Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 122
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Georg and co-host Alice introduce a special feature showcasing the “CHAOTICS of the Month” who are members recognized for their exceptional contributions to the CHAOSS open source community. Today, they chat with David Lippert, Victoria Ottah, and Cali Dolfi. David Lippert, Director of the Open Source Program Office at George Washington University, discusses his journey into academia and open source with a focus on public interest technology. Victoria Otta, a UX designer and accessibility advocate, shares her experiences and contributions to the CHAOSS community, particularly in accessibility auditing and inclusion of people with disabilities in open source. Cali Dolfi, a senior data scientist at Red Hat, talks about her work in community data analysis and the Data Science Working Group. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:01:42] Georg highlights the purpose of the today’s episode that includes three guests from the “CHAOTICS of the Month” series.
[00:01:56] The first CHAOTIC guest is David Lippert. He shares his background being a former software and data engineer, now in academia, and works under a Sloan Foundation grant supporting university OSPOs.
[00:05:17] Georg addresses the lack of open source awareness among faculty and encourages integration of open source into academic programs.
[00:06:37] David shares his connection to CHAOSS, joining through the CURRIOSS network of academic OSPOs and talks about working with the UN SDG Working Group to measure global impact through open source. He mentions two GWU students won a UN hackathon related to open source data management.
[00:10:56] David talks about how metrics vary based on context ( IT department vs. researcher focus).
[00:12:44] The next CHAOTIC guest is Victoria Ottah. She shares her background and her journey into CHAOSS, which is the first open source community she joined. CHAOSS provided clarity and mentorship since she was initially struggling as a designer and mentions having early support from Ruth and other maintainers.
[00:16:18] Victoria discusses the need to make GitHub and contribution platforms more welcoming to designers and suggests simplified onboarding and linking repositories to Figma or design workspaces.
[00:17:45] Victoria’s career goals and focus for 2026 is being a certified accessibility advocate to CHAOSS web projects and advocates for including people with disabilities early in the open source design and development process.
[00:20:39] Find out where you can connect with Victoria online.
[00:21:33] The last CHAOTIC guest is Cali Dolfi. She shares her background, starting as a data science intern in 2020, and focused on community analytics. She works with CHAOSS tools Augur and 8Knot for data visualization and analysis.
[00:25:26] Cali is really excited about working in the Data Science Working Group, collaborating with researchers to explore methods for analyzing open source communities, and developing Practitioner Guides to help organizations interpret metrics effectively.
[00:28:03] Cali encourages new contributors to start by joining working groups aligned with their interests and notes that groups are small and welcoming, offering mentorship and practical work.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelists:
Georg Link
Alice Sowerby
Guests:
David Lippert
Victoria Ottah
Cali Dolfi
Links:
CHAOSS
CHAOSS Project X
CHAOSScast Podcast
CHAOSS YouTube
CHAOSS Slack
podcast@chaoss.community
Georg Link Website
Alice Sowerby LinkedIn
David Lippert Bluesky
David Lippert GitHub
Victoria Ottah Website
Victoria Ottah LinkedIn
CHAOSScast Podcast episode featuring Victoria Ottah
Cali Dolfi LinkedIn
CHAOSScast Podcast episodes featuring Cali Dolfi
CHAOTIC of the Month - David Lippert (CHAOSS Monthly-GitHub)
CHAOTIC of the Month – Victoria Ottah (CHAOSS Monthly-GitHub)
CHAOTIC of the Month - Cali Dolfi (CHAOSS Monthly-GitHub)
CURIOSS
CHAOSS United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) Working Group
CHAOSS Data Science Working Group
The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Special Guests: Cali Dolfi and Victoria Ottah.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 121
In this episode of the CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby sits down with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino to discuss the formation and objectives of the new Package Metadata Working Group within the CHAOSS community. They discuss the complex issues surrounding package manager metadata, its interoperability challenges, and how the working group aims to address these through mapping and standardization efforts. They also touch upon the importance of these efforts for various stakeholders, including developers, researchers, and tool builders. The conversation highlights both the immediate and long-term goals of the group and provides information on how interested individuals can get involved. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:00:26] Introductions from Alice, Andrew, and Damián.
[00:02:36] Damián explains how the Package Metadata Working Group started.
[00:04:33] Andrew shares his experience building mappings across multiple package registries and how differing field names, schema structures, and metadata definitions complicate consistency.
[00:10:21] Alice asks about the group’s short and long term objectives and Andrew outlines some immediate goals.
[00:14:52] Damián elaborates on challenges in semantics and timelines. He emphasizes that even identically names fields may carry different meanings and shares an example.
[00:18:46] Alice summarizes Damián’s point saying the group’s role is to provide guidance and analysis rather than enforce standards, helping maintainers make informed metadata decisions.
[00:19:25] Andrew adds that most package managers evolve independently without referencing past ones. The working group’s documentation aims to prevent repeated mistakes and guide new ecosystems toward interoperable designs.
[00:23:06] Damián notes that modern software projects often depend on multiple ecosystems, making license tracking and dependency management exponentially harder without interoperability.
[00:25:02] Andrew explains how researchers waste time rebuilding metadata mapping from scratch across ecosystems and having unified references would accelerate research and tool development.
[00:27:58] Damián discusses how better metadata could support academic credit and funding by enabling easier citation and recognition of open source contributions tied to research projects.
[00:29:39] How can you get involved? Damián invites package manager developers and metadata tool builders to join, and Andrew encourages anyone working with SBOMs or package metadata tools to contribute war stories, mapping, or research use cases.
[00:33:01] Andrew mentions all the places you can join in on the meetings and to share where you are interested in working on.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Alice Sowerby
Guests:
Andrew Nesbitt
Damián Vicino
Links:
CHAOSS
CHAOSS Project X
CHAOSScast Podcast
CHAOSS YouTube
podcast@chaoss.community
Alice Sowerby LinkedIn
Andrew Nesbitt Website
Andrew Nesbitt GitHub
Andrew Nesbitt Mastodon
Damián Vicino LinkedIn
Damián Vicino GitHub
CHAOSSWG: Package Metadata
CHAOSS Calendar
CHAOSS Slack
Special Guests: Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 120
In this episode of CHAOSScast, Harmony Elendu hosts a discussion with Dawn Foster and Bob Killen to discuss their extensive experience in open source and detail the motivations behind the creation of the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides. These guides aim to help practitioners navigate the overwhelming amount of data related to open source projects and understand how to improve project health and sustainability. The discussion covers strategies for communicating the business value of open source efforts to leadership, framing contributions in a way that resonates with organizational priorities, and prioritizing investments in critical projects. Press download now!
