CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast- Episode 93

Guests:

Elizabeth Barron

Luis Cañas-Diaz

Dawn Foster

Panelists:

Alice Sowerby

Richard Littauer

In this episode of CHAOSScast, it’s a crossover with Sustain, host Richard Littauer is joined by three guests, Dawn Foster, Elizabeth Barron, and Luis Cañas Diaz, to discuss the CHAOSS Project's recent development of Practitioner Guides. The show delves into the purpose of these guides, which are designed to help open source projects interpret and utilize metrics to improve community health and sustainability. The guests explain the significance of metrics in open source projects, the challenges of defining and making them accessible, and how the guides can benefit different types of projects, from large corporations to individual developers. Topics covered include the background and format of the guides, specifics on the metrics discussed, and the practical applications and improvements these guides aim to facilitate. Go ahead and download this episode now!

[00:03:03] Dawn fills us in on the connections between the guests and their collective work on the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides.

[00:03:43] The conversation shifts to the specifics of the CHAOSS Project, highlighting the international community involvement and various working groups focusing on different aspects of open source projects like corporate OSPOs, university OSPOs, and diversity and equity initiatives.

[00:05:31] Luis describes the origin and work of Bitergia and its collaboration with CHAOSS Project, particularly in developing tools like Grimoire Lab.

[00:07:17] Richard turns the discussion to the CHAOSS Project’s Practitioner Guides, where Dawn discusses the purpose of the introduction guide in the series, designed to help users understand and apply metrics effectively across various open source contexts.

[00:10:58] There’s a discussion on the format of the guides, emphasizing their accessibility, ethical considerations in data handling, and how they’re designed to be adaptable to different needs. Luis highlights the need for CHAOSS and Bitergia projects to provide actionable insights rather than just more metrics.

[00:13:28] Elizabeth and Dawn explain the broader goal of the guides to not only provide metrics but also helps users interpret and apply these to drive tangible improvements in open source projects.

[00:14:54] We learn about the target audience for the guides and how they cater to both large organizational structures (OSPOs) and individual project maintainers.

[00:16:15] Dawn explains what the Contributor Sustainability Guide focuses on, emphasizing strategies for sustainable contribution and community involvement in open source projects.

[00:17:53] The discussion centers on renaming the “bus factor” metric to “contributor absence factor” to avoid the negative connotations of the original term, Luis emphasizes the relevance of metrics, particularly in small projects, and Dawn explains that the guides focus on a few key metrics per guide, chosen for their ease of understanding and minimal requirement for data collection.

[00:21:58] Richard inquires about the effectiveness of metrics in identifying if a project is on the wrong path, prompting a discussion on the goals of a project and how metrics align with those metrics. Elizabeth and Dawn stress the importance of aligning metrics with project goals and involving project contributors in discussions about what metrics are most relevant.

[00:24:35] The discussion continues with considerations on how metrics should supplement, not replace, expert judgement and involvement in project management. Elizabeth and Richard discuss the potential for projects to start with community growth in mind and the challenges in measuring and guiding such growth.

[00:28:18] The conversation switches to the remaining guides not yet covered, with Richard asking about the guides on Responsiveness and Organizational Participation. Dawn explains the Responsiveness guide, with its focus on key metrics like time to first response, time to close, and change request closure ratio. Elizabeth and Luis share why this is one of their favorite guides.

[00:33:23] We hear about the broader applicability of the guides. Richard questions if the guides are only for corporate-driven projects or if they can serve more relaxed open source environments. Dawn and Luis emphasize that the guides are valuable for a variety of stakeholders, including foundations and volunteers.

[00:35:00] Find out where you can look at the Practitioner Guides online.

Quotes:

[00:07:44] “At the CHAOSS Project we have a whole bunch of metrics, and we have tools or software that help you gather those metrics.”

[00:08:06] “There is no one-size-fits-all approach to interpreting metrics.”

[00:15:10] “A lot of these guides were designed with OSPOs in mind. They’re all useful to anyone who’s managing a project.”

[00:19:55] “For metrics, the bigger the project, the more useful they are.”

