Stormy on Women in Open Source: Offending vs. Encouraging

Sep 21, 2009 GMT

Check out what Gnome's Stormy Peters writes in her thoughtful blog post about "offending" vs. "encouraging" women in open source. She says, "There are a lot of groups that I'm not part of. Most of them have not offended me. I just don't feel any pull to join them." Well said.

A rare ROSE Blog list

Sep 20, 2009 GMT

I woke up in Atlanta at 4:30AM and arrived in Portland, Oregon, 11 hours later. With my remaining two brain cells, I offer you this list:1. Atlanta Linux Fest was wonderful! A big thanks to all the organizers and volunteers – they really kept their cool, which is extra impressive considering about 600 people made appearances at the event throughout the day. If you missed this year's event, be sure to check out the big Ubuntu announcement video now on Youtube. I caught Kirrily Robert's keynote, Amber Graner's leadership talk, and Ellen Ko's discussion of Google Summer of Code, and I enjoyed getting some one-on-one face time with each of these inspirational women. In addition to seeing a...

We're not in Kansas Anymore: Atlanta, Portland, and Columbus... or Bust

Sep 17, 2009 GMT

Atlanta Linux FestFriday, September 18th, I leave Kansas and head out to Atlanta for Atlanta Linux Fest 2009. On Saturday, September 19th (a.k.a. Software Freedom Day), I'll be talking in the morning about increasing the visibility of women in open source, and I'll make suggestions for how you can improve your own self promotional skills. Google's Ellen Ko will be talking about creating your own program based on the Google Summer of Code, and Kirrily Robert will be discussing open source software and open data, in addition to giving the afternoon keynote: Standing Out in the Crowd. You can check out the entire schedule at: http://atlantalinuxfest.org/schedule.LinuxConAfter Atlanta, I head...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Con-Techie.com's Kendra "Admin" Schaefer

Sep 16, 2009 GMT

Con-Techie is a promising new site serving up geeky event news. Site admin Kendra "Admin" Schaefer shares her views on how the open source community should approach the growth of FOSS.Q: Who are you?A: My name is Kendra "Admin" Schaefer, abandoner of social networking accounts, surreptitious eater of last years' Halloween candy, FOSS graphic design advocate, and Ubuntu fan girl.Q: What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?A: Along with some extremely competent volunteers, I edit, administrate, and write for http://con-techie.com, a new open source conference directory and tech events blog.Not to get too rah-rah-dead-Victorian-people on you, but...

Open Source Should Be Open To All

Sep 14, 2009 GMT

Ohio LinuxFest's Beth Lynn Eicher and Esther (Moose) Filderman sent me this article about increasing diversity in open source, and I'm so thankful they did. This year will be my first Ohio LinuxFest, and I'm delighted that I'll be speaking at the Diversity workshop. Although my talk covers how women can do a better job of promoting themselves, my talk really applies to anyone in open source who sees that their efforts – or efforts of colleagues and friends – get overlooked. Lately I've noticed an increase in divisiveness and exclusion in some areas of open source, even among women in our field. But at the same time, I see people – including Beth Lynn, Moose, and the other Ohio...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Emma Jane Hogbin, co-author of Front End Drupal

Sep 11, 2009 GMT

Q: Who are you? A: Emma Jane Hogbin. I wear a lot of different hats but my main focus is to make technology suck less for businesses and "solo-preneurs." I do this through training and Web development (HICK Tech), technical writing (co-author of Front End Drupal) and advocacy/training (conference presentations and workshops). I also knit the Drupal socks and released the pattern under the GPL.Q: What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?A: Right now I'm focused on enabling other people to use open source technologies. That's a pretty broad description though so let's take a look at my schedule for this week. Right now I'm working on the Bazaar Web site...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Sharon Moreland, Technology Consultant at the Northeast Kansas Library System

Sep 08, 2009 GMT

In this interview, Sharon Moreland explains a few ways libraries in Kansas are using open source.Q: Who are you?A: Sharon Moreland. Technology Consultant at the Northeast Kansas Library System. I work closely with the NExpress Shared Catalog team to migrate public libraries into the Koha automated catalog, as well as to troubleshoot and maintain the catalog. Prior to coming to the Library System, I was a small town public library director.Q: What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?A: At NEKLS, we administer a statewide project, My Kansas Library on the Web, that uses WordPress to provide small- and medium-sized libraries with professional-looking websites. I...