Episodes

  • Episode 125: A very CHAOTIC 2025

    Episode 125: A very CHAOTIC 2025
    Dec 11 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) 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 (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Georg Link Website (https://georg.link/) Harmony Elendu X (https://x.com/ogaharmony) Alice Sowerby LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-sowerby-ba692a13/?originalSubdomain=uk) Sean Goggins X (https://twitter.com/sociallycompute) Elizabeth Barron X (https://twitter.com/elizabethn) Anita Ihuman GitHub (https://github.com/Anita-ihuman) CHAOSScon 2026 Brussles, Belgium (https://chaoss.community/chaosscon-2026-eu/) FOSDEM 2026 (https://fosdem.org/2026/) CHAOSS Education Project (https://chaoss.community/chaoss-education/) CHAOSS Onboarding Courses-GitHub (https://github.com/chaoss/education) CHAOSS Practitioner Guides (https://chaoss.community/about-chaoss-practitioner-guides/) First Person Project White Paper (https://www.firstperson.network/white-paper) The Road Ahead For Identity Management In Open Source: Humans, Bots, AI Agents-And The Future Of Attribution by Diane Mueller (Bitergia) (https://bitergia.com/blog/identity-management-in-open-source-ai-agents-and-the-future-of-attribution/) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 121: Package Metadata Working Group with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino (https://podcast.chaoss.community/121) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 100: Celebrating 100 episodes of CHAOSScast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/100) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 76: CHAOSS Goals for 2024 and Beyond (https://podcast.chaoss.community/76) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 71: What’s New in CHAOSS: Podcast Reboot Episode (https://podcast.chaoss.community/71) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 49: CHAOSS Community Year 2021 in Review (https://podcast.chaoss.community/49) CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 1: Hello, World! (https://podcast.chaoss.community/1) Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest: Anita ihuman.
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    51 mins
  • Episode 124: Practitioner Guides: #7 Diverse Leadership

    Episode 124: Practitioner Guides: #7 Diverse Leadership
    Nov 27 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) 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 (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Georg Link Website (https://georg.link/) Harmony Elendu X (https://x.com/ogaharmony) Dawn Foster X (https://twitter.com/geekygirldawn?lang=en) Peculiar Umeh LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/peculiar-c-umeh/) CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Building Diverse Leadership (https://chaoss.community/practitioner-guide-diverse-leadership/) About the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides (https://chaoss.community/about-chaoss-practitioner-guides/) The Linux Foundation Report -Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Source (https://www.linuxfoundation.org/research/the-2021-linux-foundation-report-on-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-open-source?__hstc=14121576.ca3b263457931924011dadacce615967.1684843406300.1759854334257.1759905660008.767&__hssc=14121576.4.1759905660008&__hsfp=3558574752) The Linux Foundation-Decentralized innovation. Built on trust. (https://www.linuxfoundation.org/?__hstc=14121576.ca3b263457931924011dadacce615967.1684843406300.1759854334257.1759905660008.767&__hssc=14121576.4.1759905660008&__hsfp=3558574752) Inclusive Leadership: Effecting change: Introduction | OpenLearn-Open University (https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/inclusive-leadership-effecting-change/content-sect) CHAOSS Data Use Awareness Recommendation: Privacy and Ethics (https://www.open.edu/openlearn/education-development/inclusive-leadership-effecting-change/content-sect) n8n (https://n8n.io/) Previous Practitioner Guide Episodes: Episode 85: Introducing ...
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    40 mins
  • Episode 123: Practitioner Guides: #6 Sunsetting an Open Source Project