Spotlight:

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS slack

CHAOSS Practitioner Guides

SustainOSS

SustainOSS Discourse

[email protected]

SustainOSS Mastodon

Open Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)

Richard Littauer Socials

Alice Sowerby Website

Elizabeth Barron Website

Elizabeth Barron LinkedIn

Luis Cañas-Diaz Website

Luis Cañas-Diaz LinkedIn

Dawn Foster Website

Dawn Foster LinkedIn

Johnny Wilson-Ventures Birding Tours

Clocker

Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software by Nadia Eghbal

“Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure” by Nadia Eghbal

Nadia Asparouhova (Eghbal) Website

Moodle

Sustain Podcast featuring Nadia Eghbal

Credits:

Special Guests: Luis Cañas-Díaz and Richard Littauer.

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Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 92

In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby is joined by Sean Goggins, Georg Link, and guest Divya Mohan, to discuss the importance and process of establishing ISO standards for open source community health metrics. The panel delves into how ISO standards ensure interoperability and aid in establishing credible industry practices. They highlight existing ISO standards in open source and share how these efforts are being translated into the CHAOSS Project's metrics, particularly focusing on security and community activity. The conversation includes insights on the current state of the project, the feedback process, and how interested individuals can get involved. Press download to hear more!

[00:02:47] Georg explains ISO standards as international standards ensuring interoperability and formalizing metrics and highlights the transition from CHAOSS Project’s defacto standards to ISO standards for broader adoption and formal recognition.

[00:04:45] Sean adds that ISO standards help communicate quality in manufacturing and software processes, making it relevant for enterprises engaged in open source.

[00:05:46] Sean and Georg discuss existing ISO standards in the open source sphere, including SPDX and OpenChain. Divya Mentions the ongoing development of the Security Assurance Specification by the OpenChain Project.

[00:08:54] Sean describes how the idea of creating an ISO standard based on CHAOSS Project metrics began with discussions with Asian Pacific members and their manufacturing contexts.

[00:09:45] Divya explains how the process of creating an ISO standard involves rigorous feedback and adjustments, affecting how metrics and documentation are shaped, and she elaborates on the feedback process.

[00:12:22] Georg highlights the importance of feedback in the ISO standardization process and the additional rigor and format required compared to the CHAOSS Project’s current metrics.

[00:14:10] Georg updates the projects progress which involves two drafts (security and community activity metrics) that are in development, Sean mentions the reliance on the Joint Development Foundation (JDF) for guidance and expertise in navigating the ISO standardization process, and Divya explains how people can contribute.

[00:16:47] Alice highlights areas where help is needed, particularly from those with ISO standards experience and input on security and community activity metrics.

[00:17:18] Sean emphasizes that anyone with an interest in CHAOSS metrics or ISO standards could contribute by refining and formalizing existing metrics.

[00:18:11] Georg introduces the security ISO standard draft which includes Introduction to scope, Conformance requirements, Terms and definitions, and Summary of requirements.

[00:21:32] Alice notes that the community activity draft is less developed but invites people to review and contribute, and Georg explains the community activity metrics focus on: Activity levels, Number of contributors, and Number of organizations involved.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Guest:

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Georg Link Website

Alice Sowerby Website

Sean Goggins X/Twitter

Divya Mohan X/Twitter

Divya Mohan Website

Divya Mohan LinkedIn

Meeting Invite for the CHAOSS ISO Standards Meeting

Metric Model: Community Activity

ISO standard for OSS Project Viability (security) draft

Joint Development Foundation

NHS

Special Guest: Divya Mohan.

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CHAOSScast – Episode 91

In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Matt Germonprez is joined by Red Hat's Senior Data Scientist Cali Dolfi and Community Architect Josh Berkus to discuss their experiences in measuring and maintaining open source community health. They delve into their day-to-day roles, challenges, and key projects like Project Aspen, the importance of contextual metrics, and the impact of generative AI on their work. Also, they emphasize the importance of goal-oriented metrics and establishing repeatable processes in OSPOs. Press download to hear much more!

[00:00:40] Cali and Josh share their backgrounds.

[00:02:02] Cali talks about her work as a data scientist at Red Hat, focusing on community open source metrics and mentions her recent projects, including Project Aspen, and her role in developing platforms for data visualization and metrics.

[00:04:34] Josh discusses his day-to-day responsibilities which include stewarding Red Hat’s involvement in cloud native projects and committee work with the Cloud Native Computing Foundation.

[00:06:17] The discussion shifts towards the health of collections of projects or ecosystems and Cali and Josh share their thoughts on how they approach ecosystem health, particularly with the cloud native space. Josh focuses on Kubernetes and its connection to various projects.

[00:09:17] Matt questions if Red Hat often plays a stabilizing role within these ecosystems, especially in times of crisis or instability.

[00:10:29] Cali discusses current hot topics in open source community health at Red Hat, focusing on SBOM (Software Bill of Materials) analysis and its implications for security and maintenance within the tech industry. They discuss the importance of understanding vulnerabilities within open source projects and the role of maintainers in mitigating these vulnerabilities.

[00:14:51] Matt asks about identifying vulnerabilities in upstream projects and notes the challenges of visibility due to numerous projects. Cali explains their approach of analyzing the entire codebase, using visualizations on the ‘8not dashboard’ to monitor active maintainers in different project areas.

[00:16:43] Josh discusses mainstream tooling focused on known vulnerabilities and emphasizes the need to predict future vulnerabilities.

[00:19:16] Matt inquires about handling the variability and contextual specificity of metrics across numerous projects. Cali discusses the importance of contextual understanding in interpreting data and metrics, emphasizing the need for community involvement to enrich the interpretation. Josh argues that improving data collection methods to incorporate contextual knowledge is crucial, aiming to shift some analytical responsibilities from humans to algorithms.

[00:24:19] A discussion starts on the role of generative AI in current tech, prompting Cali to reflect on the impact of AI hype cycles on resource allocation within the industry. Josh acknowledges that while some open source machine learning tools have benefited from increased resources due to the AI wave, the introduction of generative AI in community projects has often been problematic.

[00:30:03] The conversation shifts back to the challenge of AI-generated contributions to open source projects. Josh and Matt discuss the potential need for Red Hat’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO) to adapt its analytics and policies to manage the influx of such contributions.

[00:31:35] We close with Cali offering advice to new OSPOs on setting up robust data analysis infrastructures from the start, and Josh reinforces the need for goal-oriented metrics and processes advising OSPOs to design operations that are sustainable and scalable.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelist:

Guests:

Josh Berkus

Cali Dolfi

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Matt Germonprez X/Twitter

Josh Berkus Website

Josh Berkus Mastodon

Cali Dolfi LinkedIn

Cali Dolfi- Red Hat Research Quarterly

Red Hat

Project Aspen-GitHub

US Government Proposes SBOM Rules for Contractors

Special Guests: Cali Dolfi and Josh Berkus.

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CHAOSScast – Episode 90

In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Harmony Elendu welcomes guests Kingsley Mkpandiok and Victoria Ottah from CHAOSS Africa. They share their unique encounters with open source, from reading articles and attending events to making their first contributions. They discuss the importance of community engagement, the valuable skills they've developed, and the significance of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in their work. The episode highlights how volunteering and active participation in open source not only benefits the community but also enhances personal growth and networking opportunities. Press download now to hear more!

[00:00:34] Kingsley and Victoria introduce themselves and tell us about their backgrounds.

[00:02:48] Kingsley describes how he engaged with open source through a LinkedIn post by Ruth Ikegah, which led to his involvement with CHAOSS. Victoria tells us how she was initially hesitant as a non-code contributor, but she was inspired by a designer at the OSCA fest event, leading her to active contributions in design for open source.

[00:05:29] Harmony’s personal onboarding experience was being influenced by social media posts and personal onboarding by Ruth Ikegah in open source, while Adeyinka Oresanya started his first contribution through documentation in CHAOSS.

[00:06:34] There’s a discussion on how initial contributions to CHAOSS Africa was like as Kingsley explains his first project involved a flyer design for a Twitter space, and Victoria’s debut was on the DI badging UI along with other minor contributions.

[00:09:50] Harmony stresses the importance of attending meetings as part of contributing to the open source community and highlights the significance of onboarding parties hosted by CHAOSS, which are crucial for new contributors.

[00:12:07] The conversation switches to reflections on experiences within the open source community. Kingsley values the community aspect of open source most, sharing how it’s led to friendships and collaborative opportunities, and Victoria discusses how open source has been instrumental in teaching her patience and improving her interpersonal skills.

[00:16:28] Harmony ranks CHAOSS Africa as his top three communities due to its supportive and effective management and appreciates the efforts of community managers and facilitators.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Quote:

[00:14:09] “To improve your experience, open source is the place to start.”

Panelist:

Guests:

Kingsley Mkpandiok

Victoria Ottah

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Harmony Elendu X/Twitter

Harmony Elendu Substack

Kingsley Mkpandiok Medium

Kingsley Mkpandiok X/Twitter

Kingsley Mkpandiok LinkedIn

Victoria Ottah Medium

Victoria Ottah X/Twitter

Victoria Ottah LinkedIn

Ruth Ikegah X/Twitter

Open Source Community Africa (OSCA)

CHAOSS Africa-GitHub

CHAOSS Project Africa X/Twitter

CHAOSS Africa-Open Collective

CHAOSS Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group-GitHub

Special Guests: Kingsley Mkpandiok and Victoria Ottah.