[00:00:31] Dawn and Bob introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:02:24] Dawn explains why CHAOSS created Practitioner Guides: to help navigate the “tsunami of data” from open source metrics. The new guide is different and is focused on demonstrating organizational value.
[00:04:36] Harmony asks about the inspiration for the guide. Dawn credits Bob and how the guide was built largely from his talks at KubeCon and the Linux Foundation Member Summit.
[00:05:22] Bob talks about macroeconomic pressures where open source is often first cut. The guide helps orgs tell compelling stories to leadership about open source ROI.
[00:07:14] Bob shares a case study: maintainers reframed contributions in leadership’s language- revenue impact, bug fix turnaround, and resource efficiency and how this secured leadership support. Dawn adds that every organization values different things and provides an example.
[00:11:36] Bob introduces the formula: Priority = Criticality x Health.
[00:13:36] Dawn emphasizes formula helps orgs prioritize strategically critical but under-resourced projects (example: Kubernetes cluster API at VMware). Bob notes criticality differs by company and even department.
[00:16:51] Harmony ask how to report open source value to leadership. Bob explains the importance of framing in leadership’s language, not just raw contribution counts. Dawn warns against poor framing and explains about being careful about how you talk to leadership about your open source efforts.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelists:
Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Dawn Foster
Bob Killen
Links:
CHAOSS
CHAOSS Project X
CHAOSScast Podcast
CHAOSS YouTube
podcast@chaoss.community
Harmony Elendu X
Dawn Foster X
Bob Killen Website
CHAOSS Practitioner Guides
CHAOSS Practitioner Guides (YouTube)
CHAOSS Data Science Working Group: New Guides, Research, and More (Blog Post by Dawn Foster
CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project
CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Building Diverse Leadership
GitHub Pages documentation
Jekyll
Dosu
Special Guest: Bob Killen.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 119
In this episode of CHAOSScast, we have a special episode from our friends at Sustain. Host Richard Littauer from Sustain is joined by guests Ben Nickolls and Andrew Nesbitt to discuss the ecosyste.ms project. They explore how ecosyste.ms collects and analyzes metadata from various open-source projects to create a comprehensive database that can help improve funding allocation. The discussion covers the importance of funding the most critical open-source projects, the existing gaps in funding, and the partnership between ecosyste.ms and Open Source Collective to create funding algorithms that support entire ecosystems. They also talk about the challenges of maintaining data, reaching out to project maintainers, and the broader implications for the open-source community. Hit the download button now!
[00:03:16] Andrew and Ben explain ecosyste.ms, what it does, and how it compares to Libraries.io.
[00:06:17] Ecosyste.ms tracks metadata, not the packages themselves, and enriches data via dependency graphs, committers, issues, SBOMs, and more.
[00:08:12] Andrew talks about finding 1,890 Git hosts and how many critical projects live outside GitHub.
[00:09:55] There’s a conversation on metadata uses and SBOM parsing.
[00:14:07] Richard inquires about the ecosystem.ms funds on their website which Andrew explains it’s a collaboration between Open Collective and ecosyste.ms. that algorithmically distributes funds to the most used, not most popular packages.
[00:17:03] Ben shares how this is different from previous projects and brings up a past project, “Back Your Stack” and explains how ecosyste.ms is doing two things differently.
[00:20:17] Ben explains how it supports payouts to other platforms and encourages maintainers to adopt funding YAML files for automation. Andrew touches on efficient outreach, payout management, and API usage (GraphQL).
[00:26:54] Ben elaborates on how companies can fund ecosyste.ms (like Django) instead of curating their own lists and being inspired by Sentry’s work with the Open Source Pledge.
[00:30:50] Andrew speaks about scaling and developer engagement and emphasizes their focus is on high-impact sustainability.
[00:34:06] Richard asks, “Why does it matter?” Ben explains that most current funding goes to popular, not most used projects and ecosyste.ms aims to fix the gap with data backed funding, and he suggests use of open standards like 360Giving and Open Contracting Data.
[00:37:04] Andrew shares his thoughts on funding the right projects by improving 1% of OSS, you uplift the quality of millions of dependent projects with healthier infrastructure, faster security updates, and more resilient software.
[00:39:53] Find out where you can follow ecosyste.ms and the blog on the web.
Quotes:
[00:12:36] “I call them interesting forks. If a fork is referenced by a package, it’ll get indexed.”
[00:23:25] We’ve built a service that now moves like $25 million a year between OSS maintainers on OSC.”
[00:34:41] “We don’t have enough information to make collective decisions about which projects, communities, maintainers, should receive more funding.”
[00:35:41] “The NSF POSE Program has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to open source communities alone.”
[00:37:05] “If you have ten, twenty thousand really critical open source projects, that actually isn’t unachievable to make those projects sustainable.”
Spotlight:
Panelist:
Richard Littauer
Guests:
Ben Nickolls
Andrew Nesbitt
Links:
Open Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
Open Source Collective Updates
Open Source Collective Contributions
Open Source Collective Contributors
The penumbra of open source (EPJ Data Science)
FOSDEM ’25- Open source funding: you’re doing it wrong (Andrew and Ben)
Sustain Podcast-Episode 80: Emma Irwin and the Foss Fund Program
Sustain Podcast- 3 Episodes featuring Chad Whitacre
Sustain Podcast-Episode 247: Chad Whitacre on the Open Source Pledge
Open Contracting Data Standard
Special Guests: Andrew Nesbitt, Benjamin Nickolls, and Richard Littauer.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 118
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Harmony welcomes guests Maryblessing Okolie, Ileriayo Adebiyi, and Joan Njeri, to discuss their experiences and key moments from recent open source community events in Lagos, Nigeria. These events include CHAOSScon Africa, Open Source Community Africa Festival (OSCAFEST), and KCD Nigeria. The guests share their backgrounds and roles within the open source community, their experiences organizing and attending the events, and the importance of building relationships. They also discuss impactful talks and sessions from the events, highlighting topics such as open source program offices (OSPOs), onboarding systems for open source projects, and the role of passion in the tech industry. Hit download now!
[00:00:43] Harmony and our guests introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:02:54] The guests tell us which conferences they attended.
[00:04:22] Maryblessing reflects on her experience organizing CHAOSScon Africa.
[00:08:48] Ileriayo, one of the organizers of KCD Nigeria, shares his experiences with planning the event that took two years.
[00:11:31] Joan shares her point of view as an attendee of OSCAFEST, being inspired by the energy and collaboration at the events and built partnerships with Eclipse Foundation and others for Kenya projects.
[00:13:24] Harmony and our guests discuss their favorite talks they attended.
