## SLIDES: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1d72-7FbFzJFTDtnabJGaVqz0-KVLUHp8nEBWVbKjnCE/edit?usp=sharing

{%hackmd @coscup/S1EDiCRcn %}

## Slido
- Slido link: https://wall.sli.do/event/toqWwJKNmYdCoBweB96DrZ?section=8dd3ab98-6af6-4c59-86dc-9b078080a600

## Introduction
"The Yin and Yang of Open Source" is a captivating exploration of the intricate relationship between collaboration, diversity, and open source culture. Looking into its rich history, benefits, challenges, and current issues, with a particular focus on its influence in cultural transformation, the talk aims to inspire a deeper appreciation for the immense power of free and open source philosophy and practical application. It emphasizes the importance of responsible practices and the creation of inclusive communities, urging us to embrace this transformative force and actively contribute to a future that is more inclusive and collaborative.

## About OSI and Paloma

Open Source Initiative, OSI, ia a leading voice on the policies and principles of open source. The OSI helps build a world where the freedoms and opportunities of open source software can be enjoyed by all by supporting institutions and individuals working together to create communities of practice in which the healthy open source ecosystem thrives.

Paloma Oliveira is an Open Source Developer Evangelist at Sauce Labs who have been promoting free and open source culture since 2009. Paloma is a strong activist for diversity and equity in tech and open source co-organizing PyLadies Berlin <https://berlin.pyladies.com/> and mentoring at FrauenLoop <https://www.frauenloop.org/>. She exercise a continuous critical thinking about the technology we create and use, being co-founder of the Zentrum für Netzkunst <https://netzkunst.berlin/> (Berlin’s netart institute).

## ABSTRACT

"The Yin and Yang of Open Source: Unveiling the Dynamics of Collaboration, Diversity, and Cultural Transformation"

In this thought-provoking talk, we delve into the intricate relationship between collaboration, diversity, and open source software. By exploring its fascinating history, uncovering its numerous benefits and challenges, and delving into the current issues it addresses, we gain insights into the transformative power that open source holds over our culture.

We embark on a journey through time, tracing the origins of open source and its evolution into a global phenomenon. We shine a light on the advantages it brings, from accelerated innovation and enhanced quality to cost-effectiveness and versatility. However, we also confront the challenges it faces, such as ethical considerations in the realm of AI and potential misuse.

A focal point of this talk is the vital role that diversity plays in open source communities. We examine the value of diverse perspectives, emphasizing the need for inclusivity and equal opportunities for all contributors. By fostering a culture of inclusion, we can tap into the full potential of open source and drive meaningful cultural transformation.

Moreover, we take a critical look at the current issues surrounding open source and its impact on our cultural landscape. We explore how it has challenged traditional hierarchies, fostered collaboration across borders, and transformed the way we approach problem-solving. From education to business, open source has permeated various sectors, driving a shift towards a more collaborative and open-minded society.

"The Yin and Yang of Open Source" offers a captivating exploration of collaboration, diversity, and cultural transformation within the realm of open source. By uncovering its dynamics and emphasizing the need for responsible practices and inclusive communities, the talk inspires us to embrace the transformative power of open source and contribute to a more inclusive and collaborative future.

## TALK TRANSCRIPTION

### INTRO
Hi! My name is Paloma Oliveira. In the next about 30min I'll share my reflections about what is open source today and how we got here. I will also ask you a few questions along the way as a manner to hear your opinions. When I ask you a question, please raise your hands, stand up, or demonstrate your yes/ no opinion on your favorite manner.

This is my first time in Asia, and, although I am super duber excited to be here, it is also quite frightening to talk to an unknow public, whom I know so little about.

I am very eager to understand how you understand and use open source, and I am hoping to bring you some perspective from south, central america and europe.