Support CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 89

In this episode of CHAOSSCast, host Alice Sowerby is joined by panelists Dawn Foster, Elizabeth Barron, and Harmony Elendu, to discuss the importance and complexities of organizational participation in open source projects. They delve into how the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides help users make sense of CHAOSS metrics and provide insights on improving open source project health. The conversation covers the significance of diverse organizational participation, the role of community managers, and the challenges of accurately measuring organizational contributions. Additionally, they highlight tools like Augur and Grimoire Lab that aid in data collection and analysis as well as offer practical advice for both individuals and companies to foster healthier, more inclusive open source communities. Press download now to hear more!

[00:01:50] Dawn gives an overview of the Practitioner Guides that aim to help users navigate the extensive metrics from the CHAOSS Project. They focus on single topics to improve open source project health by making data more accessible.

[00:03:19] Why is the Practitioner Guide so important? Dawn explains that organizational participation impacts open source projects’ evolution and Elizabeth makes a point that measuring organizational influence is complex and often not straightforward.

[00:05:40] There’s a discussion on the key factors in organizational participation. Dawn talks about ideal projects having diverse contributors from various organizations, and Elizabeth talks about leadership roles within the project, such as technical steering committee positions that are crucial.

[00:09:49] We learn about the problems that people discover and the solutions to resolve the problems as Dawn explains how they’ve broken down the make improvements section into two different categories. Elizabeth explains how leadership roles within the project, such as technical steering committee positions, are crucial.

[00:12:37] Alice mentions if a project is not crucial for an organization’s control, donating to a foundation, like CNCF, can be beneficial for wider adoption and support. Dawn adds that donating a project to a foundation can help if the goal is community growth and projects should not be donated merely for marketing purposes.

[00:14:24] There’s a conversation on how community managers can help facilitate transparency and encourage open contributions rather that keeping discussions and decisions private within the dominant organization, and they can ensure that onboarding experiences, documentation, and community building are prioritized.

[00:17:24] Harmony talks about the impact of organizational dominance when one organization dominates a project, it can reduce the project’s openness and health and increasing opportunities for external contributions can enhance diversity and inclusion.

[00:19:20] The conversation shifts to challenges in measuring metrics and Elizabeth explains cleaning and maintaining accurate data on contributors is challenging due to issues with email addresses and personal vs. organizational contributions. Dawn tells us about the CNCF using YAML or JSON files to track organizational affiliations and update contributor data, but it requires manual effort to keep this information accurate.

[00:23:57 ] Alice brings up limitations of metrics since metrics alone don’t provide a complete picture, and Elizabeth shares how metrics should be used alongside insights from practitioners and combining metrics with intuition and observing the project directly provides a better overview.

[00:25:22] Dawn mentions to accurately assess project leadership and contributions, it’s important to talk to people involved since not all leadership roles and contributions are reflected in metrics or governance documents.

[00:26:29] Elizabeth inquires if any projects require contributors to fill out profiles indicating if they are contributing personally or on behalf of their company. Dawn explains that she hasn’t seen projects require contribution profiles as a prerequisite, and tools like Augur and Grimoire Lab, with its Sorting Hat feature, help manage and clean organizational data.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Alice Sowerby

Dawn Foster

Elizabeth Barron

Harmony Elendu

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Alice Sowerby Website

Dawn Foster X/Twitter

Elizabeth Barron X/Twitter

Harmony Elendu X/Twitter

Harmony Elendu Substack

Harmony Elendu LinkedIn

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 85- Introducing CHAOSS Practitioner Guides: #1 Responsiveness

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 88-Practitioner Guides: #2 Contributor Sustainability

CHAOSS- Practitioner Guide: Organizational Participation

Augur

Grimoire Lab: Sorting Hat

The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel

Dot

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CHAOSScast – Episode 88

In this episode of CHAOSSScast, host Alice Sowerby, along with Dawn Foster and Elizabeth Barron, discuss measuring and improving open source community health through contributor sustainability. The conversation highlights the importance of documentation, the balance of contributor roles, and proactive community building. They share insights and examples on how projects can avoid single points of failure, the significance of onboarding processes, and the impact of asking for help. The discussion also underscores the human aspects of open source contributions and provides practical strategies for long-term project viability. Press download now to hear more!