[00:21:46] Joan and Ileriayo explain the cultural exchanges they experienced at the events (e.g. food, Pidgin language, networking, traffic, and cross-continent collaboration.)
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Maryblessing Okolie
Ileriayo Adebiyi
Joan Njeri
Links:
Special Guests: Ileriayo Adebiyi, Joan Njeri, and Maryblessing Okolie.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 117
In this episode of CHAOSScast, Georg Link and Sean Goggins welcome guest Vicky Brasseur, author of Business Success with Open Source and Forge Your Future with Open Source. The conversation explores Vicky’s early journey into open source, starting from discovering Project Gutenberg in the early '90s to using Linux for the first time, the challenges companies face when using open source software, and how organizations can better leverage it strategically. The discussion also delves into her book, Forge Your Future with Open Source, which addresses common questions about contributing to open source projects. Vicky highlights the gaps in strategic open source usage within organizations and offers insights on how companies can better utilize open source software to reduce business risks. The conversation wraps up with practical advice for making a compelling business case for open source contributions and the importance of speaking the language of decision-makers. Press download now!
[00:01:05] Vicky introduces herself, shares her journey into open source, and introduces Project Gutenberg, LibriVox, and the value of community contributions to open knowledge and public domain resources.
[00:06:44] Vicky shares how her first book, Forge Your Future with Open Source, helps newcomers start their contribution journey and why she wrote it to be reused across audiences.
[00:10:54] There’s a discussion on how open source opens career path globally, especially in underserved economics.
[00:12:46] Vicky shares some advice from her book for new contributors: Don’t start with Linux and find a project in an area you love (e.g., music, cars, sewing) to maintain long-term motivation.
[00:15:18] Sean and Georg share their personal origin stories in open source.
[00:19:23] Georg introduces Vicky’s second book, Business Success with Open Source, and she discusses the premise of the book and the “Three Part Framework.”
[00:26:08] Vicky argues that even Linux Foundation member companies often don’t understand open source at an organizational level.
[00:29:19] Vicky is available for consulting, following her layoff. She encourages listeners to reach out via her website.
[00:33:55] Why do projects fail? Vicky shares failures come from poor communication and unchecked assumptions across industries, not just tech.
[00:35:36] Vicky criticizes companies for chasing vanity metrics like GitHub stars and praises the CHAOSS Project but notes most companies misuse metrics or don’t tie them to strategic goals. Also, “Script kiddie” is explained.
[00:40:13] Vicky explains how to ethically influence execs by speaking their language, use Power Points and show cost comparisons (e.g., OpenStreetMap vs Google Maps), and she emphasizes to use “TL;DR” (Too Long; Didn’t Read) friendly presentations to connect open source financial and operational outcomes.
[00:44:27] There’s a special discount code for everyone to use on Vicky’s eBooks and audiobooks on The Pragmatic Bookshelf website and the code is VBCHAOSS **for 30% off **through Oct 2025.
[00:45:16] Find out where you can follow Vicky and her work on the internet.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelists:
Georg Link
Sean Goggins
Guest:
VM (Vicky) Brasseur
Links:
Forge Your Future with Open Source by VM (Vicky) Brasseur (Code: VBCHAOSS)
Business Success with Open Source by VM (Vicky) Brasseur (Code: VBCHAOSS)
Nora McDonald (College of Engineering and Computing)
Failure: Why It Happens & How to Benefit from It by VM (Vicky) Brasseur
Special Guest: VM (Vicky) Brasseur.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 116
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Georg Link is joined by guests Sarina Canelake, Feanil Patel, and Felipe Montoya from the Open edX community, to discuss their experiences with the GrimoireLab tool and the launch and growth of their maintainer program. The conversation dives into the history and impact of the Open edX project, the evolution of their maintainer program, and the use of metrics to track and improve community health. The guests also share personal stories and provide insights into the challenges and successes they’ve encountered along the way. Press download now!
[00:00:34] Sarina, Feanil, and Felipe introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:02:02] Feanil and Sarina explain the origins of the maintainer program, the mix of Python and JavaScript repositories, and how maintainers influence code direction.
[00:04:02] Feanil explains the history of Open edX, being open sourced in 2013 by edX (MOOC platform) and how Axim Collaborative took over stewardship in 2021.
[00:07:04] We hear Felipe’s journey into the project from student to TA to community contributor and leader since 2012. He details the empowerment and pressure of receiving merge access in the Core Contributor program.
[00:13:09] Sarina Explains why merge rights were initially limited to edX staff, and how the shift to community-led merging happened post 2020.
[00:15:26] Feanil describes how the Maintainer Program now distributes ownership and improves repository health.
[00:17:12] Feanil talks about his incremental metrics philosophy: starts with presence, then track responsiveness.
[00:21:34] Georg asks how maintainers use GrimoireLab dashboards and filters. Sarina explains the use of Backstage ownership metadata for filtering dashboards by maintainers or groups and Feanil emphasizes the need for flexible tooling due to overlapping team memberships.
[00:24:50] Felipe describes using dashboards to monitor his team’s participation and accountability.
[00:25:40] Sarina asks Felipe about dashboards he uses on Bitergia to track team contributions.
[00:28:26] Sarina shares how she tracks Elephant Factor and trends in commit and LOC volume and Georg highlights the value of identity reconciliation in data.
[00:30:45] Felipe talks about monitoring Slack, issues, and commits to ensure ecosystem health post-company transitions and Sarina notes challenges of mapping Slack/Discourse identities in Sorting Hat for deeper engagement metrics.
[00:34:11] There’s a discussion on syncing internal onboarding identity forms with Sorting Hat manually for now.
[00:35:35] Georg raises concerns about metric misuse in performance reviews. Sarina and Feanil stress metrics as guidance, not performance tools, and Felipe shares his team uses metrics as lagging indicators, not for pressure.
[00:39:55] Sarina explains how their impact report uses lines of code, commit trends, and elephant factor to show growth and codebase health.
[00:42:32] Find out where you can go to get involved and contribute to Open edX and edunext.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Guests:
Links:
Through The Griffin Door (YouTube)
Special Guests: Feanil Patel, Felipe Montoya, and Sarina Canelake.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
In this two-part CHAOSScast special episode, hosts Harmony Elendu and George Link along with panelists from the CHAOSS community, come together to reflect on their experiences at two major open source events: CHAOSScon North America (co-located with the Open Source Summit) and the United Nations Open Source Week in New York. The episode is packed with personal insights, highlighted key talks, software updates, themes from the events, memorable community interactions, and thoughtful conversations about the future of open source, digital sovereignty, and sustainability. Press download now!
[00:00:19] Harmony and the guests introduce themselves and their roles in CHAOSS and the open source community.
[00:02:36] Everyone shares their CHAOSScon talk highlights.
