Projects have always been in the lime light at GitHub but it is the communities that make wonders happen. The criteria of selection has been a decent size strong organization and preferably, solving problems and touching human life. Around June 2017, I was invited to the Open Source Maintainers team at GitHub as a part of my contributions at OpenSUSE. Eventually, I happen to be able to meet and discuss with a lot of community maintainers. I reached a moment when I realized:

Open-source projects are more about the people around them.

Since, then, I have been acquainted with over 500 communities but had an opportunity to contribute to some but have definitely, interacted with their maintainers and saw the communities grow.

So, here we have something different than “Top 5 projects”, “Top 5 contributors”, “Top 5 popular users” and others:

The top 5 emerging open-source communities from 2017 that are following us in 2018:

a visionary community

1. Open Source Maintainers on GitHub

This official community started in the beginning of the year 2017 and continued its journey towards 2018. It brings in maintainers from all over the GitHub community to discuss and talk about anything. Though they are not focusing on a particular problem, they are certainly making our experience a great ride. They have a 600+ member community.

I have been a part of their community and I must say “Every community manager has a different but great strategy to engage contributors”

This official GitHub community is being run by stars like Nadia, Bryan, Mellisa and Mike.

GitHub: github.com/maintainers

Site: maintainers.github.com

2. OpenGenus Foundation

This pick has the distinction of becoming people’s favorite in a short time. As the year 2017 came closer to its end, we saw the rise of OpenGenus with its ambitious vision and boosts of its 900+ contributor base. Their approach to bring the web offline is what attracted me to join their community and it was amazing. I have been in their community for some time and I must say “They started with one idea and explore the jungle to find hundred new ideas over it.” Every day, they come with a new idea and every week, we see the rise of a new core contributor. This community has sparks of true decentralization and is, truly, a civilization on the web.

I must say, “In coming months, this community will bring in other communities together.”

This ambitious GitHub community is being run by stars like Aditya, Ernest, Arnav, Vaibhav, Hung and many others.

GitHub: github.com/opengenus

Site: opengenus.org

3. CocoaPods

CocoaPods is a strong community that represents its contributors well. Nice communication and its popular and satisfaction among the contributor base brings it into our list. On a personal level, I am impressed by the way they represent their contributor base by giving everyone a dynamic place.

I must say: “Every contributor to CocoaPods has made a mark in history.”

This nice sweet GitHub community is being run by stars like Orta and Danielle.

GitHub: github.com/CocoaPods

Site: cocoapods.org

4. DuckDuckGo

A community of 500+ members around building the first-choice privacy focused search engine. Apart from their popularity, their open-source community defines itself with its contributions in building up data. Though not completely open-source, still its community makes it to the list.

I have been a part of this community before the Maintainers community and I must say they have maintained their community for a long time and people stick around there for a long time. I must say, “They are running their community in the right way”.

This massive community is being managed by Peter, Gautam and others.

GitHub: github.com/duckduckgo

Site: duckduckhack.com

5. GitHub Campus Experts

A 600+ community of students involved in promoting open-source under the flag of GitHub. I saw this community from the very first day. Initially, it proceed slowly but recently, it has gathered huge momentum and have involved several students in open-source events.

I must say, “This community will be the birthplace of other communities.”

This community comes from the stars of the maintainers community.

GitHub: github.com/campus-experts

Site: education.github.com/experts