Center +{% endblock %} + +{% block customhead %} + +{% endblock %} + +{% block portico_content %} + +{% include 'zerver/landing_nav.html' %} + +
    +
    +
    +
    +

    Case study: Recurse Center

    +
    +
    + Learn more about using Zulip for +
    communities and education. +
    +
    +
    +
    +
    + {{ render_markdown_path('zerver/for/recurse-center-case-study.md') }} +
    +
    +
    +
    + +{% endblock %} diff --git a/zerver/tests/test_docs.py b/zerver/tests/test_docs.py index ca2803a361..0697570d05 100644 --- a/zerver/tests/test_docs.py +++ b/zerver/tests/test_docs.py @@ -163,6 +163,7 @@ class DocPageTest(ZulipTestCase): self._test("/case-studies/tum/", "Technical University of Munich") self._test("/case-studies/ucsd/", "UCSD") self._test("/case-studies/rust/", "Rust programming language") + self._test("/case-studies/recurse-center/", "Recurse Center") self._test("/case-studies/lean/", "Lean theorem prover") self._test("/case-studies/idrift/", "Case study: iDrift AS") self._test("/case-studies/asciidoctor/", "Case study: Asciidoctor") diff --git a/zproject/urls.py b/zproject/urls.py index 3677801921..5cadc3db80 100644 --- a/zproject/urls.py +++ b/zproject/urls.py @@ -653,6 +653,11 @@ i18n_urls = [ landing_view, {"template_name": "zerver/asciidoctor-case-study.html"}, ), + path( + "case-studies/recurse-center/", + landing_view, + {"template_name": "zerver/recurse-center-case-study.html"}, + ), path( "for/communities/", landing_view,