CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 127 In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice is joined by Matt Trifiro from the Commercial Open Source Startup Alliance (COSSA) and Daniel Izquierdo, CEO of Bitergia and co-founder of the CHAOSS Community. The discussion delves into the importance of open source community health metrics in shaping successful commercial strategies for startups. Matt shares COSSA's mission to support the growth of venture-funded open source projects by fostering collaboration among founders, investors, and customers. Daniel discusses how community health can influence the sustainability and innovation of projects. They also explore the future goals of COSSA, including establishing a working group to develop standardized metrics for evaluating community contributions and business value. Press download now to hear more! [00:00:29] Matt and Daniel introduce themselves and their backgrounds. [00:01:56] Matt explains COSSA’s mission. [00:02:58] Matt cites evidence that community health can correlate with business outcomes and that investment can improve community indicators, and there’s a discussion on moving beyond vanity metrics like GitHub stars. [00:05:13] Daniel shares his perspective from the Open Compliance Summit (Tokyo) and the supply chain/corporate lens: organizations want confidence the software will be safe and still maintained years from now, and he talks about measuring health via collaboration networks. [00:08:34] Matt breaks value into two buckets: Distribution and IP/innovation to explain how open source communities create startup value. Daniel adds that open source and can reduce procurement friction. [00:12:23] They touch on open source as a path to standards. [00:14:50] Matt describes how COSSA supports the startups: education, best practices, and measurement and his goal is to “convert community metrics into dollars.” Daniel notes the need for a baseline framework, then customization by industry. [00:19:38] What’s next for COSSA? Matt shares COSSA is being bootstrapped, received initial Linux Foundation support, and is pursuing seed style funding. His planned membership structure is investors, founders, and customers. [00:20:36] Daniel and Matt discuss making the metric framework transparent, likely anchored via CHAOSS, and the goal to building a “Rosetta Stone” between investors and community. [00:25:49] There’s a conversation on rug pulls, incentives, and lack of a shared framework. [00:28:21] Matt describes the “covenant” concept. [00:30:34] Alice wraps with mentioning COSSA’s direction is clear, and a working group could be on the ramp for broader community participation. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:31:20] Alice’s pick is visiting outdoor Christmas light displays after dark. [00:32:27] Matt’s pick is his oldest son’s finishing his first semester in college. [00:32:58] Daniel’s pick is his son finishing his first quarter at primary school and going to the Open Compliance Summit and thanking Shane Coughlan for all his work for many years running this event. Panelist: Alice Sowerby Guests: Matt Trifiro Daniel Izquierdo Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Matt Trifiro LinkedIn COSSA Daniel Izquierdo LinkedIn Bitergia Christmas Lights at Stourhead Rapturous Delight: after-dark Worcester, Worcestershire The State of Commercial Open Source 2025 (The Linux Foundation)Special Guest: Matt Trifiro.Support CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast! CHAOSScast – Episode 126 On this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby introduces a special episode welcoming Leon Nunes as the new host for the CHAOSS Asia podcast. Leon shares his background in customer success, his work with CNCF, and hardware hacking, along with his role in growing the CHAOSS Asia chapter. Together, Alice and Leon talk about the current state of the Asia community, Leon’s curiosity-driven approach to podcast hosting, the stories he wants to surface from across Asia, and how listeners can get involved or pitch episode ideas. Hit download now to find out more! [00:00:35] Leon shares his background. [00:01:24] Leon explains his customer success role, supporting customers running software in production, and his many side interests. [00:02:48] We learn how Leon started with Raspberry Pi in college, building a motion triggered music stand, being inspired by GitHub badges, and shares a recent side project assembling RGB LED Christmas tree kits and gifting them to people. [00:05:52] How did Leon find CHAOSS? He traces his path into CHAOSS Asia via a friend doing lots of outreach, and his desire to join open source communities beyond just code contributions. He also helps maintain CHAOSS Asia’s LinkedIn and Twitter. [00:09:03] Alice asks what drew him to hosting a podcast. Leon shares his love of talking to people and using conversations to understand people. [00:10:48] Alice connects Leon’s curiosity and his love of talking with podcast hosting, and reviews CHAOSScast episode types. [00:11:51] What kind of stories does Leon want to tell from Asia? He wants to explore how other communities handle challenges like participation and growth and then apply those learnings to CHAOSS Asia. He suggests inviting active CHAOSS Asia contributors to share their experiences on the podcast. [00:13:55] Alice agrees on a more exploratory approach, using conversations with active members to both document and strengthen the Asia chapter. [00:14:48] Find out where you can contact Leon on the internet. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:15:30] Alice’s pick is looking at a way to make Christmas crackers that are reusable. [00:18:04] Leon’s pick is doing a lot dancing, like Lindy Hop, and his 3D printer. Panelist: Alice Sowerby Guest: Leon Nunes Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Leon Nunes Website Leon Nunes LinkedIn Leon Nunes X CHAOSS Community Chapters Most recent CHAOSS Asia Chapter meeting- November 13, 2025 (YouTube) What are Christmas crackers? (YouTube) Whiteys Lindy Hoppers - Hellzapoppin (YouTube)Support CHAOSScast

Join Sean Goggins, co-founder of the CHAOSS community, Anita Ihuman, a dedicated advocate and technical writer, Georg Link, a leader in community metrics, and Elizabeth Barron, CHAOSS Community Manager. They delve into the impact of AI on open-source funding and the crucial role of psychological safety for contributors. The group discusses the exciting growth of CHAOSS, including new working groups and global outreach, while also emphasizing the need for community-driven identity solutions. Their hopes for 2026 reflect a commitment to inclusion and sustainability.

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 124 This episode of CHAOSScast kicks off a new Practitioner Guide series focused on “Building Diverse Leadership” in open source communities. Harmony Elendu hosts with co-host Georg Link and guests Dawn Foster and Peculiar Umeh, exploring why diverse leadership matters, how CHAOSS’ practitioner guides turn “walls of metrics” into practical action, and how three specific metrics: Board/Council Diversity, Sponsorship, and Inclusive Leadership, can help projects become more welcoming, representative, and sustainable. Hit download now to hear more! [00:00:35] Dawn, Peculiar, Georg, and Harmony share their backgrounds. [00:02:57] Dawn gives us an overview of the Practitioner Guide series and emphasizes that the guides focus on how to improve projects using metrics, not just on measuring. [00:05:13] Georg asks Peculiar what inspired her to write the “Getting Started with Building Diverse Leadership” guide. She describes working on CHAOSS metrics templates and wanting to help non-data science people use them. [00:08:09] Harmony connects the topic to broader industry conversations on diversity and inclusion. Peculiar explains that diverse leadership brings different perspectives, experiences, and voices into decision making and uses CHAOSS as an example. [00:10:30] Dawn expands on how seeing leaders “who look like you” motivates people to participate and aspire to leadership. [00:11:28] Georg talks about diversity as social justice and explains benefits for the projects: resilience, innovation, and better products for diverse users. [00:14:25] Peculiar shares the three metrics and why there were chosen. Dawn adds that guides are designed to change projects, not just describe them. [00:18:09] Georg notes Board/Council Diversity is the most intuitive to measure and Dawn cautions that many aspects of identity are invisible and the guide recommends surveys to ask community members whether they feel represented and heard. [00:21:03] Georg explains sponsorship vs. mentorship. Peculiar shares her own experience of being advocated for and supported in open source. Dawn tells the story of Danese Cooper sponsoring her showing how sponsorship accelerates careers. [00:25:27] Georg explains Inclusive Leadership as the governance scaffolding and Peculiar describes what the guide offers. [00:27:50] Harmony asks how they can implement the guide and monitor progress. Peculiar highlights some implementation steps and Dawn re-emphasizes using recurring surveys as monitoring tools. [00:33:27] Dawn notes that every practitioner guide includes a Cautions and Considerations section, and Georg reminds us that interpersonal relationships are crucial for understanding how people experience the community. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:35:25] Harmony’s pick is n8n and automations. [00:36:10] Georg’s pick is looking forward to the holidays with his family. [00:37:54] Dawn’s pick is watching chunky squirrels play outside her window. [00:38:24] Peculiar’s pick is taking time to rest. Panelists: Harmony Elendu Georg Link Guests: Dawn Foster Peculiar Umeh Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Georg Link Website Harmony Elendu X Dawn Foster X Peculiar Umeh LinkedIn CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Building Diverse Leadership About the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides The Linux Foundation Report -Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Source The Linux Foundation-Decentralized innovation. Built on trust. Inclusive Leadership: Effecting change: Introduction | OpenLearn-Open University CHAOSS Data Use Awareness Recommendation: Privacy and Ethics n8n Previous Practitioner Guide Episodes: Episode 85: Introducing CHAOSS Practitioner Guides: #1 Responsiveness Episode 88: Practitioner Guides: #2 Contributor Sustainability Episode 89: Practitioner Guides : #3 Organizational Participation Episode 97: Practitioner Guides: #4 Security Episode 120: Practitioner Guides: #5 Demonstrating Organizational Value Episode 123: Practitioner Guides: #6 Sunsetting an Open Source ProjectSpecial Guest: Peculiar Umeh.Support CHAOSScast