[00:10:49] Conference moments and experiences are talked about such as Linux Foundation’s puppy therapy booths to reduce stress, knitting as a conversation starter, and spontaneous hallway discussions about software security and SBOMs.
[00:17:10] Software updates: Augur now runs easily via Docker Compose, making it accessible to more users.
[00:18:59] Elizabeth explains behind the scenes of organizing CHAOSScon with Linux Foundation support, and challenges with speaker curation, CFP management, and logistics.
[00:23:17] Harmony invites listeners to CHAOSScon Africa and OSCAFEST’25 happening in August, both in the same week and same location.
[00:23:45] Elizabeth, Laura, and Andrew share their CHAOSS booth experiences.
[00:28:28] The guests talk about meeting longtime online collaborators in person for the first time.
[00:30:16] Cali talks about the Data Science Hackathon, student participation, hands-on project exploration with 8Knot and Auger and the event was hosted by the CHAOSS Data Science Working Group.
[00:36:43] Part 2 starts here as host Georg Link takes over with guests Divya, Ruth, and Daniel, who all attended the United Nations Open Source Week in New York.
[00:39:45] We hear some key moments from the UN Open Source Week 2025: Governments increasingly adopting OSPOs, sessions on humanitarian tech and open source for crisis response, the energy, engagement, and diversity of thought.
[00:50:09] Ruth shares something new she learned going to an Open Source Hardware presentation where they did a demo of DIY microscopes and Georg shares an inspiring story he learned using open hardware.
[00:52:12] After being at this conference, Ruth sees open source headed for digital sovereignty and there’s a discussion on the trend toward collaborative Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and public goods.
[00:55:37] There’s a conversation on sustainability and open source communities.
[01:01:09] Governance and transparency is discussed, Daniel shares an example with Germany’s Sovereign Tech Fund supporting critical infrastructure, and Divya shares going to a session that was focused on payments.
[01:06:05] We end with Georg highlighting to check out some recordings from the UN Open Source Week 2025 website and to check out the UN Open Source Principles.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelists:
Harmony Elendu
Georg Link
Guests:
Elizabeth Barron
Andrew Nesbitt
Cali Dolfi
Laura Langdon
Divya Mohan
Ruth Ikegah
Daniel Izquierdo
Links:
CHAOSS Data Science Working Group
United Nations Open Source Week 2025
United Nations Digital Public Goods
United Nations Open Source Principles
OpenFlexure Microscope (open hardware project)
Special Guests: Andrew Nesbitt, Cali Dolfi, Divya Mohan, and Laura Langdon.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 114
In this episode of CHAOSScast, hosts Georg Link and Nicole Huesman engage in a deep discussion with Christian Taylor, Terence (Tex) McCutcheon, and Johnny Kelly about measuring and enhancing open source community health through innovative methods. Christian and his team share their experiences in implementing the 'paid open source model' within the Cardano blockchain community, designed to retain and motivate contributors. The panel discusses a variety of topics, including governance models, the integration of AI for report generation, and the challenges of balancing open source principles with corporate interests. They also explore specific tools and metrics used to evaluate project health and community engagement, providing an illuminating look into the future of open source development. Hit the download button now!
[00:01:40] Our guests give a brief introduction.
[00:04:37] Christian provides a non-technical intro to Cardano, a top blockchain focused on peer reviewed, academic rigor.
[00:06:07] Johnny explains Cardano’s high decentralization via SPOs, DReps, and
community tools like GovTool, and Christian outlines how open source ties in.
[00:09:39] Christian talks about open source governance and Intersect and explains Intersect serves like the Linux Foundation for Cardano, holding code, facilitating contribution ladders, and launching an incubation program.
[00:13:06] Georg gives a summary for those who are new: Cardano’s treasury is funded via blockchain transaction fees. This funding supports open source development, tools, documentation, and maintainers, and Christian elaborates more about this.
[00:15:39] Johnny details governance and funding decisions and Christian emphasizes the transparency and checks and balance system.
[00:17:08] Nicole raises concerns about aligning paid models with open source ethos and Christian discusses Intersect’s neutral, community-owned governance structure and internal checks and Johnny shares a link about the current members and the elective process within Intersect.
[00:20:37] Christian shares using Bitergia and CHAOSS metrics to build out Cardano’s open source health dashboard. Focus areas were response times, geographic contributions, contribution ladders, and project maturity.
[00:26:03] Tex shares their dashboard is public and useful for spotting high-impact projects. He aims to improve documentation standards and repo governance practices.
[00:31:05] Georg gives a brief description of the “jellyfish diagrams” that show how developers connect across projects.
[00:33:26] Christian shares their approach to using AI in metrics reporting and Tex emphasizes AI assists analysis but doesn’t replace human validation.
[00:37:10] Nicole asks if the paid open source model is being shared externally. Christian confirms they presented the model at open source summits, validated it with leading experts, stress-tested with community input, and outlines a six month pilot of the model.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
*Panelists: *
Georg Link
Nicole Huesman
Guests:
Christian Taylor
Terence (Tex) McCutcheon
Johnny Kelly
Links:
Open Source Office at Intersect MBO (YouTube)
Bitergia Repo Maturity Reports
Edinburgh Decentralization Index Dashboard
Current Open Source Committee Members list and Term Rotation Schedules
Bitergia Monthly Maturity Reports for 2025
Introductory Article on POSM (Intersect)
Intersecting Open Source and Sustainability: A Paid Open Source Model for Ecosystems Full PDF
The Paid Open Source Model Concept (YouTube)
New Calidus Pool-Key for SPOs and Services Interacting with Pools
Special Guests: Johnny Kelly, Christian Taylor, and Terence (Tex) McCutheon.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 112
In this special CHAOSS community panel episode, Harmony hosts a group discussion with Daniel Izquierdo, Peculiar Umeh, Cassie Seo, and Ijeoma Onwuka as they share their experiences at the FOSS Backstage conference held in Berlin. They dive into their goals for attending, the talks they gave, key takeaways, and what the open source community means to them. Topics covered include measuring social and economic impact through open source, building sustainable open-source projects, diversity in open-source communities, and various personal experiences and learnings that contribute to individual and community growth. Press download now to hear more!
[00:00:29] Our guests introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:03:15] We start with FOSS Backstage conference takeaways from each guest.
[00:08:49] Cassie recaps her panel, emphasizing the complexity of measuring impact in humanitarian and academic settings.
[00:12:54] Sessions that stood out: Ijeoma points out a session on how open source can help meet UN SDGs and expresses interest in the newly released Open Source Principles.
[00:14:35] Peculiar attended Stephen Pollard’s talk on an educational model by OpenChain, related to improving onboarding in open source.