    Episode 123: Practitioner Guides: #6 Sunsetting an Open Source Project
    Nov 13 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 123 This episode of the CHAOSScast features hosts Harmony Elendu and Alice Sowerby, along with guests Stefka Dimitrova and Dawn Foster, discussing the process of sunsetting open source projects. Dawn and Stefka share their extensive experiences and the importance of managing the lifecycle of open source projects responsibly. They delve into the specifics of the 'Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project' guide from Dawn's series of practitioner guides, which aim to help practitioners, not just experts, interpret data and improve their project health. Key topics include identifying inactive projects, the responsible steps for sunsetting, and the crucial role of communication within the community. The episode also touches upon metrics to determine project activity and archive responsibly, highlighting that the process goes beyond simply pressing an 'archive' button. Hit download now to hear more! [00:00:23] The hosts and guests introduce themselves. [00:02:09] Dawn explains the purpose of the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides. [00:04:54] Harmony asks Dawn what inspired her to write the “Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project” guide. She highlights the problem of inactive, unarchived projects creating security and reputational risks and being inspired by VMware’s internal sunset process let by Stefka when they both worked there. [00:06:23] Dawn explains why projects shouldn’t remain unarchived and who the guide is intended for. [00:07:30] Stefka shares her background and how she got started with sunsetting projects while she was at VMware. [00:10:33] Dawn discusses the three Primary metrics: Change Requests, New Issues, and Technical Forks. [00:12:10] Harmony asks how to identify a functionally abandoned project and Dawn explains if there’s no updates or security patches it’s likely abandoned. [00:13:07] Stefka outlines some responsible “sunsetting” steps. [00:16:16] Harmony asks what to do if an active project decides to wind down and Stefka says it’s better to decide proactively while still active, plan and communicate early, re-evaluate priorities, and prepare alternatives. [00:17:31] Dawn adds within companies, it must involve PR and customer teams to manage impact and have a transition plan and timeline. [00:18:20] Alice summarizes the dual responsibility of both OSPOs and maintainers to recognize when it’s time to sunset and Stefka shares an example that was helpful for the teams she worked with. [00:21:17] Alice reflects that open source is about people as much as technology and managing emotional transitions is vital. [00:21:58] Final takeaways: Dawn encourages listeners to read the guide and follow its step-by-step approach for responsible project sunsetting and Stefka encourages people to be ready for the sunset form the start of a project and keep the guide handy as a reference for your teams. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:23:36] Dawn’s pick is her 3D printer. [00:24:47] Harmony’s pick is talking a walk after the rain. [00:25:52] Stefka’s pick is working with people at the Playback Theatre. [00:26:59] Alice’s pick is Vitamin B3 for skin cancer prevention. Panelists: Harmony Elendu Alice Sowerby Guests: Dawn Foster Stefka Dimitrova Links: CHAOSS (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Harmony Elendu X (https://x.com/ogaharmony) Alice Sowerby LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-sowerby-ba692a13/?originalSubdomain=uk) Dawn Foster X (https://twitter.com/geekygirldawn?lang=en) Stefka Dimitrova LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/stdimitrova/) CHAOSS: Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project (https://chaoss.community/practitioner-guide-sunset/) CHAOSS: About the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides (https://chaoss.community/about-chaoss-practitioner-guides/) When and How to Deprecate an Open Source Project by Stefka Dimitrova (https://blogs.vmware.com/opensource/2022/09/29/when-and-how-to-deprecate-an-open-source-project/) Deprecating an Open Source Project, Part 2 by Stefka Dimitrova (https://blogs.vmware.com/opensource/2023/05/17/deprecating-an-open-source-project-part-2/) Simple Steps for a Calm “Sunset”- Stefka Dimitrova’s video from the Open Source Summit in Europe (2022) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdpkMkoKtDY) Dos and don’ts when sunsetting open source projects (GitHub Blog) (https://github.blog/open-source/maintainers/dos-and-donts-when-sunsetting-open-source-projects/) Shutting Down An Open Source Project (TODO Group Guide) (https://todogroup.org/resources/guides/shutting-down-an-open-source-project/?__hstc=14121576....
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    29 mins
  • Episode 122: Meet the 2025 CHAOTICS of the month!

    Episode 122: Meet the 2025 CHAOTICS of the month!
    Oct 30 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) 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 (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) CHAOSS Slack (https://chaoss-workspace.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-r65szij9-QajX59hkZUct82b0uACA6g#/shared-invite/email) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Georg Link Website (https://georg.link/) Alice Sowerby LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-sowerby-ba692a13/?originalSubdomain=uk) David Lippert Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/david-lippert.bsky.social) David Lippert GitHub (https://github.com/david-lippert) Victoria Ottah Website (https://toriannenna-blog.medium.com/) Victoria Ottah LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoria-ottah-7294481ba/) CHAOSScast Podcast episode featuring Victoria Ottah (https://podcast.chaoss.community/guests/victoria-ottah) Cali Dolfi LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/...
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    38 mins
  • Episode 121: Package Metadata Working Group with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino

    Episode 121: Package Metadata Working Group with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino
    Oct 16 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 121 In this episode of the CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby sits down with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino to discuss the formation and objectives of the new Package Metadata Working Group within the CHAOSS community. They discuss the complex issues surrounding package manager metadata, its interoperability challenges, and how the working group aims to address these through mapping and standardization efforts. They also touch upon the importance of these efforts for various stakeholders, including developers, researchers, and tool builders. The conversation highlights both the immediate and long-term goals of the group and provides information on how interested individuals can get involved. Hit download now to hear more! [00:00:26] Introductions from Alice, Andrew, and Damián. [00:02:36] Damián explains how the Package Metadata Working Group started. [00:04:33] Andrew shares his experience building mappings across multiple package registries and how differing field names, schema structures, and metadata definitions complicate consistency. [00:10:21] Alice asks about the group’s short and long term objectives and Andrew outlines some immediate goals. [00:14:52] Damián elaborates on challenges in semantics and timelines. He emphasizes that even identically names fields may carry different meanings and shares an example. [00:18:46] Alice summarizes Damián’s point saying the group’s role is to provide guidance and analysis rather than enforce standards, helping maintainers make informed metadata decisions. [00:19:25] Andrew adds that most package managers evolve independently without referencing past ones. The working group’s documentation aims to prevent repeated mistakes and guide new ecosystems toward interoperable designs. [00:23:06] Damián notes that modern software projects often depend on multiple ecosystems, making license tracking and dependency management exponentially harder without interoperability. [00:25:02] Andrew explains how researchers waste time rebuilding metadata mapping from scratch across ecosystems and having unified references would accelerate research and tool development. [00:27:58] Damián discusses how better metadata could support academic credit and funding by enabling easier citation and recognition of open source contributions tied to research projects. [00:29:39] How can you get involved? Damián invites package manager developers and metadata tool builders to join, and Andrew encourages anyone working with SBOMs or package metadata tools to contribute war stories, mapping, or research use cases. [00:33:01] Andrew mentions all the places you can join in on the meetings and to share where you are interested in working on. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:35:25] Alice’s pick is apples. [00:36:17] Damián’s pick is hockey. [00:37:04] Andrew’s pick is puppy training. Panelist: Alice Sowerby Guests: Andrew Nesbitt Damián Vicino Links: CHAOSS (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Alice Sowerby LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-sowerby-ba692a13/?originalSubdomain=uk) Andrew Nesbitt Website (https://nesbitt.io/) Andrew Nesbitt GitHub (https://github.com/andrew) Andrew Nesbitt Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@andrewnez) Damián Vicino LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dvicino/) Damián Vicino GitHub (https://github.com/sdavtaker) CHAOSSWG: Package Metadata (https://github.com/chaoss/wg-package-metadata) CHAOSS Calendar (https://chaoss.community/chaoss-calendar/) CHAOSS Slack (https://chaoss-workspace.slack.com/join/shared_invite/zt-r65szij9-QajX59hkZUct82b0uACA6g#/shared-invite/email) Special Guests: Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino.
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    41 mins
  • Episode 120: Practitioner Guides: #5 Demonstrating Organizational Value

