Episode 246: Divya Mohan of SUSE on CHAOSS Asia

Sep 6, 2024

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Guest

Divya Mohan

Panelist

Richard Littauer

Show Notes

In this episode, host Richard Littauer welcomes guest Divya Mohan, Principal Technology Advocate at SUSE, as they discuss her journey into open source and her role in advocating for SUSE's projects. The conversation delves into the importance of community involvement, the goals of CHAOSS Asia, and the challenges of fostering a cohesive open-source community across a diverse continent. They also explore the necessity of standardization within the CHAOSS project to ensure trust and reliability, highlighting cultural differences in open-source adoption across Asia. Additionally, Divya shares insights on bridging gaps in FOSS education, overcoming language barriers, and new initiatives, including efforts to include Oceania and focus on disabled Asians in the open-source community. Press download now to hear more!

[00:01:30] Divya explains her journey into open source and her current role in advocating for projects without focusing on marketing or selling.

[00:02:24] She elaborates on SUSE’s focus on cloud-native projects, SAP, and Edge, while mentioning that she was the sole technology advocate until recently.

[00:03:02] Divya discusses her responsibilities, including creating awareness materials, live streams, and courses around SUSE’s projects, particularly focusing on open source projects.

[00:04:22] Divya emphasizes the importance of community involvement in open source projects, mentioning that while the core maintainers are SUSE employees, the wider community is encouraged to contribute. She also clarifies that SUSE projects are inherently open source from the beginning.

[00:07:42] The conversation shifts to Divya’s involvement in CHAOSS Asia, a regional chapter of the CHAOSS project, and she talks about the goals of CHAOSS Asia, which include discovering unique challenges of open source communities in Asia, building a database of these communities, and working on the standardization of metrics.

[00:11:42] The discussion delves deeper into why standardization is necessary for CHAOSS Asia, particularly focusing on the regional differences and the need for a trusted seal of approval.

[00:13:26] Richard questions the necessity of ISO standards for open source projects, and Divya explains that it’s about providing a clear definition of what is accepted within the metrics, drawing parallels with the open chain standard.

[00:15:39] The conversation returns to the ISO standard, with Divya noting that the demand for a standard came from Asian companies, highlighting the cultural and regional differences in the IT industry.

[00:17:14] Richard and Divya discuss the diverse approaches to open source contributions across different Asian regions and the challenges of fostering a cohesive open source community across such a diverse continent.

[00:19:03] Divya shares insights on the varying governmental and business support for open source in different Asian countries, and the fragmented nature of FOSS education across the continent.

[00:22:17] Divya touches on the language barriers within CHAOSS Asia and how they’re addressed through transcription tools and subgroups. She also mentions new initiatives, including a focus group for disabled Asians in the open source community.

[00:23:26] Richard and Divya discuss the inclusion of Oceania in CHAOSS Asia and expresses hope for more participation from Oceania.

[00:24:40] Find out where you can follow Divya and CHAOSS Asia online.

Quotes

[00:22:50] “OSS projects are the best example of how asynchronous communities can give something of value.”

Spotlight

[00:25:36] Richard’s spotlight is Stephen E. Thorpe.
[00:26:44] Divya’s spotlight is Savitha Raghunathan.

Credits

Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound

Special Guest: Divya Mohan.

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