I will try to create a narrative around the contexts I show, but please stop me at any time if you would like to add something or if you need further information. This presentation has CC attributes and contains further references and links to all that I quote. You can download it here or send me a message, Ill be happy to connect :) CONTACTS + PRESENTATION QR

I work full time as Open Source Developer Evangelist for Sauce Labs, a testing platform that allows software companies to test their products during the whole development process. We are based in Selenium, in fact, founded by one of the project's creators, Jason Huggins. And I am here today as an invitation of the Open Source Initiative, a foundation celebrating 25 years this year. I thank you immensely for the opportunity, as well as to Open Culture Foundation, Shirley and Peter who made my visit possible and are the nicest people I ever met.

I learned about open source from weird things and weird people PDCON

### PDCON
The Pure Data Convention in São Paulo 2009 was my first involvement with open source. Like any good telenovela, it was all about being in love with someone and wanting to get to know his world. The relationship ended, but my love for the community stayed <3

PureData or just "Pd" is an open source visual programming language for multimedia developed by Miller Puckette since 1996. Based on his original Max program, was created as a form of protest because the funders of his research did not allow free licenses for students.

For a person just getting her first computer, coming out of fine arts college, and discovering the world of hacker spaces, being immersed in PhD-led lecture symposiums in the morning and noise performers in the evenings meant the explosion of everything I knew as a world.

We brought 63 people passionate about the software and dominated by a spirit of sharing and community from different parts of the world, mostly America and Europe. An intense program featuring paper presentations, interactive installations and audiovisual performances filled the entire week.

Inspired and in love with this community, I began to constitute myself in the culture of the open, having since taken its strangeness and possibilities with me LUCHA + RADIO PLANTA + PYLADIES

I think I am very lucky :)

#### FLOSS IN BRAZIL CONTEXT
The free software movement in Brazil, where I was born and raised, is a very large movement, much for the political need and resistance that the movement offers. A quick panorama about its context, Brazil is a continental size country with about 280 people living in with high inequality. Our people are very mixed. It is the result of an exploitative colonizing process by Western Europeans, mainly Portugal and Italy. Mixed race also because it was the land where most slaves landed from Africa. The difficulty of managing large-scale land extensions, the consequences of a colonizing process that exterminated native people, racial conflicts that generated socio-economic consequences to the detriment of indigenous and afro-descendent people, lead to a fragile democracy and inequitable country.

That is why, for me, open source has always been political, creative, related to social change and human rights. INFOAMAZONIA.

A place where, in theory, prioritizes what to whom, and therefore, skin color, financial situation, gender, and place of origin, should not impose hierarchies or barriers to be part of.

Is that really so?

Despite a history of diversity activism, which Christina Dunbar-Hester will detail on her book Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures. The book scrutinizes the story of open diversity advocates, focusing on hacker spaces over the course of 5 years. In many of her talks, the author begins by demonstrating that this is a much bigger problem than technology and that it will not be solved by technology, but that it ends up being reinforced by stereotypes, such as the representation of the male tech genius.

A little research that has been done around open source projects shows a startling lack of diversity. It is very important to emphasize that diversity is a very complex subject. For purpose of comparison, and because those are the most common found data, “diversity” reads as binary gender woman/ men. While in Western Europe it is estimated that about 25% of women occupy technical positions in tech, in open source this number does not reach 4% of contributors. This is even lower for female leaders and maintainers.
More in-depth research that considers "diversity" in its real complexity is urgently needed. Please share with me if you have further knowledge about such efforts.

If you have the means and can afford to get involved, open source it is, however, this place that have allowed me to dialog head-to-head and engage in discussions with people very different from me in a global and interdisciplinary perspective. HIBRIDA, MEDHACKERS

#### FLOSS IN MEXICO CONTEXT
When I moved to Mexico City, I learned that what I call "open source" has many definitions and meanings that change depending on the context, location, and historical moment. Although Brazil and Mexico share numerous social problems, the context is different.

I am unsure that PDCON, for example, could happen today. It was a byproduct of It was an effervescent moment in digital culture, where our minister of culture provided not only funding but public policies that allow this type of initiative. The social emergency was also another. Brazil was at the center of attention for its progressive and social policies, prevailing diversity, hunger eradication, and education in a blooming economy. Unfortunately, this is not the case today. Priorities change according to emergencies. Today eating is an emergency for a large part of the population.

Unlike the Brazilian original peoples, who have oral culture and ephemeral constructions based on vegetation, the Mexican original peoples, the most well-known being the Mayas and Aztecs, were warrior peoples who possessed structures and knowledge registered in tangible materials. Colonized by the Spanish in a very violent way, and having lost much of their territory to the USA in the mid 1800s, there is a clear and intense tension between the two countries. Mexico is a very rich country culturally and geographically, but it suffers from the same problems of class and class inequality at the expense of original peoples.

Since before the colonization period to the present day, the wisdom of its original peoples is a reference to self organized societies, circular hierarchies and decentralization. Take the Zapatistas for example. So my theory is that open source is just another form of community organization, diluted in ancestral wisdoms.

Since the 1990s, Mexico has become a primary route between drug producers in South America and high consumption of drugs by users in the US and Europe, bringing severe problems of corruption and violence, prompting an emergency about individual welfare and human rights.

The proliferation of successful stories of individual developers, the “well-succeded-millioraine-tech-genious” of Silicon Valley in the early 2000s took over the narrative of the aspiring tech community. Hackathons and make-a-thons shifted focus towards this appeal, and the collective benefit of innovation as a backdrop.

FOSS is hardly mentioned, and open source takes a giant leap forward, enabling initiatives to grow from garage projects to billion-dollar companies. I will take a short break in my narrative to tell you a little about the history of FLOSS and OS for those who do not know.

#### FLOSS & OS History

Free Libre Open Source Software is a matter of liberty, not price. Is a political moviment officaly started by Richard Stallman when he founded the FSF Free Software Foundation in 1985. Of course the culture of sharing is not something he invented, but he is indeed a visionary understanding that softaware would, as it is today, an interface that determines human forms of organization and existence in the world.

O termo Open Source foi cunhado por Christine Peterson in 1998, and appropriated by the OSI Open Source Initiative founded by Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond as a general educational and advocacy organization.

It is generally understood that open source focuses on the practical rather than the political side of the movement, being about legal strategies that facilitate the use and ownership of open source.

The history between the two associations is full of juicy gossip, and at times frictioned by a hostile rivalry. Today, both associations speak of each other respectfully and understand the importance of co-existing.

Focusing on its practicality allows an easier adoption of the collaborative movement, facilitates its understanding and use. On the other hand, ignoring the conceptual or philosophical side leaves room for unethical or unfair appropriation of projects.

Almost 40 years after the foundation of the FSF and exactly 25 years of OSI, we can observe a series of mistakes and successes. Moments like this, organized by COSCUP, help us to reflect together on what serves us and what no longer serves us.

One of the main tasks of both foundations is to update and validate licenses that reflect the cornerstones of each movement. Copy-left licenses are the legal basis for the existence of open culture. Yesterday I met a layer specialized in OS who is giving a talk about open patents, you should check it out ;) And I say culture because the free software movement has long gone beyond the boundaries of software. We talk about Open Hardware, Open Government, Open Data. Open Business, Open Education, Open Web, Open Science... all have at their core the same values and ideals of FLOSS and the culture of sharing.

Intersections are the ones I find most interesting. Just like my background, researching past COSCUPs I found several talks by people who either started or over time used the code as a creative tool and artistic tool. Unfortunately for me, they are neither in a language accessible to me :(

Open Source Vanguard in Arts by Stan Su
Becoming Storytellers, Visual Artists and Composers with Open Source Tools & Global Communities by Chun-yien ChangAlfredo Chiang
A journey from art to the open source world by Honki

🙋‍♀️Are any of those speaker present here today? Does anyone here share this same background?

#### LANGUAGE
Which leads me to one major issue in open source: language. Although English has become a common language that allow us to communicate globally, that means that most of the world have to have the opportunity to learn at least a second language in order to access most of the information and take part in projects. This is problematic in many levels. Language reflects a structure of understanding and communicating with the ones around us, and translation applications are unable to interpret subtleties that reflect these perceptions. In addition, not mastering a language limits our quality of interaction, which can often lead to prejudice and segmentation.

Talking about culture…
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Mexico taught me that, to accomplish real impact, it was necessary to find a way to connect civil society, academy, public and private sectors. When one of those major groups fails to be part of it, a change is not possible. For example. With MedHackers we created a few hackathons for noninvasive low costs devices. Without a government regulator's approval for such prototypes to be used in clinics backed by academia aval, prototypes never left the lab. And clinics may not be interested if their major private sector funders feel threatened by a low-cost device. It all became a vicious circle where innovation and true benefits for the ones in actual need never happened.

I also learned the importance of safeguarding and documenting efforts that encompass what, in the future, we will perceive as history.

Just as the original peoples of Brazil and Mexico could only survive by fragments, to preserve is to create pieces that will serve as ruins for future researchers. In open source, this preservation is called documentation, which facilitates the entry of new contributors who will be the maintainers of the future. And who knows, maybe in the future it will help us understand the choices that will lead us to be where we'll be?

🙋‍♀️Who here keeps a project Wiki? add roadmaps to your project? Record decision meetings in video or text? keep semantic version? Documentation in several languages?

#### OS IN GERMANY OSPOS
Almost 5 years ago I moved to Germany, which is one of the wealthiest European countries, with an interesting economic blend of free market and social welfare. This means that most of the population is in the middle class, with a consequent lower gap between economic and social classes. Germany Democracy and dignity is the base of the constitution, in fact, the first article of German Federal Constitution says: “Human dignity shall be inviolable”. “Die Würde des Menschen ist unantastbar”

Germany is a completely different context, which I am still trying to figure out. What completely changed my view in Germany is being presented with open source as an integral part of business. Not just open source as a business model, but as something that underpins the whole technology industry and therefore that industry needs to be part of these projects.

OSPO Open Source Program Offices are departments within companies that mediate the relationship between business needs and the projects they depend on. OSPOs have proliferated around the world and across industries, not just SaaS, as we live in a software-mediated world. They are also departments that are increasingly gaining space in governments, as in the case of the European Union and several European countries.

It is an attempt to avoid “the tragedy of the commons”. The metaphor is the title of a 1968 essay by ecologist Garrett Hardin, and what it means that, if several independent individuals have unrestricted access to a finite and valuable resource, for example a pasture, they will tend to overuse it and may end up destroying its value altogether. In the case of open source, when we all share accountability, we are prone to abdicating responsibility if we assume others will take care of it for us.

This abdication has already brought historical consequences to the industry, such as the cases of the security breach caused by the lack of maintenance of OpenSSL in 2022.

### A LABOR ISSUE
This reveals another problem surrounding open source, a classic one: labor.

There is an inherent contradiction in open source: if the assets are common, and the work is voluntary, it opens up a highly exploitative breach in the field of labor regulation.

You see, history is a fragile thing. And not knowing about it leads us to make mistakes repeatedly or to see only one point of view, usually the dominant one.
"Open source" represents for me a break with that dominant perspective since it has the potential to allow the inclusion of anyone.

And yes, I have also learned that this is a rather romantic perspective.

I invite you to reflect with me on the history of this movement, for some founded on politics, for others on collaboration, and for others a fundamental part of a way of operating in a world.

Que bacana que projetos como o de Jamie Oliver possum ganhar reconhecimento global e se tornarem referencias de inovação? Não apenas isso, celebrar seu criador, possibilitando dignidade, que inclui financeira.