[00:16:30] Cassie learned about digital public health infrastructure via Bianca’s World Health Organization affiliated session.
[00:17:58] Ijeoma was inspired by Dr. Wolfgang Gehring’s session on contributor efficiency and avoiding pseudo productivity. Cassie reiterates pseudo productivity issue and its implications in social impact metrics.
[00:21:22] The discussion turns to people connections and Peculiar talks about meeting and connecting with Stephen Pollard and appreciating the support during her talk. Daniel saw value in meeting the broader community, and Ijeoma was proud to represent Nigeria and met CHAOSS members and other international speakers despite travel barriers.
[00:25:07] There’s a conversation on what everyone learned at the conference. Cassie learned to overcome fear and embrace the value of her ideas despite technical difficulties and Peculiar felt deeply supported by the open source community during her illness mid-talk.
[00:27:45] Daniel gained insight on EU regulation and how it affects small businesses and open source projects and Ijeoma learned to trust her voice and recognized the passion of global contributors.
[00:30:19] We end with closing thoughts on the conference: Peculiar shares it was an amazing conference and is eager to attend future editions in person. Daniel reveals three hashtags to sum up his experience: Community, friends, and learning experience. Ijeoma called it an “exceptional” experience, including food, conversations, and inclusion. Cassie sums it up in three words: Urgency, care, and collaboration.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Daniel Izquierdo
Peculiar Umeh
Cassie Seo
Ijeoma Onwuka
Links:
Special Guests: Ijeoma Onwuka, Cassie Jiun Seo, and Peculiar Umeh.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 112
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Georg Link, along with Nicole Huesman and Ruth Ikegah, welcome guest Chrys Wu to discuss the findings from the “State of Open Infrastructure” report by Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI). The episode dives into how community health frameworks shape open infrastructure decisions, highlighting various frameworks like CHAOSS metrics, the FOREST framework, and POSI. Chrys talks about the Infra Finder tool and the importance of trust in decision-making for open infrastructure. The conversation also touches on metrics for understanding community engagement, the challenges of resource allocation, and the impact of open infrastructure on research ecosystems. Press download now to find out more!
[00:01:01] Chrys explains her role of product lead at IOI and leading the research for the “State of Open Infrastructure” report.
[00:02:08] Why study community health frameworks? IOI heard repeated mentions of frameworks in conversations but wasn’t sure of their awareness or impact.
[00:03:20] Chrys talks about the focus on three frameworks: CHAOSS, the FOREST framework (scholarly publishing), and POSI (The Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure).
[00:06:20] Chrys defines “Open Infrastructure” that includes software, tools, standards, protocols used across the research lifecycle, and does not include hardware.
[00:07:15] She shares some research findings that include a general low awareness of community health frameworks, trust is the key theme, and goes in depth with some primary concerns.
[00:10:00] Ruth elaborates into CHAOSS metrics context explaining CHAOSS uses working groups to develop context-aware metrics and metrics and models help projects focus efforts, like identifying organizational diversity or adoption levels.
[00:14:48] Who are CHAOSS metrics for? Ruth explains that metrics are made for the community: maintainers, users, contributors, and funders, and Georg talks about the origins of CHAOSS.
[00:17:55] Chrys dives into the Infra Finder breakdown. She goes in depth what it gathers information on and how it allows organizations to assess readiness and sustainability of open infrastructure projects.
[00:21:42] The Infra Finder has been used successfully in procurement processes. Chrys turns the conversation to talking about decision making. Users depend on peer feedback and case studies due to lack of formal sales/support in open source and she shares some key questions.
[00:26:34] Nicole brings up the topic of supporting new contributors and there’s a discussion on how CHAOSS includes metrics to identify and support new contributors and resources include project badging, practitioner guides, and metric models. Also, Ruth talks about challenges for small projects.
[00:31:35] Chrys details some information on how IOI helps improve project visibility by sharing entries and providing communications support.
[00:32:38] As far as what’s next for the research they are doing, Chrys shares they’re doing more in-depth sharing of report findings coming soon and IOI invites collaborators to help build governance, strategy, and respond to community needs.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
*Panelists: *
Georg Link
Nicole Huesman
Ruth Ikegah
Guest:
Chrys Wu
Links:
Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI)
Invest in Open Infrastructure Strategic Support
Invest in Open Infrastructure Bluesky
Invest in Open Infrastructure Mastodon
Invest in Open Infrastructure LinkedIn
Infra Finder Expression of Interest
The Principles of Open Scholarly Infrastructure
SHINee’s new single “Poet | Artist” (YouTube)
Special Guest: Chrys Wu.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 111
In this episode of the CHAOSScast, host Harmony leads a discussion featuring panelists Dawn Foster, Peculiar Umeh, Aishat Muhammed, and Elizabeth Barron, all of whom are involved in the CHAOSS Education Project. They discuss their roles within the CHAOSS Project and introduce the CHAOSS Education Project, which aims to create accessible learning resources for open source contributors at various experience levels. They cover the project's categories, share their personal contributions, personal growth, the impact on the community, future plans for sustainability and expansion, and how you can contribute to the project. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:00:27] The panelists introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:02:40] Peculiar gives an overview of the CHAOSS Education Project which launched at CHAOSScon Europe 2025.
[00:04:39] Dawn talks about the target audience of the project, with the primary audience being CHAOSS community newcomers. and anybody can take any of the courses.
[00:06:38] Elizabeth talks about her contribution with creating an ‘Into to CHAOSS’ video and helped review and update script content.
[00:07:19] Aishat shares her contribution working on content about types of open source and licensing and how research deepened her own understanding.
[00:09:20] Peculiar talks about her contributions as Project Manager where she led project design, content workflow, contributor onboarding, and quality review.
[00:10:57] Dawn shares her contributions with creating the ‘Practitioner Guides’ videos and other key educational content.
[00:12:12] Elizabeth speaks about the impact of the project, transitioning chaotic onboarding into a structured learning tool.
[00:13:38] Aishat explains her personal growth form contributing, gaining deeper understanding of licensing and types of open source, and improving technical and collaborative skills.
[00:14:45] Dawn shares her observations on community engagement and how happy she is seeing new faces, especially from CHAOSS Africa.
[00:15:59] Peculiar shares her project management growth and how it enhanced her people skills, patience, and learned the value of diverse collaboration.
[00:17:23] Harmony wants to know the future of CHAOSS Education Project and Elizabeth shares the project’s future and elaborates on the success of the project.
[00:19:46] Aishat fills us in on how to contribute to the CHAOSS Education Project.
