Sustain

Matias Capeletto, community-builder focused on inclusion and ecosystem performance; Daniel Roe, web developer and maintainer who helped launch a community-built npm interface. They talk about npmx’s rapid community growth, UI and search improvements, intentional pauses to avoid burnout, governance and inclusion as core values, surfacing better-maintained packages, and plans for funding and sustainability.

Vlad-Stefan Harbuz, PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and Executive Director of the Software Stewardship Lab, explains the Open Source Pledge and the new Software Stewardship Lab. He discusses why funding often becomes a popularity contest, how companies can better support the software they rely on, hidden binary dependency risks, undervalued non-code work, maintainer burnout, and research-based funding strategies.

Chelsea Finnie, Senior Network DevOps engineer at REANNZ and Chairperson of Python New Zealand, who led recovery and governance reforms after a financial crisis. They discuss Python-based network automation and an open source Prometheus-Argus glue service. Chelsea recounts discovering a major accounting shortfall, legal and governance rescue by Linux Australia, and the new safeguards that restored the community.

Andrew Nesbitt, founder of Ecosyste.ms and builder of a registry-of-registries from dependency data, explains how AI scans millions of repos to spot risk. He highlights unseen transitive dependencies, the crisis of abandoned packages with critical bugs, and how LLMs speed both discovery and exploitation. Practical calls: prune and update dependencies and support maintainers responsibly.

Courtney Miller, a PhD researcher studying open source sustainability and maintainer burnout, discusses software abandonment and its ripple effects. She covers how abandonment is defined and detected, the npm-focused analysis, interviews revealing limited tooling, Abandabot’s design, AI for prediction, under‑maintained projects as supply‑chain risks, and responsible sunsetting.

Daniel Shown, SLU program director who pairs students with researchers through experiential learning, and Jeff Young, Georgia Tech director focused on student engagement in research software, discuss academic OSPOs. They explore student-run maintainer models, near-peer mentorship, training student maintainers, scaling programs, funding and institutional buy-in, and the promises and risks of generative AI for open source.

Alan Rubin, a computational biologist who builds genomics tools and created MaveDB, discusses making hard-to-find variant data usable for researchers and clinicians. He talks about building the database with Python and Django. He explains funding and sustainability challenges for scientific infrastructure. He describes redesigning the platform for clinical use and leading a distributed team focused on community and product priorities.

Guest Jack Skinner Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this episode of Sustain, host Richard Littauer talks with Jack Skinner, PyCon AU organizer and freelance consultant/fractional CTO, to explore why regional conferences matter so much to the long-term health of open source communities. Their conversation looks at how events like PyCon AU do far more than host talks, they create local connections, nurture future leaders, support first-time speakers, and help sustain the broader Python ecosystem in ways that global conferences alone cannot. Drawing on Jack’s experience as a conference organizer and community builder, the episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of running volunteer-led events, from sponsorships and logistics to burnout, accessibility, and building a stronger pipeline of future organizers. Press download now to hear more! [00:01:49] Jack shares his background and how he got involved in Python and event organizing. [00:02:48] We hear about Jack’s first PyCon AU experience. [00:04:14] Jack describes PyCon AU, who it serves, and how it’s changed after COVID. [00:07:01] Why do regional conferences exist alongside PyCon US? [00:09:24] Jack talks about what makes Australia and New Zealand different as conference communities. [00:10:55] PyCon AU’s attendance goals are discussed as Jack mentions his big goal is to bring attendance back to roughly 500-600 people, restoring pre-pandemic strength. [00:12:04] The discussion turns to conference structure: tracks, workshops, and sponsor interest, with Jack emphasizing sponsorship is not just about money. [00:14:54] Richard asks how organizers know whether conferences help people learn, connect, or build community. Jack explains how they’re measuring community impact beyond “good vibes” and rebuilding local Python communities. [00:17:34] Jack explains PyCon AU is trying to build a future organizer pipeline by letting people observe how conference planning works and introduces his proposed program/project, “shadow team.” [00:19:09] Another project Jack is working on is documenting the behind-the-scenes work of organizing the conference through long-form writing. [00:20:38] Jack admits he feels imposter syndrome because he’s not paid to write Python, his contribution is centered on the sociotechnical side. [00:23:20] PyCon AU’s independence from government and institutions is discussed, and how the conference community is globally aware, even if locally focused. [00:27:05] Call for proposals details, deadline is March 29, and the in-person focus for this year’s event are mentioned. Richard discusses the return of the academic track and Jack details more info on poster sessions and workshop submissions. [00:32:08] Volunteering and buying tickets are explained and why you should buy tickets early if you can. Quotes [00:32:20] “Volunteering is an awesome way to be involved in PyCon.” Spotlight [00:35:16] Richard’s spotlight is two of his lecturers at the University of Edinburgh, Simon Kirby and Andrew Smith, who introduced him to Python. [00:35:55] Jack’s spotlight is two companion projects: pretalx and pretix. Links SustainOSS [email protected] [email protected] SustainOSS Discourse SustainOSS Mastodon SustainOSS Bluesky SustainOSS LinkedIn Open Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute) Richard Littauer Socials Jack Skinner LinkedIn Jack Skinner Website PyCon AU, August 26-30, 2026, Brisbane PyCon AU News & Updates Sustain Podcast-Episode 75: Deb Nicholson on the OSI, the future of open source, and SeaGL Sustain Podcast-Episode 137: A How-to Guide for Contributing to Open Source as an Employee, for Corporations (featuring Deb Nicholson as Host) Guido van Rossum Whale song shows language-like statistical structure Simon Kirby (co-lead author) pretalx (GitHub) pretix (GitHub) Sponsor CURIOSS Credits Produced by Richard Littauer Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound Special Guest: Jack Skinner.Support Sustain

Miranda Heath, a PhD student studying altruism and maintainer burnout, shares research on collective altruism and why people give to commons. She contrasts motivations in open source with academia. Conversation covers shifting motives that lead to burnout, systemic fixes like funding and mentorship, planning project sunsets, and the special challenges neurodiverse contributors face.

Trent Van Epps, Protocol Guild organizer and Ethereum Foundation protocol coordination staff, talks funding for core protocol developers and the 1% Pledge funding vehicle. He explores why open-source contributors are underpaid and how collective representation can unlock larger support. He also discusses diversity’s role in protocol resilience and how funding dynamics differ between open source and blockchain.