CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 125 In this final episode of the year from CHAOSScast, hosts Alice Sowerby and Harmony Elendu welcome members of the CHAOSS Board, Sean Goggins, Anita Ihuman, Georg Link, and Elizabeth Barron, for an in-depth discussion on the project's developments and future. They share their reflections on key events and trends in the open-source community over 2025. Topics include the impact of AI on open source, shifts in funding, community engagement, and the importance of psychological safety. The panelists also spotlight various CHAOSS working groups, including education, design, and technical writing, while sharing their wishes for the CHAOSS Project in 2026. Press download now! [00:00:49] The hosts and guests introduce themselves and their backgrounds. [00:02:28] Georg announces CHAOSScon in Brussels, Jan 29, 2026, Co-located with FOSDEM. [00:04:51] The guests talk about factors affecting OSS communities in 2025. [00:11:39] We hear where CHAOSS grew the most in 2025 such as regional chapters, global reach, CHAOSS Asia, with shout-outs to Divvya Mohan and Rowland Mosbergen, how metrics are being used, Design Working Group, accessibility, Practitioner Guides, and two new working groups. [00:19:45] The panel shares project and working groups they’re most proud of: Package Management, AI Alignment, Alice and Harmony for keeping CHAOSScast podcast active and alive, Paul and Peachtree Sound for editing the podcast and keeping episodes on track, Education Project, Practitioner Guides, and shared ownership of community growth. [00:28:55] What is some work that went under the radar in 2025? The guests talk about DEI Working Group, DEI Badging, Harmony and the Technical Writers Working Group, and AI’s impact on maintainers. [00:35:41] Georg and Sean have additional thoughts on AI identity and bots. Current tooling assumes human contributions, but AI agents and bots break those assumptions and there’s a need for better identity solutions and metrics that distinguish humans, bots, and multi-account actors. [00:39:33] Elizabeth would love people to give CHAOSS more feedback on engagement for newcomers to make onboarding smoother and encourages people to use the Education Project as a starting point. [00:42:07] Georg, Sean, and Anita talk about CHAOSS board priorities for 2025-2026. [00:45:25] Everyone shares their wishes for CHAOSS in 2026. [00:48:52] If anyone has any ideas, topics, questions, and guests for future CHAOSS episodes please send us an email. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Panelists: Alice Sowerby Harmony Elendu Guests: Sean Goggins Anita Ihuman Georg Link Elizabeth Barron Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Georg Link Website Harmony Elendu X Alice Sowerby LinkedIn Sean Goggins X Elizabeth Barron X Anita Ihuman GitHub CHAOSScon 2026 Brussles, Belgium FOSDEM 2026 CHAOSS Education Project CHAOSS Onboarding Courses-GitHub CHAOSS Practitioner Guides First Person Project White Paper The Road Ahead For Identity Management In Open Source: Humans, Bots, AI Agents-And The Future Of Attribution by Diane Mueller (Bitergia) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 121: Package Metadata Working Group with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 100: Celebrating 100 episodes of CHAOSScast CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 76: CHAOSS Goals for 2024 and Beyond CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 71: What’s New in CHAOSS: Podcast Reboot Episode CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 49: CHAOSS Community Year 2021 in Review CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 1: Hello, World! Peachtree SoundSpecial Guest: Anita ihuman.Support CHAOSScast

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

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 117 In this episode of CHAOSScast, Georg Link and Sean Goggins welcome guest Vicky Brasseur, author of Business Success with Open Source and Forge Your Future with Open Source. The conversation explores Vicky’s early journey into open source, starting from discovering Project Gutenberg in the early '90s to using Linux for the first time, the challenges companies face when using open source software, and how organizations can better leverage it strategically. The discussion also delves into her book, Forge Your Future with Open Source, which addresses common questions about contributing to open source projects. Vicky highlights the gaps in strategic open source usage within organizations and offers insights on how companies can better utilize open source software to reduce business risks. The conversation wraps up with practical advice for making a compelling business case for open source contributions and the importance of speaking the language of decision-makers. Press download now! [00:01:05] Vicky introduces herself, shares her journey into open source, and introduces Project Gutenberg, LibriVox, and the value of community contributions to open knowledge and public domain resources. [00:06:44] Vicky shares how her first book, Forge Your Future with Open Source, helps newcomers start their contribution journey and why she wrote it to be reused across audiences. [00:10:54] There’s a discussion on how open source opens career path globally, especially in underserved economics. [00:12:46] Vicky shares some advice from her book for new contributors: Don’t start with Linux and find a project in an area you love (e.g., music, cars, sewing) to maintain long-term motivation. [00:15:18] Sean and Georg share their personal origin stories in open source. [00:19:23] Georg introduces Vicky’s second book, Business Success with Open Source, and she discusses the premise of the book and the “Three Part Framework.” [00:26:08] Vicky argues that even Linux Foundation member companies often don’t understand open source at an organizational level. [00:29:19] Vicky is available for consulting, following her layoff. She encourages listeners to