[00:22:05] Peculiar talks about the global impact on the project with a streamlined onboarding process, positive community feedback, and universities and external communities using the materials.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Dawn Foster
Peculiar Umeh
Aishat Muhammed
Elizabeth Barron
Links:
Special Guests: Aishat Muhammed and Peculiar Umeh.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 110
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Harmony Elendu brings together two remarkable CHAOSS Africa contributors, Busayo Ojo and Yigakpoa Ikpae (Yiga), for an inspiring conversation in the "20 Minutes in CHAOSS Africa*"* series. They discuss how they discovered open source, navigated the CHAOSS community, overcame early confusion, and ultimately flourished as leaders and mentors. Also, they highlight the importance of participation, attending meetings, helping newcomers, and the unique initiatives within the CHAOSS community that help foster inclusivity and engagement. Press the download button now to hear more!
[00:01:41] Busayo shares her open source journey that started in 2021.
[00:04:08] Yiga shares finding her place with discovering CHAOSS at an event but initially didn’t understand it but returned after being inspired by the community’s warmth.
[00:06:20] Busayo talks about settling into the community and praises CHAOSS for being welcoming, having an effective first-time contributor guide, and the importance of showing up and helping others.
[00:10:54] Yiga talks about her first contributions and growth, starting with small tasks to build confidence, and becoming more involved through liaison and support roles.
[00:12:46] Busayo explains how open source improved her career trajectory and global network, being inspired by other leaders, and forming lasting friendships.
[00:14:21] Yiga explains her improved communication and leadership skills, learning humility and openness to feedback, and how contributions can open career doors.
[00:17:02] Busayo shares her favorite CHAOSS initiatives including the Tour Guide Program, helping organize CHAOSScon Africa 2023, and the CHAOSS Hacktoberfest event.
[00:19:59] What keeps Yiga going? She credits YouTube recordings for learning and highlights CHAOSS’s documentation culture and transparency.
[00:20:55] Harmony reflects on how YouTube recordings helped him personally.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
*Panelist: * Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Yigakpoa Ikpae (Yiga)
Busayo Ojo
Links:
Yigakpoa Ikpae (Yiga) (CHAOSS)
Special Guest: Yigakpoa Ikpae.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 109
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Georg Link is joined by Cali Dolfi, Senior Data Scientist at Red Hat, and Brittany Istenes, FINOS Ambassador. The discussion delves into the importance of measuring open source community health and the role of Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) in ensuring software security and compliance. They talk about the rising threats in open source software, the need for standardizing SBOMs, and how organizations can leverage these tools to proactively manage risks and project health. Also, they touch on practical steps being taken at Red Hat and other organizations to address these challenges. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:00:21] Our guests introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:01:55] Georg explains the rise of malicious packages (700%) and the risks of neglected open source components.
[00:04:36] What is a SBOM? Brittany explains SBOMs as a list of all software components and libraries in each application and automation and tooling adoption is discussed.
[00:06:08] Cali outlines the lack of consensus on SBOM fields and formats and advocates for including upstream repo links to assess project health. Brittany mentions companies being cautious about publicizing SBOMs due to IP concerns.
[00:09:12] Georg gives a historical overview about SBOMs began as tools for license compliance and how SBOMs now cover more including cybersecurity, post U.S. Executive Order 14028 (May 2021).
[00:15:51] Georg shares three pillars of SBOM strategy: License compliance, Security, and Project Health and how CHAOSS Metrics can be combined with SBOMs to move from reactive to proactive strategies.
[00:16:59] Brittany emphasizes risk analysis and good design from project inception and proactive open source strategies save effort later.
[00:18:43] Cali talks about using project health metrics and advocates for tracking maintainer activity, patch frequency, and project responsiveness.
[00:21:28] Brittany stresses internal engineering education on project health and risk and developer smush understand what makes a project “healthy.”
[00:22:55] Georg talks about how open source has evolved and details using CHAOSS metrics for risk assessment and CI/CD integration.
[00:27:36] Cali shares Red Hat’s efforts to define what makes a project vulnerable and how it’s focused on detecting and sunsetting unmaintained dependencies.
[00:31:37] Brittany emphasizes risk from version mismatches and misinterpreted CVEs and mentions a CHAOSS doc to read, “Metrics for OSS Viability” by Gary White.
[00:34:17] We end with Georg sharing some upcoming events: CHAOSScon North America, June 26 and Open Source Summit North America, June 23-25.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
*Panelist: *
Georg Link
Guests:
Cali Dolfi
Brittany Istenes
Links:
State of the Software Supply Chain (Sonatype)
CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 103: GrimoireLab at FreeBSD
CHAOSS Community: Metrics for OSS Viability by Gary White
CHAOSScon North America 2025, Denver, CO, June 26
Open Source Summit North America, Denver CO, June 23-25
Cyber Resilience Act (European Commission)
Rising Threat: Understanding Software Supply Chain Cyberattacks And Protecting Against Them(Forbes)
Types of Software Bill of Material (SBOM) Documents
OSS Project Viability Starter (CHAOSS)
Show Me What You Got: Turning SBOMs Into Actions- Georg Link & Brittany Istenes
Special Guests: Brittany Istenes and Cali Dolfi.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 108
In this episode of CHAOSScast, Harmony Elendu hosts a dynamic panel discussion with Divya Mohan, Yaya Xia, and Leon Nunes to discuss the latest updates from the CHAOSS Asia chapter. The episode dives into the history and growth of the CHAOSS Asia chapter, from focusing on metrics and localization to expanding collaborations across Asia. They discuss the challenges of awareness, contributor participation and cultural and linguistic diversity. The conversation also highlights plans for 2025 to include creating a database of open-source communities in Asia and enhancing community engagement through tailored awareness efforts. The conversation also touches on the importance of mentorship in open-source communities. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:00:31] The guests introduce themselves and their backgrounds.
[00:03:31] Yaya tells us the brief history of CHAOSS Asia that started in 2020.
[00:05:09] Divya talks about the growth and strategy of CHAOSS Asia and how it shifted to broader community engagement and partnerships.
[00:07:53] Leon talks about contributor participation and the GitHub repo for issues if anyone is interested in participating.
[00:09:24] Divya shares plans for 2025 to include creating a database of open source communities in Asia.
[00:11:02] Yaya dives into some challenges such as cultural and language barriers, CHAOSS is more research-focused, and the need for localized, language-accessible discussions and events.
[00:13:18] Divya brings up awareness being a huge challenge when it comes to the CHAOSS project because many assume CHAOSS is only about non-technical/community work and region-specific tailored outreach is necessary.
[00:15:29] Harmony asks about the current focus in CHAOSS Asia and Divya shares increasing awareness through virtual meetups, conference talks, and partnering with organizations.
