In The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Eric Raymond discusses his approach to initiating and developing an OpenSource project. His strategy and process was based around the success of the Linux OS. The paper is a recount on the step by step thought process of development. Throughout the paper, he conveys his strategies through 19 'lessons' that developers should ponder.
Towards the end of the paper, he contrasts his experiences with the ClosedSource program manager's functions. He then goes on to argue the restrictiveness of the ClosedSource process by showing how none of the functions are applicable to OpenSource methodology.
The key concepts that I've taken away from this paper are that designers should follow their hearts and design to achieve personal goals. Also, as a designer, you will know when an approach is correct because it will be simple and provide a cohesive set of functionalities true to the identity of the project entity.
After reading the paper, I'm further convinced of the effectiveness and inherent beauty in OpenSource development.
In addition to readin "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", I registered for ITK's mailing list, and spent a good deal of time fully examining their website. I also started to read the ITK Software Development Handbook, which covers everything about development for the toolkit (includes architecture, class and function documentation, etc.).
On a side note, I emailed the ITK development team introducing myself, our team's intentions, and asking for any initial direction.
As far as an IRC channel, I am familiar with mIRC, but I don't believe that the ITK development uses an IRC. In the email to the developers, I asked if they used any sort of real-time communication tool. Hopefully I will get a response...
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