[00:02:11] Dawn explains that practitioner guides are designed for non-experts to help interpret data on open source projects, highlighting the overwhelming amount of data involved.

[00:03:24] Dawn mentions the first four practitioner guides, including an introductory guide, and specific guides on contributor sustainability, responsiveness, and organizational participation.

[00:04:14] Alice asks why contributor sustainability is so important, to which Dawn responds that it significantly impacts overall project sustainability. She references the xkcd dependency comic to illustrate the vulnerability of projects reliant on few contributors.

[00:05:41] Elizabeth notes the increasing awareness of proactive approach towards ensuring contributor sustainability in open source.

[00:06:33] Dawn discusses specific metrics like the contributor absence factor, emphasizing the importance of a balanced contributor base. She shares a story about a Java project stalling due to the sole maintainer’s incarceration.

[00:08:50] There’s a discussion about the importance of recognizing diverse contributions beyond code, such as community management and documentation. Dawn highlights the efficiency that professional roles can bring to these areas.

[00:11:39] Elizabeth shares concerns about a specific open source project with a large user base but limited active contributors, highlighting the risks involved. Dawn briefly mentions the structure of the practitioner guides, particularly focusing on the steps for making improvements in project sustainability.

[00:15:57] Elizabeth emphasizes the importance of making documentation not only informative but also welcoming, and Dawn suggests ways to make contributions easier.

[00:18:43] Elizabeth highlights the value of recognition in open source communities, Dawn discusses the idea of expanding roles within projects beyond the binary of contributors and maintainers, and there’s a discussion on the importance of distributing work among several people to avoid over-reliance on a single contributor.

[00:21:55] Dawn shares that improving contributor sustainability is a long-term effort and suggests staring with areas that can make the biggest impact. Elizabeth reflects on the psychological aspect of maintainers having to share control of projects, which can be challenging but is necessary for project growth and sustainability.

[00:27:39] Elizabeth expresses a desire to see more open source projects include community building or growth as a deliberate part of their roadmaps, and Dawn encourages feedback on the practitioner guides to improve them, highlighting the importance of community input in enhancing these resources.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Dawn Foster

Elizabeth Barron

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Dawn Foster X/Twitter

Alice Sowerby Website

Elizabeth Barron X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 85: Introducing CHAOSS Practitioner Guides: #1 Responsiveness

Practitioner Guide: Contributor Sustainability-CHAOSS

xkcd-Dependency

Colorful Primordial Black Holes

IBD Breakthrough

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CHAOSScast – Episode 87

In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Elizabeth Barron is joined by panelists Anita Ihuman and Ruth Ikegah, along with guests, Enock Kasaadha and Maryblessing Okolie, as they

delve into the experiences and contributions of CHAOSS Africa, a regional chapter of the CHAOSS Project. They share personal stories of how they got involved in open source, the influence of CHAOSS Africa on their careers, and the community's growth over the past two years. Discussion highlights include the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, the supportive nature of the CHAOSS community, and future aspirations for CHAOSS Africa. Press download to hear much more!

[00:03:34] Ruth shares her journey into open source which began out of curiosity during her microbiology studies when she observed a friend participating in an open source project via a Google meet call.

[00:06:13] Enock describes his transition from software development to open source, highlighting the initial challenges he faced finding a welcoming community. He praises CHAOSS for their newcomer-friendly environment.

[00:07:51] Maryblessing got into open source after being introduced through a friend who participated in an Outreachy internship, she then joined CHAOSS. Initially, she observed the community to understand how her skills could contribute, and over time she became an active participant.

[00:10:24] Anita shares a similar background with Ruth, having been classmates. Her interest in open source grew as she saw peers making significant contributions to tech, which encouraged her to engage in open source, leading her to CHAOSS.

[00:13:11] The discussion switches to how CHAOSS Africa came to be. Ruth explains how she transitioned from GNOME to CHAOSS through her interactions with other open source contributors. She credits Outreachy, an internship program that CHAOSS participated in, and highlights the role of the DI (Diversity and Inclusion) audits team and the Ford Foundation in recognizing the contributions of African members.

[00:19:18] Elizabeth asks about the impact of open source and CHAOSS on their lives. Enock responds, detailing how CHAOSS acts as an incubator for learning open source contributions skills, which are transferable to other communities. He emphasizes the values of patience, trust, and appreciation cultivated within the CHAOSS community.