[00:16:40] Leon speaks about the social media and language inclusion presence with CHAOSS Asia managing Twitter and LinkedIn and considering localized subgroups for language-specific events.
[00:18:21] Yaya talks about local orgs and events to connect CHAOSS and wants to bring more attention to inclusion for disabled contributors (DEI).
[00:20:05] Divya highlights the importance of partnerships and amplifying others’ work.
[00:21:26] Divya talks about how they are maximizing community and contributors’ participation with meetings scheduled for convenience across Asian time zones and emphasis on safety, inclusion, and providing space for diverse voices.
[00:23:11] Yaya speaks about wanting to demonstrate metrics’ value to more maintainers and plans to present at local events in native languages (e.g. Chinese).
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Divya Mohan
Yaya Xia
Leon Nunes
Links:
Special Guest: Divya Mohan.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast- Episode 107
In this episode of CHAOSScast, we have a special crossover episode with Sustain, hosted Richard Littauer. Richard chats with CHAOSS contributor Sean Goggins, a tenured full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Missouri. Sean discusses his extensive involvement in the open source community, particularly through his work with the CHAOSS Project, a Linux Foundation initiative focused on understanding and improving open-source project sustainability. Their conversation covers Sean's academic background, his role in CHAOSS, the importance of distributed leadership, and how metrics can impact the sustainability of open source projects. Sean also shares insights into his teaching methods, the challenges of maintaining open source software, and the future direction of his work on CHAOSS and Augur. Hit the download button now!
[00:02:32] Sean shares that he’s a professor specializing in software engineering, algorithms, data science, and visualization, and he discusses his tenure status and passion for research and open source work.
[00:03:48] Sean explains how open source leadership is distributed rather than centralized.
[00:05:52] We hear how the CHAOSS Project emerged from studying open source governance and leadership. Sean and Matt Germonprez started working on open source collaboration data and a metrics-focused discussion at a Linux Foundation Summit that led to the founding of the CHAOSS Project in 2017.
[00:09:30] Richard asks Sean how he balances research, teaching, and open source. Sean discusses how he splits time between research (40%), teaching (40%), and service (20%), with CHAOSS being a major part of his research efforts.
[00:14:34] Sean explains that the Augur Project was born out of a need for structured open source data tracking.
[00:16:25] Richard asks Sean if he teaches his students about open source, and he explains that he uses CHAOSS and Auger to teach students about GitHub collaboration, pull requests, and open source workflows.
[00:20:32] Sean shares his insights on research and open source. He emphasizes his involvement in maintaining software and aiding organizations in making sense of CHAOSS metrics through Augur, which has given him a deep understanding of open source development.
[00:21:51] Sean explains why he thinks metrics help make projects more sustainable and how the CHAOSS community has benefitted from fostering a welcoming environment for both technical and non-technical contributors.
[00:26:30] We hear some challenges within CHAOSS where it’s been difficult to build a strong developer community around CHAOSS software tools and maintaining open source software requires significant effort.
[00:29:18] He goes further to explain how to be a better project and that there’s potential for improving project sustainability through structured mentoring and governance.
[00:36:14] Sean shares CHAOSS Project’s future and research goals.
Panelist:
Richard Littauer of Sustain
Guest:
Sean Goggins of CHAOSS
Value Adds (Picks)/Spotlight:
Links:
Open Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
Nora McDonald-Commonwealth Cyber Initiative
Sustain Podcast- 3 episodes featuring guest Georg Link
Sustain Podcast- 2 episodes featuring guest Dawn Foster
Matt Germonprez-Univ. of Nebraska Omaha
The Linux Kernel Maintainer Summit-Tokyo, Japan 2025
Kelly Blincoe-University of Auckland
Sustain Podcast- episode 218 featuring guest James Howison
Sustain Podcast-episode 243 featuring guest Elizabeth Barron
Sustain Podcast-episode 65 featuring guest Brian Proffitt
Sustain Podcast-2 episodes featuring guest Duane O’Brien
Sustain Podcast-episode 200 featuring guest Stuart Geiger
Digital Infrastructure Podcast- 2 episodes featuring guest Rayya El Zein
Special Guest: Richard Littauer.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 106
In this episode of the CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby introduces guests Dawn Foster, Cailean Osborne, and Paul Sharratt to discuss the newly formed 'Funding Impact Measurement Working Group' within the CHAOSS community. The panel explores the group's origins, goals, and objectives, emphasizing the importance of mixed method approaches to assess the impact of funding on open source projects. They highlight the significance of both quantitative and qualitative methods to understand the effects of funding better and share insights on creating standardized frameworks for impact assessment. The discussion also touches on the challenges of public versus private funding, the nuances of financial support in open source projects, and the potential benefits of having a collaborative, open forum for related discussions. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:02:55] Dawn explains the newly established ‘Funding Impact Measurement Working Group’ within the CHAOSS Project including its goals and how often they meet.
[00:04:26] Paul describes how the working group was founded after a research paper was written on measuring the impact of public funding on open source and how they presented at Open Forum Academy at Harvard Business School.
[00:07:20] Dawn highlights open source funding comes from different sources and more about Microsoft’s FOSS Fund and measuring the impact of corporate sponsorship.
[00:10:25] Cailean outlines all the core objectives of the working group.
[00:13:17] We hear about the working group’s first meeting, including members from Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund, and the plan to build a repository of funding models, their effectiveness, and key case studies.
[00:15:34] There’s a discussion on the challenges in measuring funding impact, which Dawn explains cases where funding has led to community conflicts (some contributors get paid while others remain unpaid).
[00:19:45] Cailean talks about the long-term vision for the group which is expanding participation across different funding sources and building open source tools (e.g., Python scripts, Jupyter Notebooks) to support funding impact assessments.
[00:21:26] Dawn encourages participation in a working group by contributing in various ways, whether through technical resources, providing insights and experiences related to funding impacts, or simply learning and engaging in discussions.
[00:23:42] Paul and Cailean emphasize the need for qualitative research alongside quantitative metrics. Policymakers often seek “hard numbers,” but contextual insights from interviews and case studies are crucial.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Alice Sowerby
Guests:
Dawn Foster
Cailean Osborne
Paul Sharratt
Links:
Funding Impact Measurement Working Group
A Toolkit for Measuring the Impacts of Public Funding on Open Source Software Development (Paper)
“Measuring the impact of our investments: introducing a co-authored paper,” by Paul Sharratt
#1-Dawn designed and printed on Blender
#2-Dawn designed and printed on Blender
Special Guests: Cailean Osborne and Paul Sharratt.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 105
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby introduces guests Heather Ellsworth, Wayne Mery, and Luis Cañas-Díaz. Today, the conversation focuses on the collaboration between Thunderbird and Bitergia, detailing their journey in using Grimoire Lab to gather community metrics. Key points include the importance of metrics in understanding community dynamics, the various tools monitored for data collection, and the impact of these metrics on community management. The panelists also share advice for other open source projects considering adopting Grimoire Lab and reflect on future plans. Press download now to hear more!
[00:00:31] Alice, Heather, Wayne and Luis introduce themselves and share their backgrounds.
[00:04:08] Wayne explains Thunderbird’s history and evolution from Netscape Navigator and Heather adds her personal experience with Thunderbird as a user and developer.
[00:06:21] Luis elaborates on Bitergia’s role in providing data and metrics for the Thunderbird community.
[00:07:51] Heather discusses the project between Thunderbird and Bitergia, focusing on community health and data analysis and Wayne emphasizes the need for metrics to understand community dynamics better.
[00:10:10] The origin of the collaboration idea is traced back to discussions about community metrics and Heather and Wayne reflect on their discovery and learning process with GrimoireLab and CHAOSS.
[00:12:09] Luis compares the Thunderbird project with other similar projects and discusses the challenges due to diverse tools.
[00:13:47] Heather talks about developing dashboards to monitor various types of contributions within the Thunderbird community.
[00:16:06] Wayne describes refining the data to better suit Thunderbird’s needs.
[00:17:16] Heather mentions how metrics have influenced Thunderbird’s community engagement strategies.
[00:18:13] The accessibility and public sharing of dashboards is discussed.
[00:21:13] The conversation turns to future plans with GrimoireLab, metrics, and Thunderbird are outlined, focusing on understanding community dynamics better.
[00:23:05] Heather speaks about some of the dashboards in more detail.
[00:25:50] Luis talks about new developments on GrimoireLab, including the extension and updating of tools by their team to enhance support for forums, translation, communication, and tracking issues.
[00:27:46] Our guests share advice about adopting GrimoireLab for other open source projects and GrimoireLab’s benefits.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Alice Sowerby
Guests:
Luis Cañas-Díaz
Heather Ellsworth
Wayne Mery
Links:
Thunderbird Blog-“Open Source, Open Data: Visualizing Our Community with Bitergia”
Bitergia Analytics-Thunderbird
Thunderbird Installation Statistics
Special Guests: Heather Ellsworth, Luis Cañas-Díaz, and Wayne Mery.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 104
In this episode of CHAOSScast, join our host Harmony along with guests Winifred Young and Oluchi Nwankwo as they dive into their journeys and experiences in the open source community. They discuss their first encounters with open source, their contributions, and the impacts they've made within CHAOSS Africa. They also highlight the importance of effective onboarding, clear documentation, and the need for better marketing strategies in open source communities. Press download to hear more!
[00:00:24] Winifred and Oluchi introduce themselves and tell us what they do.
[00:01:55] Winifred recounts her initial confusion about open source and her eventual engagement through programs like Google Summer of Code.
[00:02:53] Oluchi describes her introduction to open source during a coding bootcamp and meeting Ruth Ikegah, community lead at CHAOSS Africa.
[00:04:52] Oluchi talks about her slow start and eventual active involvement in the CHAOSS Africa community through managing social media.
[00:06:50] Winifred shares her struggles with joining the community due to her mobility issues and how she became more involved through attending community meetings.
[00:09:28] Harmony highlights the importance of attending community meetings as a form of participation and praises newcomers’ hangout for helping new members.
[00:11:13] Oluchi reflects on her impactful experience managing CHAOSS Africa’s conference communications in 2018.
[00:13:07] Winifred discusses organizing an outreach event for the Disability-Inclusion team, emphasizing how open source has provided her with opportunities to lead and make a difference.
[00:16:14] We end with a discussion on the areas for improvement in the community, like better documentation and increased visibility of projects through effective marketing.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Harmony Elendu
Guests:
Oluchi Nwankwo
Winifred Young
Links:
Special Guests: Oluchi Nwankwo and Winifred Young.
Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!
CHAOSScast – Episode 103
In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby welcomes guests Miguel Ángel Fernández, Ed Maste, and Moin Rahman to talk about the FreeBSD Project's adoption of GrimoireLab as part of work commissioned by the Sovereign Tech Agency.
They discuss the FreeBSD Foundation's need to understand their extensive bug backlog and how they leveraged GrimoireLab to gain insights and optimize bug management. The conversation also covers the challenges of deploying GrimoireLab on FreeBSD, resulting enhancements in the GrimoireLab metrics, and the overall benefits seen in managing the FreeBSD project.
Press download to hear more!
[00:00:45] The guests introduce themselves and share their backgrounds.
[00:03:00] Alice explains the adoption of GrimoireLab by the FreeBSD project, facilitated by Bitergia who Miguel works for, to enhance project metrics and dashboarding capabilities.
[00:04:02] Ed details FreeBSD’s history, it integrated approach to software distribution, and its licensing benefits.
[00:05:50] Miguel describes Bitergia’s role in providing analytics for open source projects through GrimoireLab and how it integrates data from various development platforms.
[00:07:38] Ed discusses the FreeBSD project’s need for better tools to manage its large bug backlog, prompting the adoption of GrimoireLab.
[00:10:57] Alice and Miguel discuss the translation of specific project needs into functional dashboards within GrimoireLab.
[00:15:38] Ed highlights the utility of the Backlog Management Index (BMI) dashboard, which helps assess the effectiveness of efforts to manage and reduce the bug backlog.
[00:18:20] Moin speaks on the practical use of GrimoireLab during bug busting sessions, which helped identify and close outdates or irrelevant bugs.
[00:20:14] Moin explains the challenges and solutions of deploying GrimoireLab on FreeBSD, emphasizing the importance of utilizing FreeBSD’s native capabilities over Linux-based solutions.
[00:24:26] Miguel mentions new features added to GrimoireLab, inspired by their collaboration with the FreeBSD project, improving metrics for bug management.
[00:28:05] Ed provides insights into the patterns of bug response times and highlights the need for proactive management of bugs that are unlikely to be addressed, and Miguel shares his positive thoughts on the community responding to the bugs.
Value Adds (Picks) of the week:
Panelist:
Alice Sowerby
Guests:
Miguel Ángel Fernández
Ed Maste
Moin Rahman
Links:
Miguel Ángel Fernández LinkedIn
Sovereign Tech Fund to Invest €686,400 in FreeBSD Infrastructure Modernization
FreeBSD's GrimoireLab instance
Documentation for FreeBSD's GrimoireLab instance
Special Guests: Ed Maste, Miguel Ángel Fernández Sánchez , and Moin Rahman.