    Episode 120: Practitioner Guides: #5 Demonstrating Organizational Value
    Oct 2 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 120 In this episode of CHAOSScast, Harmony Elendu hosts a discussion with Dawn Foster and Bob Killen to discuss their extensive experience in open source and detail the motivations behind the creation of the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides. These guides aim to help practitioners navigate the overwhelming amount of data related to open source projects and understand how to improve project health and sustainability. The discussion covers strategies for communicating the business value of open source efforts to leadership, framing contributions in a way that resonates with organizational priorities, and prioritizing investments in critical projects. Press download now! [00:00:31] Dawn and Bob introduce themselves and their backgrounds. [00:02:24] Dawn explains why CHAOSS created Practitioner Guides: to help navigate the “tsunami of data” from open source metrics. The new guide is different and is focused on demonstrating organizational value. [00:04:36] Harmony asks about the inspiration for the guide. Dawn credits Bob and how the guide was built largely from his talks at KubeCon and the Linux Foundation Member Summit. [00:05:22] Bob talks about macroeconomic pressures where open source is often first cut. The guide helps orgs tell compelling stories to leadership about open source ROI. [00:07:14] Bob shares a case study: maintainers reframed contributions in leadership’s language- revenue impact, bug fix turnaround, and resource efficiency and how this secured leadership support. Dawn adds that every organization values different things and provides an example. [00:11:36] Bob introduces the formula: Priority = Criticality x Health. [00:13:36] Dawn emphasizes formula helps orgs prioritize strategically critical but under-resourced projects (example: Kubernetes cluster API at VMware). Bob notes criticality differs by company and even department. [00:16:51] Harmony ask how to report open source value to leadership. Bob explains the importance of framing in leadership’s language, not just raw contribution counts. Dawn warns against poor framing and explains about being careful about how you talk to leadership about your open source efforts. Value Adds (Picks) of the week: [00:20:47] Dawn’s pick is discovery how easy it was to build a static site with GitHub Pages and Jekyll. [00:21:38] Bob’s pick is dosu.dev. [00:22:18] Harmony’s pick is exploring AI models for fraud detection and system tracking. Panelists: Harmony Elendu Guests: Dawn Foster Bob Killen Links: CHAOSS (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Harmony Elendu X (https://x.com/ogaharmony) Dawn Foster X (https://twitter.com/geekygirldawn?lang=en) Bob Killen Website (https://mrbobbytabl.es/) CHAOSS Practitioner Guides (https://chaoss.community/about-chaoss-practitioner-guides/) CHAOSS Practitioner Guides (YouTube) (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL60k37cxI-HSHV4-rEsWMzExw2y2Oq79Z) CHAOSS Data Science Working Group: New Guides, Research, and More (Blog Post by Dawn Foster (https://chaoss.community/chaoss-data-science-working-group-new-guides-research-and-more/) CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project (https://chaoss.community/practitioner-guide-sunset/) CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Building Diverse Leadership (https://chaoss.community/practitioner-guide-diverse-leadership/) GitHub Pages documentation (https://docs.github.com/en/pages) Jekyll (https://jekyllrb.com/) Dosu (https://dosu.dev/) Special Guest: Bob Killen.
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    23 mins
  • Episode 119: Guest Episode - Sustain asks how Ecosyste.ms maps open source dependencies

    Episode 119: Guest Episode - Sustain asks how Ecosyste.ms maps open source dependencies
    Sep 18 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) for providing the hosting account for CHAOSSCast! CHAOSScast – Episode 119 In this episode of CHAOSScast, we have a special episode from our friends at Sustain. Host Richard Littauer from Sustain is joined by guests Ben Nickolls and Andrew Nesbitt to discuss the ecosyste.ms project. They explore how ecosyste.ms collects and analyzes metadata from various open-source projects to create a comprehensive database that can help improve funding allocation. The discussion covers the importance of funding the most critical open-source projects, the existing gaps in funding, and the partnership between ecosyste.ms and Open Source Collective to create funding algorithms that support entire ecosystems. They also talk about the challenges of maintaining data, reaching out to project maintainers, and the broader implications for the open-source community. Hit the download button now! [00:03:16] Andrew and Ben explain ecosyste.ms, what it does, and how it compares to Libraries.io. [00:06:17] Ecosyste.ms tracks metadata, not the packages themselves, and enriches data via dependency graphs, committers, issues, SBOMs, and more. [00:08:12] Andrew talks about finding 1,890 Git hosts and how many critical projects live outside GitHub. [00:09:55] There’s a conversation on metadata uses and SBOM parsing. [00:14:07] Richard inquires about the ecosystem.ms funds on their website which Andrew explains it’s a collaboration between Open Collective and ecosyste.ms. that algorithmically distributes funds to the most used, not most popular packages. [00:17:03] Ben shares how this is different from previous projects and brings up a past project, “Back Your Stack” and explains how ecosyste.ms is doing two things differently. [00:20:17] Ben explains how it supports payouts to other platforms and encourages maintainers to adopt funding YAML files for automation. Andrew touches on efficient outreach, payout management, and API usage (GraphQL). [00:26:54] Ben elaborates on how companies can fund ecosyste.ms (like Django) instead of curating their own lists and being inspired by Sentry’s work with the Open Source Pledge. [00:30:50] Andrew speaks about scaling and developer engagement and emphasizes their focus is on high-impact sustainability. [00:34:06] Richard asks, “Why does it matter?” Ben explains that most current funding goes to popular, not most used projects and ecosyste.ms aims to fix the gap with data backed funding, and he suggests use of open standards like 360Giving and Open Contracting Data. [00:37:04] Andrew shares his thoughts on funding the right projects by improving 1% of OSS, you uplift the quality of millions of dependent projects with healthier infrastructure, faster security updates, and more resilient software. [00:39:53] Find out where you can follow ecosyste.ms and the blog on the web. Quotes: [00:12:36] “I call them interesting forks. If a fork is referenced by a package, it’ll get indexed.” [00:23:25] We’ve built a service that now moves like $25 million a year between OSS maintainers on OSC.” [00:34:41] “We don’t have enough information to make collective decisions about which projects, communities, maintainers, should receive more funding.” [00:35:41] “The NSF POSE Program has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to open source communities alone.” [00:37:05] “If you have ten, twenty thousand really critical open source projects, that actually isn’t unachievable to make those projects sustainable.” Spotlight: [00:40:53] Ben’s spotlight is Jellyfin. [00:41:38]** **Andrew’s spotlight is zizmor. [00:43:39] Richard’s spotlight is The LaTeX Project. Panelist: Richard Littauer Guests: Ben Nickolls Andrew Nesbitt Links: CHAOSS (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project Twitter (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Alice Sowerby LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-sowerby-ba692a13/?originalSubdomain=uk) SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/) podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) richard@sustainoss.org (mailto:richard@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) SustainOSS Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/sustainoss.bsky.social) SustainOSS LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/sustainoss/) Open Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute) (https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials (https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Ben Nickolls LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamuk/) Andrew Nesbitt Website (https://nesbitt.io/) Andrew Nesbitt Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/@andrewnez) Octobox (https://github.com/octobox) ecosyste.ms (https://ecosyste.ms/) ecosyste.ms Blog (https://blog.ecosyste.ms/) Open Source Collective (https://...
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    46 mins
  • Episode 118: Insights from CHAOSScon Africa, Open Source Community Africa Festival, and KCD Nigeria

    Episode 118: Insights from CHAOSScon Africa, Open Source Community Africa Festival, and KCD Nigeria
    Sep 4 2025
    Thank you to the folks at Sustain (https://sustainoss.org/) 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 (https://chaoss.community/) CHAOSS Project X (https://twitter.com/chaossproj?lang=en) CHAOSScast Podcast (https://podcast.chaoss.community/) CHAOSS YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@CHAOSStube/videos) podcast@chaoss.community (mailto:podcast@chaoss.community) Harmony Elendu X (https://x.com/ogaharmony) Maryblessing Okolie Mastodon (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ileriayoadebiyi/) Maryblessing Okolie LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryblessingokolie/?originalSubdomain=ng) Maryblessing Okolie GitHub (https://github.com/Maryblessing/) Ileriayo Adebiyi Website (https://ileriayoadebiyi.com/) Ileriayo Adebiyi X (https://x.com/ileriayooo) Ileriayo Adebiyi LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ileriayoadebiyi/) Joan Njeri X (https://x.com/Joanndegwa_) CHAOSScon Africa 2025 (https://chaoss.community/chaosscon-africa-2025/) OSCAFEST 2025 (https://festival.oscafrica.org/) KCD Nigeria 2025 (https://community.cncf.io/events/details/cncf-kcd-nigeria-presents-kcd-nigeria-2025/) Eclipse Foundation (https://www.eclipse.org/) One Piece (1999 TV series) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece_(1999_TV_series)) Special Guests: Ileriayo Adebiyi, Joan Njeri, and Maryblessing Okolie.
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    31 mins