---
title: 1-2 How g0v works?
tags: jothon, NDI
---
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"g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook" is licensed under CC BY-NC.
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# 1-2 How g0v works?｜g0v Civic Tech Project & Community Handbook

### Chapter 1: About the g0v Community
## How g0v Works?

The g0v community comprises diverse participants with shared aspirations but different perspectives. They come from different places and walks of life and join g0v activities for different reasons and motivations. This diversity breeds the fluidity and openness of the g0v community. To maintain this fluidity and sustain operation, long-term commitment from participants is needed to organize and plan activities. Through collectively formulated community governance mechanisms, regular large-scale events, and occasional small workshops, interaction and connections among participants are fostered, enabling the community to sustain its energy, stability, and continuity. This forms the foundation and helps support the community's growth.

For these reasons, the g0v community has established the "g0v Jothon task force (g0v Jothon)" as a support system. Jothon consists of seven volunteers and three staff. The team organizes bi-monthly hackathons and infrastructure hackathons. In addition to event preparations, it also assists with community administration, venue registration, information and resource connections and matchmaking, network collaboration, and server hosting. By coordinating the efforts of thousands of contributors, they become the cornerstone of stable collaboration within the g0v community.

### Hackathons and Events

#### 1. Bi-Monthly Hackathons

The g0v community hosts a hundred-person hackathon every two months. The event lasts a day and provides a venue, Wi-Fi, food, and drinks for a relaxed atmosphere. It also offers friendly guidance to reduce participation barriers. It provides a safe space for participants to experiment and openly share their collaborative process and outcomes, fostering a culture of mutual learning and sharing.

During the event, participants can spontaneously raise social observations and problem awareness. They then present projects and seek like-minded partners within three minutes for group discussions and find solutions. Through intensive discussions and interdisciplinary collaborations over several hours, projects make efficient progress. The event ends with a five-minute presentation of achievements and an overview of the human resource and skill assistance needed.

Besides the event itself, discussions and operations continue on the g0v online social platforms (such as Slack, Facebook group, etc.). This allows all contributors on the platform to brainstorm together and benefit from the diverse perspectives offered by contributors from different professional fields.

#### 2. Infrastructure Hackathons

The g0v community consists of “people, projects, and hackathons.” To help participants connect and collaborate more easily , it is necessary to have more user-friendly tools and platforms. Therefore, the “infrastructure hackathon" was launched in 2014. It takes the format of a small-scale hackathon and lasts an afternoon, during which g0v contributors discuss how to maintain the effective operation and stable development of the polycentric g0v community. The hackathon aims to establish clear governance mechanisms and optimize collaboration tools and platforms.

Not only discuss regular community infrastructure projects, the infrastructure hackathon also welcomes various projects to collaborate at the event.

#### 3. Workshops and Community Events

Besides hackathons, various projects within the g0v community also hold workshops. These workshops bring project members together for intensive collaboration, progress consolidation, and problem-solving, enhancing cohesion and effectiveness. For example, Cofacts holds bi-monthly editor gatherings or volunteer training workshops, lowering the barrier for newcomers to participate in the project and significantly advancing the project's progress.

The educational project “g0v Sch001” initiated by g0v Jothon creates educational videos on different topics, from basic open-source concepts to digital collaboration tools and introductions to g0v projects. These videos gradually cultivate digital skills among the younger generation. g0v Sch001 also organizes educational camps where g0v contributors provide guidance. Additionally, g0v Sch001 regularly hosts project incubator competitions to encourage anyone interested in addressing life and social needs by taking action. By offering monetary rewards and companionship, these competitions promote the collaborative approach of the g0v community in using technology to make a societal impact. They not only spread awareness of the g0v community’s collaborative model but also provide a sense of achievement and foster interactive connections among participants and g0v contributors.

### Task Forces in the Community

The task forces in the g0v community include the g0v Jothon, which focuses on g0v community infrastructure, the “g0v international” responsible for international community exchanges, and the internal task forces within each project in the community.

#### g0v Jothon

##### 1. Organizing Events
* g0v Hackathon: Bi-monthly hackathons with around a hundred participants.
* Infrastructure Hackathon: Sustaining regular infrastructure development projects.
* g0v Grants (2017-2019): Organizing competitions to award projects with potential and public interest, providing funds for prototype development or operational maintenance.
* g0v Sch001 (2020-): An open-source project initiated by g0v Jothon, focusing on education.
* Co-organizing g0v Summit: g0v Summit is a biennial conference that addresses topics such as open government, open-source collaboration, and civic engagement. The event lasts for 2-4 days and serves as a focal point for the international open government community.

##### 2. Maintaining Online Collaborative Infrastructure for the Community.
* g0v HackMD (Thanks to HackMD for their support)
* Slack
* Facebook fan page
* Facebook Group
* Line
* Twitter
* Youtube
* AWS expenditure
* Flickr expenditure, documenting photos in g0v events.
* A monthly community newsletter, inviting community participants to collaborate in its editing.
* Annual impact report, including financial information.

##### 3. Fundraising
* Fundraising from corporations and individuals.
* Developing g0v community merchandise for charity sales intermittently.

#### g0v international

* Building bridges, establishing foundations, and sharing resources between g0v contributors, projects, and the international communities.
* Collaborating with g0v contributors to develop open governance mechanisms for g0v's international affairs.
* Organizing international hackathons between Taiwan, Japan, and Korea.
* Assisting as the contact between the g0v community and Code for All.
* Initiating international exchange experience-sharing events.

### g0v Code of Conduct

**Regardless of online or offline interactions within the g0v community, "Respect for All Participants" is essential.**

Participants in the g0v community must work together to create a friendly environment free from harassment for all participants, regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, mental state, appearance, race, religious or political beliefs, or technological preferences.

Any sexually explicit, violent, or discriminatory language and/or imagery is inappropriate at all online or offline community events/spaces, including hackathons, seminars, speeches, workshops, gatherings, social media chatrooms, and even in source code or documents.

If violation of these rules happens, the organizers or project owner has the right and authority to expel the individual. Other participants must also proactively prevent harassment and other inappropriate behavior.

Participants are not required to reimburse recompensate the recourses or money (such as registration fees and donations) that had already been contributed by those who have since been expelled. Speakers, sponsors, contributors, project owners, and others in specific roles are also participants and thus must abide by the same rules as all others.

Harassment includes:

* Offensive comments regarding the gender, sexual orientation, mental state, appearance, race, religious or political beliefs, or technological preferences of others.
* Displaying sexually explicit images in public
* Intentionally intimidating, stalking, following, or harassing the photographer or cameraperson
* Repeatedly disrupting the proceedings of speeches, online cooperation, or other events through verbal or other means.
* Inappropriate physical contact.
* Unwelcomed sexual attention.

Please immediately stop such harassing behavior when requested to do so by other participants.

If you have been harassed or noticed harassment took place, please immediately ask for help from other participants, managers, or the event organizing team.

The g0v community hopes that participants can follow the above rules at both online and offline events.

:::info
For the latest version, please visit: https://g0v.hackmd.io/COC
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