Sentinel is a community project. Its ongoing shape and development depend on public contributions.
Contributions do not need to involve code or technical work. Public health experience, testing, documentation and design can all contribute to the project.
Browse the GitHub issues for current tasks. Issues labelled contribution opportunity are a useful starting point, especially if you are new to contributing.
Install Sentinel, try some basic surveillance workflows and share what happened. A fresh installation and a clear account of your experience help improve both the software and its instructions.
Choose a task that fits your experience. You may contribute across several areas.
Install the application, complete setup and test workflows using synthetic data. Check whether the results match your expectations and whether the instructions and screens are understandable.
A useful report includes the steps followed, expected and actual behaviour, and a suggested improvement.
Explore testing tasks →Use your operational experience to propose disease-specific data requirements, case definitions, interview processes, reporting or investigation workflows.
A useful contribution describes a current problem and a detailed, workable solution. Include the data to collect, the proposed steps, example scenarios and the expected outcome.
Try configuring a surveillance workflow ↗Take on a focused bug fix, correct a label or adjust a small interface behaviour. These changes can be a practical way to become familiar with the codebase and contribution process.
Find a focused issue ↗Develop a new feature, investigate a logic error, improve an integration or contribute to security controls and testing. This work may involve the data model, permissions, background processing or several parts of the application.
Discuss the proposed scope and expected behaviour before starting a substantial change.
Read the contribution guide ↗Create, update or organise user documentation. Explain a configuration task, clarify an installation step or add an example that helps another user complete a workflow.
Following a guide as a new user is a useful way to identify what needs explaining.
Explore the documentation ↗Contribute to the website, branding, documentation layouts, illustrations or logo assets. Help explain the project and its workflows clearly while maintaining a consistent visual identity.
Propose a specific improvement and share a draft or example for discussion.
Discuss a design contribution →If you would like to join, contact Christian with your interests or experience. We can identify a suitable contribution together.