There are a variety of ways in which you can contribute to the development and adoption of the RDL standard.
We recommend that before contributing you:
- Review the RDL documentation which provides an overview of the standard and introduces key concepts
- Familiarise yourself with the types of data we are standardising, e.g. by browsing our prototype data catalog
- Review the project governance documentation so that you are familiar with how we are collaborating and making decisions in the open
A good starting point is our discussion forum.
You can use this forum to:
- contribute ideas about how the standard might be applied
- suggest potential ways to drive adoption of the standard
- discuss applications and extensions of the standard
You can help us learn more about how well the standard supports different use cases by applying the model to real-world data. This might involve:
- mapping existing datasets into the standard, to test how well it represents different types of data from different sources
- adopting the model within a project, to test it in a real-world application
- writing code or tools that use the model
These kinds of activities can help to identify potential improvements to the standard and drive adoption in different communities. It's one of the most important ways that you can contribute to its development.
If you test the standard and have feedback for the team, then you might want to:
- [start a general discussion in the forum]((https://github.com/GFDRR/rdl-standard/discussions) to share your experiences, or showcase your work
- submit a change proposal for discussion by the community
- review existing proposals or issues to add your thoughts based on your experience
If you would like to propose a change to the standard then you can do this in one of three ways:
- if you have noticed an error in the specification, then please file an issue so that it can be fixed
- if you have a proposal for revising or extending the standard, then please submit a change proposal. We've created an issue template that helps you provide useful context for the suggested change
- by submitting a pull request with the suggested change
We recommend filing an issue or change proposal as the first step, so that fixes and changes can be discussed with the community.
Changes will be carried out in line with our project governance. Proposing changes before submitting pull-requests may save time if there are other potential solutions.
Please note that any contributions you make must be done so under a CC-BY-SA licence.
You can also contribute to making the standard a success by promoting it within your team, organisation or community.