[00:24:10] Maryblessing emphasizes how the community has helped advance her career, particularly in managing volunteers, appreciating diversity and inclusion, and improving her decision-making processes. She highlights how CHAPSS has enabled her to engage effectively in other communities and appreciate the role of non-coding contributions in open source projects.

[00:28:12] Anita shares that CHAOSS has broadened her understanding of community health beyond resolving disputes, revealing the multifaceted nature of building a healthy community. She appreciates how her involvement in CHAOSS has allowed her to explore non-coding roles in open source.

[00:29:56] The discussion shifts to the future of CHAOSS Africa, with Ruth and Enock envisioning greater expansion across the continent. They discuss supporting local events and including more countries in their efforts.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Anita Ihuman

Ruth Ikegah

Guests:

Enock Kasaadha

Maryblessing Okolie

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Elizabeth Barron X/Twitter

Ruth Ikegah X/Twitter

Ruth Ikegah LinkedIn

Anita Ihuman LinkedIn

Anita Ihuman GitHub

Enock Kasaadha Website

Enock Kasaadha LinkedIn

Maryblessing Okolie Website

Maryblessing Okolie LinkedIn

Ford Foundation

CHAOSS Africa GitHub

CHAOSS Africa Open Collective

CHAOSS Project Africa X/Twitter

Outreachy

GNOME

Maryblessing Okolie’s talk at Berlin Buzzwords (YouTube)

Notion

Join the CHAOSS Africa Slack channel

Special Guests: Anita ihuman, Enock Kasaadha, and Maryblessing Okolie.

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Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 86

In this episode of CHAOSScast, co-hosts Alice Sowerby and Dawn Foster welcome guests Aida Mehonic, Malvika Sharan, and Kirstie Whittaker from The Alan Turing Institute. The discussion begins with delving into the Institute's strategic vision, focused on using data science and AI to address global challenges in environment, health, and security. They examine the role of open source contributions in enhancing the ethical, accessible, and impactful uses of AI. The episode highlights various projects, such as The Turing Way, and the importance of community building, inclusive research practices, and the ethical considerations of AI. They also discuss the integration of CHAOSS metrics in their work and explore future projects and initiatives at The Alan Turing Institute. Press download now to hear more!

[00:02:58] Kirstie gives an overview of The Turing Institute’s strategic vision and explains the three missions.

[00:06:22] Aida talks about the importance of communicating with organizations to align on a shared mission and the impact and value of money of publicly funded projects.

[00:08:38] Malvika brings in the stakeholders ensuring that users, communities, and patients have a say in AI development and empowering educators to incorporate AI, also she talks about working across different projects like Data Science Without Borders and BridgeAI, to accelerate AI’s impact on health and SME’s.

[00:11:02] The conversation switches to embracing ethical AI usage and encouraging others to do the same. Kirstie details the ethical components of AI using the SAFE-D approach: Safety and sustainability, Accountability, Fairness and non-discrimination, Explainability and transparency, and Data quality, integrity, protection, and privacy.

[00:17:17] Malvika talks about the importance of considering the societal impact of research at The Turing Institute, she highlights the differences between the EU AI Act and the open source community approach and emphasizes that users should know their rights regarding data collection and sharing.

[00:19:49] Aida tells us about a case study on A/B street, an open source street planning tool. They partnered up with Bristol City Council and used this tool to facilitate community involvement in urban planning decisions.

[00:23:52] Aida mentions having conversation she’s been in has focused on at Turing on democratizing technology to reach a broader set of end users.

[00:24:14] Dawn loves Turing’s collaborative approach and acknowledges the challenges in making AI and data science intuitive for everyone.

[00:24:54] Kirstie discusses the difficulty of meaningful stakeholder engagement. She talks about the importance of being willing to pivot project goals based on community feedback.

[00:26:51] Alice brings up CHAOSS metrics and inquires how they fit into The Turing Institute’s work. Malvika explains that CHAOSS metrics is one of the only metrics that help them for understanding equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in community health.

[00:31:00] Dawn highlights the need to combine quantitative metrics with qualitative research. Kirstie shares that data scientists often don’t see their work as part of open source or community led projects. Aida comments on using CHAOSS metrics to justify the impact of open source research funded by taxpayer money.

[00:36:05] Dawn asks about the future focus areas for The Turing Institute. Kirstie mentions the BridgeAI Initiative to support SMEs in the UK in leveraging data and the expansion of The Turing Way Practitioner Hub to support experts in organizations and foster global knowledge exchange.

