Episode 113: FOSS Backstage post-conference report

7 snips

Jun 26, 2025

Guest

Ijeoma Onwuka

Daniel Izquierdo, a community health analytics expert, joins Peculiar Umeh, an open source advocate, Cassie Seo, a specialist in responsible technology, and Ijeoma Onwuka, a program manager, to discuss their insights from the FOSS Backstage conference. They explore innovative ways to measure the social and economic impact of open source projects. The conversation highlights diversity initiatives, the importance of sustainable practices, and emerging digital health infrastructures that balance privacy with collaboration. Personal growth and community impact are central themes.

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ANECDOTE

First Time Speaking Experience

Peculiar Umeh shared her experience speaking about the Chaos Data Science Working Group at her first FOSS Backstage conference.
She highlighted tools and guides designed to help non-data scientists draw actionable insights from CHAOSS metrics.

INSIGHT

Challenges in Measuring Impact

Measuring social and economic impact in open source is extremely difficult and currently lacks definitive solutions.
Panelists from academia, humanitarian organizations, and UNDP shared diverse but incomplete approaches to evaluating impact.

INSIGHT

Avoid Pseudo Productivity Trap

Wolfgang Gehring emphasized avoiding pseudo productivity by focusing on efficient, impactful tasks in open source contributions.
Contributors should manage time to maximize meaningful impact, not just complete easy tasks.

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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:

[00:32:01] Daniel’s pick is retro gaming.
[00:32:22] Peculiar’s pick is connecting with someone that helped her with a certain skill.
[00:32:54] Cassie’s pick is to go on a long walk every day without a phone.
[00:33:46] Ijeoma’s pick is making sure each contribution I make to each project is very impactful.
[00:34:18] Harmony’s pick is taking some late night drives and snack along the way.

Panelist:

Harmony Elendu

Guests:

Daniel Izquierdo

Peculiar Umeh

Cassie Seo

Ijeoma Onwuka

Links: