As the 90-9-1 Rule for online community engagement states, 90% of community members lurk, 9% edit or respond, and 1% create. This guide is for those who are ready to move to the 9% or even 1% tier.

When you are ready to get involved, we certainly welcome every kind of positive involvement at MLC, and there are far more possibilities than we can list here. However, here are some common options:

• Start your first engagement with the community: Maybe send a message or ask a question on the Discord, say hi to an MLC member or affiliate at an event, or take part in any existing events or services. Read the website and/or this wiki in full. If you notice some errors or inconsistencies, that'll be a good topic to bring up.
• Join an event: Check out the events calendar, or add it to your Google Calendar or iCal. All of our events are open to the public, and should have the joining details in the calendar. If the details aren't clear, ask in the Discord and we'll be happy to update them.
• Join or start an interest group: See this page: How to start or join an Interest Group
• Organize an event for MLC: See this page: How to host an MLC event
• Find collaborators for your research: If there is an interest group channel related to your interest area, this is usually an excellent place to start. Just describe your interests or needs in the channel. Otherwise, there is a seeking-collaborators channel just for this. The more specific you are about what you are seeking, especially your intended topic, if/where you intend to publish, and what you want from your collaborators, the more likely you will be to get matched.
• Use MLC as your research lab without collaborating: It's fine if you like working solo! Feel free to use us for feedback on ideas, advice, or writing help. You can get more substantial support after presenting about your work at one of our research jams.
• Get specific advice: There is a wiki page just about this: How to get advice
• Get compute assistance: ML projects cost compute! We have in-house compute support available. Write a one-page proposal, or give an intro presentation at one of our research jams to be qualified for a compute grant. Read Ask for MLC compute assistance and email compute@mlcollective.org for details.
• Offer mentoring: For formal mentoring, we have a channel seeking-mentor-mentee where you can browse requests and offer to meet with askers. Less formal mentoring formats include our Office Hour service, attending research jams as a mentor, and answering questions in general on our Discord. We have a research-in-progress category where people post intermediate research results or thoughts. A great mentoring opportunity would be to supply them a little gradient signal to help them move forward.