[00:38:28] Aida shares her excitement about a potential incubator at Turing focused on pathways to impact for research. Malvika shares her excitement for professionalization and recognition of various data science roles.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Dawn Foster

Guests:

Aida Mehonic

Malvika Sharan

Kirstie Whitaker

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Dawn Foster X/Twitter

Alice Sowerby Website

Aida Mehonic LinkedIn

Dr. Aida Mehonic-The Alan Turing Institute

Malvika Sharan LinkedIn

Dr. Malvika Sharan-The Alan Turing Institute

Kirstie Whitaker LinkedIn

Dr. Kirstie Whitaker-The Alan Turing Institute

The Alan Turing Institute

The Turing Way

Launch of the Data Science Without Borders Project

BridgeAI

‘Using AI in the public sector: New comprehensive guidance’-The Alan Turing Institute

AI Ethics and Governance in Practice-The Alan Turing Institute

Operationalising the SAFE-D principles for Open Source AI-Open Source Initiative

A/B Street

‘Street smart: putting neighbourhood design in the hands of Bristol residents’-The Alan Turing Institute

The Turing Way Practitioners Hub

GraphQL API-GitHub

Organizational Mycology

American Hysteria Podcast-Talking to the Future: Nuclear Semiotics

99% Invisible Podcast: Ten Thousand Years Episode 114

Special Guests: Aida Mehonic, Kirstie Whitaker, and Malvika Sharan.

Support CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 85

In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby is joined with Dawn Foster and special guest, Luis Cañas-Díaz from Bitergia. Today, they delve into the Practitioner Guide series created by CHAOSS, particularly focusing on the Responsiveness Guide authored by Dawn. The conversation highlights the challenges people face in interpreting data and metrics within their projects and how the guides aim to provide actionable insights for improvement. Additionally, they touch on the potential risks of misinterpreting metrics and stress the importance of context and direct involvement from project teams to effectively address responsiveness issues. The episode also covers future directions for the guide series and ways the community can contribute and provide feedback. Press download to hear more!

[00:02:08] Alice asks Dawn to explain the newly launched Practitioner Guide series by CHAOSS. Dawn elaborates on the Practitioner Guides, addressing the community’s struggle with data interpretation and the initiative to provide guidance on metric usage for project improvements.

[00:05:02] Luis comments on the utility of the Practitioner Guides, emphasizing the need to focus on goals over metrics to avoid data overload.

[00:05:54] Dawn mentions the feedback received on the guides, particularly from Luis and others in various OSPO working groups.

[00:07:11] The discussion shifts to the Guide on Responsiveness, with Dawn identifying key metrics like time to first response, time to close, and change request closure ratio.

[00:08:37] Luis shares the significance of responsiveness metrics in community growth and ensuring fair treatment across organizational contributors.

[00:09:54] Dawn details how the guides suggest making improvements, noting the importance of understanding context, such as seasonal variations or event-related disruptions, in evaluating responsiveness.

[00:11:01] We hear some practical tips from Dawn on improving responsiveness, like using templates for contributions to reduce maintainers’ review times and discussing time allocation with maintainers to offload non-critical tasks.

[00:13:47] Luis emphasizes that metrics highlight things that are happening but require deeper investigation to understand the underlying issues.

[00:15:05] Dawn discusses strategies to improve project responsiveness, such as recruiting more maintainers and contributors. She warns against simply pressuring existing maintainers to increase responsiveness, which can lead to burnout and does not address the root cause of delays.

[00:17:33] Luis shares experiences from conversations with managers about the pressures of responding to community needs. He warns against using metrics to measure productivity, as it can lead people to manipulate their behavior to look good on metrics rather than genuinely improving their work. Also, he tells us about a book he read that he liked called, “The Tyranny of Metrics.”

[00:19:42] Luis explains the critical role of responsiveness on onboarding and retaining new community members, emphasizing the importance of prompt feedback to make newcomers feel valued.

[00:20:26] Dawn stresses the impact of responsiveness on new contributors, noting that delays or lack of feedback can permanently discourage them from participating in the project.

[00:21:38] Dawn advises patience and persistence in improving responsiveness, emphasizing that it is a long-term effort.

[00:22:50] Alice inquires about the future directions for the Practitioner Guides series, and Dawn reveals plans for additional guides on topics like software development practices and community activity and encourages community involvement in creating new guidelines. She discusses possibilities for customizing guides for specific organizational needs, such as what Comcast has done.

