If you don't get better answers and you're at or near a university... you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours browsing the faculty websites in departme

If you don't get better answers and you're at or near a university... you could do a lot worse than spend a few hours browsing the faculty websites in departments related to your interests. Look for assistant or associate professors or grad students w/ informative websites (those will typically be the more senior and more independently motivated grad students) and look for people who post their code. That will help filter out the people who are likely to care about this issue (ie people who want better code in their field) and who might be working on something you're interested in and could contribute to. Then email them, set up a meeting if possible, and ask them your questions in person :) But, just to be clear, I wouldn't suggest that you volunteer to help them specifically; they will have no idea if you're reliable, any good, etc., and, like the parent said, this is a pretty low priority for them. But they should be able to help you get started in the right direction, and a lot of professors will feel (and may be) professionally obligated to guide you if you show progress and commitment.