Dawn Foster, a director of data science with over 25 years in open source, teams up with Stefka Dimitrova, an open source practitioner celebrated for her work at VMware. They dive into sunsetting open source projects, discussing the vital need for responsible project lifecycle management. Key points include metrics for identifying inactive projects, the significance of thorough communication, and practical steps to ensure a smooth transition. They emphasize that sunsetting should be an integral part of project planning, not just a last-minute decision.

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: [00:30:40] Georg’s pick is drying garden herbs in a dehydrator to make tea. [00:31:06] Alice’s pick is tending a backyard pond and raising goldfish. [00:33:03] David’s pick is hosting a movie night featuring, The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz, to inspire ethics in open source*.* [00:34:59] Victoria’s pick is being proud of reaching her fitness goals. [00:35:23] Cali’s pick is celebrating recovery from ACL surgery and returning to running and playing volleyball after two years. 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.Support CHAOSScast

Andrew Nesbitt, an open source developer focused on package ecosystem sustainability, teams up with Damián Vicino, an experienced open source practitioner, to discuss the creation of the Package Metadata Working Group. They dive into the complexities of package manager metadata, including interoperability issues and the nuanced meanings of identical field names. The conversation also emphasizes how standardized mappings can benefit developers and researchers alike, while inviting new contributors to join their initiatives.

Dawn Foster, a seasoned expert in open source and Director of Data Science for the KAAS Project, teams up with Bob Killen, a Senior Technical Program Manager at the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. They delve into the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides designed to help organizations navigate open source data and communicate its value. The duo discusses strategies for framing contributions that resonate with leadership, leveraging a formula to prioritize project investments, and using effective language to illustrate ROI and secure support for critical projects.

Join open source experts Andrew Nesbitt and Ben Nickolls as they delve into the groundbreaking ecosyste.ms project. Andrew, an open source infrastructure engineer, reveals how ecosyste.ms maps metadata from diverse projects to enhance funding strategies. Ben, a strategic director at Open Source Collective, shares insights on their collaboration to create funding algorithms for crucial open source initiatives. They also explore the challenges of data maintenance and the significance of funding beyond GitHub, ensuring the sustainability of vital projects within the community.

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: [00:27:13] Harmony’s pick is connecting with people. [00:27:31] Joan’s pick is connecting with people. [00:28:18] Ileriayo’s pick is relationships and people. [00:29:19] Maryblessing’s pick is Anime. Panelist: Harmony Elendu Guests: Maryblessing Okolie Ileriayo Adebiyi Joan Njeri Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Harmony Elendu X Maryblessing Okolie Mastodon Maryblessing Okolie LinkedIn Maryblessing Okolie GitHub Ileriayo Adebiyi Website Ileriayo Adebiyi X Ileriayo Adebiyi LinkedIn Joan Njeri X CHAOSScon Africa 2025 OSCAFEST 2025 KCD Nigeria 2025 Eclipse Foundation One Piece (1999 TV series)Special Guests: Ileriayo Adebiyi, Joan Njeri, and Maryblessing Okolie.Support CHAOSScast