[00:26:32] Luis suggests exploring educational courses or short video series to help newcomers understand and use metrics effectively in open source projects, emphasizing the long-term value of documentation in retaining knowledge.

[00:27:38] Dawn details ways listeners can engage with the CHAOSS community.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Alice Sowerby

Dawn Foster

Guest:

Luis Cañas-Díaz

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Georg Link Website

Dawn Foster X/Twitter

Alice Sowerby Website

Luis Cañas-Díaz Website

Luis Cañas-Díaz LinkedIn

About the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides

Unlocking Insights: Practitioner Guides for Interpreting Open Source Metrics

Practitioner Guide: Responsiveness

The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Z. Muller

CHAOSS Data Science Working Group-GitHub

Mozilla & the Rebel Alliance

Mozilla

Special Guest: Luis Cañas-Díaz.

Support CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 84

In this episode of CHAOSScast, Dawn Foster, Matt Germonprez, Alice Sowerby, and guest Gary White, Principal Engineer at Verizon’s OSPO office, delve into the world of viability metrics models developed for assessing the risks associated with using open source software components. Gary explains the creation process of these models, their application within Verizon for software evaluation, and the significance of engaging with the open source community to enhance project viability. The conversations also explore the challenges and considerations in deploying these metrics within organizations, emphasizing the blend of policy enforcement and cultural influence to manage open source software dependencies effectively. Press download now to hear more!

[00:02:30] Dawn asks Gary to elaborate on the choice of Verizon for the viability metrics models. He explains the creation of the first four metrics models for assessing risks in open source software components, and the development of a fifth model to simplify the original four. Also, he explains the importance of being quantitative about software library choices, influenced by a research paper from Carnegie Mellon and existing CHAOSS metrics.

[00:05:16] Gary mentions using Augur for metrics collection at Verizon and the benefits of tracking with CHAOSS tools.

[00:06:27] Matt asks Gary to provide an example of a metric used in the governance model, and he talks about the Libyears metric, which helps understand the total years behind all dependencies of a component, reflecting the risk associated with aging dependencies.

[00:07:50] Alice wonders about the “happy region” for the Libyears metric and its implications on risk assessment.

[00:09:25] Dawn asks Gary to discuss how these metrics are utilized at Verizon. He describes using these metrics to evaluate the viability of software at Verizon, including different use cases and dependency risks.

[00:11:39] Alice explores how Gary considers the context in which components are used when calculating risk.

[00:13:24] Matt asks about the process of engaging with the metrics models within the organization. Gary explains that the approach depends on several factors such as severity of finding, buy-in from the organization, and the organizational structure of the OSPO, and details the use of specific resources like the “endoflife.date.”

[00:18:07] Gary outlines how Verizon integrates risk management frameworks with organizational tools like dashboards to disseminate collected data and foster buy-in for automated systems.

[00:22:43] Gary shares his experience in the CHAOSS group, emphasizing the value of diverse opinions in developing and validating viability metrics models.

[00:24:33] Dawn highlights the significance of the discussions on viability and risk in the OSPO working group, emphasizing how these are critical concerns for OSPO leaders.

[00:25:24] Dawn inquires about how Verizon uses CHAOSS metrics beyond viability assessment, particularly in open source management. Gary discusses leveraging CHAOSS metrics across various teams to judge component use and risk profiles and explains Verizon’s approach to using metrics involving both an educational component and a policy component.

[00:27:33] Gary talks about focusing on the ongoing efforts to integrate and optimize the Augur system at Verizon, acknowledging Sean Goggins for his assistance, and expresses a desire to contribute back to the community, and exploring new metrics to trace and predict significant events in the open source ecosystem.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

Panelists:

Guest:

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X/Twitter

CHAOSScast Podcast

[email protected]

Dawn Foster X/Twitter

Matt Germonprez X/Twitter

Alice Sowerby LinkedIn

Gary White LinkedIn

“We Feel Like We’re Winging It”: A Study on Navigating Open Source Dependency Abandonment (ACM Digital

Libyears

endoflife.date

CHAOSS-Topics: All Metrics Models

CHAOSS-OSS Project Viability Starter

CHAOSS-Augur NEW Release v0.63.3

Classic Afternoon Tea London Sightseeing Bus Tour

Open Source Summit North America 2024 Seattle

Special Guest: Gary White.

Support CHAOSScast