reach out via her website. [00:33:55] Why do projects fail? Vicky shares failures come from poor communication and unchecked assumptions across industries, not just tech. [00:35:36] Vicky criticizes companies for chasing vanity metrics like GitHub stars and praises the CHAOSS Project but notes most companies misuse metrics or don’t tie them to strategic goals. Also, “Script kiddie” is explained. [00:40:13] Vicky explains how to ethically influence execs by speaking their language, use Power Points and show cost comparisons (e.g., OpenStreetMap vs Google Maps), and she emphasizes to use “TL;DR” (Too Long; Didn’t Read) friendly presentations to connect open source financial and operational outcomes. [00:44:27] There’s a special discount code for everyone to use on Vicky’s eBooks and audiobooks on The Pragmatic Bookshelf website and the code is VBCHAOSS **for 30% off **through Oct 2025. [00:45:16] Find out where you can follow Vicky and her work on the internet. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:46:07] Sean’s pick is the movie, Multiplicity (1996) starring Michael Keaton (not Carbon Copy as stated.) [00:47:29] Vicky’s pick is sharing her joy in spinning wool with a vintage spinning wheel. [00:49:35] Georg’s pick is going to an amusement park with his family. Panelists: Georg Link Sean Goggins Guest: VM (Vicky) Brasseur Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Georg Link Website Sean Goggins X VM (Vicky) Brasseur Website VM (Vicky) Brasseur Blog VM (Vicky) Brasseur LinkedIn VM (Vicky) Brasseur Mastodon Project Gutenberg LibriVox Forge Your Future with Open Source by VM (Vicky) Brasseur (Code: VBCHAOSS) Business Success with Open Source by VM (Vicky) Brasseur (Code: VBCHAOSS) Nora McDonald (College of Engineering and Computing) Zotero Failure: Why It Happens & How to Benefit from It by VM (Vicky) Brasseur Script kiddie Kevin Mitnick Multiplicity Spinning wheelSpecial Guest: VM (Vicky) Brasseur.Support CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 116 In this episode of CHAOSScast, host Georg Link is joined by guests Sarina Canelake, Feanil Patel, and Felipe Montoya from the Open edX community, to discuss their experiences with the GrimoireLab tool and the launch and growth of their maintainer program.  The conversation dives into the history and impact of the Open edX project, the evolution of their maintainer program, and the use of metrics to track and improve community health. The guests also share personal stories and provide insights into the challenges and successes they’ve encountered along the way. Press download now! [00:00:34] Sarina, Feanil, and Felipe introduce themselves and their backgrounds. [00:02:02] Feanil and Sarina explain the origins of the maintainer program, the mix of Python and JavaScript repositories, and how maintainers influence code direction. [00:04:02] Feanil explains the history of Open edX, being open sourced in 2013 by edX (MOOC platform) and how Axim Collaborative took over stewardship in 2021. [00:07:04] We hear Felipe’s journey into the project from student to TA to community contributor and leader since 2012. He details the empowerment and pressure of receiving merge access in the Core Contributor program. [00:13:09] Sarina Explains why merge rights were initially limited to edX staff, and how the shift to community-led merging happened post 2020. [00:15:26] Feanil describes how the Maintainer Program now distributes ownership and improves repository health. [00:17:12] Feanil talks about his incremental metrics philosophy: starts with presence, then track responsiveness. [00:21:34] Georg asks how maintainers use GrimoireLab dashboards and filters. Sarina explains the use of Backstage ownership metadata for filtering dashboards by maintainers or groups and Feanil emphasizes the need for flexible tooling due to overlapping team memberships. [00:24:50] Felipe describes using dashboards to monitor his team’s participation and accountability. [00:25:40] Sarina asks Felipe about dashboards he uses on Bitergia to track team contributions. [00:28:26] Sarina shares how she tracks Elephant Factor and trends in commit and LOC volume and Georg highlights the value of identity reconciliation in data. [00:30:45] Felipe talks about monitoring Slack, issues, and commits to ensure ecosystem health post-company transitions and Sarina notes challenges of mapping Slack/Discourse identities in Sorting Hat for deeper engagement metrics. [00:34:11] There’s a discussion on syncing internal onboarding identity forms with Sorting Hat manually for now. [00:35:35] Georg raises concerns about metric misuse in performance reviews. Sarina and Feanil stress metrics as guidance, not performance tools, and Felipe shares his team uses metrics as lagging indicators, not for pressure. [00:39:55] Sarina explains how their impact report uses lines of code, commit trends, and elephant factor to show growth and codebase health. [00:42:32] Find out where you can go to get involved and contribute to Open edX and edunext. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:44:15] Georg’s pick is a podcast called, ‘Through The Griffin Door’ by the Carlin Brothers. [00:44:50] Sarina’s pick is her kitten who’s taught herself how to play fetch and a podcast called, ‘The Best Idea Yet.’ [00:45:37] Feanil’s pick is ‘Logseq,’ a journaling and notetaking tool. [00:46:42] Felipe’s pick is the ‘Waking Up’ app for mindful meditation. Panelist: Georg Link Guests: Sarina Canelake Feanil Patel Felipe Montoya Links: CHAOSS CHAOSS Project X CHAOSScast Podcast CHAOSS YouTube podcast@chaoss.community Georg Link Website Sarina Canelake LinkedIn Sarina Canelake Website Feanil Patel LinkedIn Feanil Patel GitHub Felipe Montoya LinkedIn Open edX Open edX Documentation Open edX (YouTube) Open edX dashboard Open edX GitHub edunext (YouTube) edunext Axim Collaborative MOOC Through The Griffin Door (YouTube) The Best Idea Yet Podcast Logseq Waking Up Special Guests: Feanil Patel, Felipe Montoya, and Sarina Canelake.Support CHAOSScast