Projetos e desenvolvedores open source há bastante tempo vem buscando formas de sustentabilidade, já que no fundo, isso é trabalho. E como já se é bastante sabido dentro das comunidades, esse trabalho acaba se tornando um fardo para aqueles que carregam muitas vezes sozinhos o peso de toda uma industria. Essas historias tem trazido problemas reais de saude e financeiros para muitas pessoas, que de forma desbalanceada oferecem seu tempo, trabalho e tem recebido ansiedade, precariedade trabalhista e em muitos muitos casos, burnout.

Isso pensando desde o ponto de vista de um desenvolvedor individual. Muitos se propuseram a assumir outros papeis ou buscar parceiros e transformar seus projetos de garagem em negocios, fazendo de suas paixões um negocio rentavel.

Unethical models dressed as business models? Profit over people
Hacking diversity/ issues
OS in business: finding ethics and balance
OS sustainability
AI

## Main Take Aways
1. It is imperative to stop separating conversations about technologies from their context. The severance narrows our understanding of its implications and feeds a vicious cycle of oppression, which annihilates the existence of many bodies, histories, and existences.
- A classic European reference book in computer science, by a gentleman called Langdon, which is very easy to read, lists different examples that go deeper into this understanding of the sociology of technology.

2. To that end, talking about open source should always include its communities and contexts. That means considering different communities, its cultures and languages.

3. Value non-technical work as much as we praise technoscientific virtues. Changing this understanding will be a long effort, since our society and culture (here I focus on South American and Western European cultures) are pervaded by this assumption.
- Would PDCON have existed in São Paulo without the engagement of a young girl who had no computer? What other projects can you think of that would not have existed without the constant support of invisible people whose green squares cannot be recorded on GitHub?
- Changing those values requires a variety of strategies: the platforms that host the projects, as well as the projects, should offer spaces for collaboration, measurement and celebration of such involvements
4. However, projects should or could establish inclusion committees that consider the perspective of the diverse bodies impacted by such technology.
- And here I quote a super famous phrase from ? "Inclusion is not just asking to the party, it's asking to dance",
- or, better said, the slogan of the ? Committee for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: "Nothing about us without us". To be perfectly clear, it's not just about thinking about the other that your body can't wear, if what you do affects others, they have to be involved. Another way to think about this, perhaps closer to corporate products, is to think about how products shouldn't be launched without user research from the early stages of their conception.

5. Remember and learn from our historical mistakes. Documentation and critical reviews are key. It is not possible to set standards and rules that concentrate an ideal world. Culture is organic, and it is only through hurdles and fresh thinking that we can propose changes. And since history is often cyclical, there is much we must learn to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
- Encouraging meetings of this kind, where we can get to know each other and share not only perspectives from other continents, but also weave our stories, is crucial.
- Pressuring our foundations to keep reports, surveys, timelines and other historical documents
- Writting your version of history making it public available for review
- “We must start sending the message that a good citizen is one who cooperates when appropriate, not one who is successful at taking from others” Stallman

Therefore, being open should mean opening these historical gaps, and using this enormous force that has become open source today not to become an "arm" of the industry, but to create possibilities for a present and future that serves us, which is chosen, developed, imagined and engineered by all of us.

If I can define what open source means to me, it is that. It is a real possibility of equity, of de-hierarchization, of the potential of collective organization, of flowing and belonging in a truly global world. But that will only remain an utopia if we continue to replicate the logics of systems of power that prioritize profit over people, that colonize rather than co-exist, and that insist on oppressing rather than nurturing.

That sounds so simple. But it is perhaps one of the most difficult things. It is the responsibility and individual awareness for the sake of a collective. I have reflected increasingly on the concept of freedom. And I have the feeling that here in the Orient it might mean something else. I have learned throughout the years, coming from a culture that prioritizes individuality over the collectivity, that freedom means something like the acceptance and validation of the existence of different bodies and beings in their ability to freely move back and forth in co-existence and strengthening different collectives that equally validate and nourish each other in their differences. And for this it is necessary to receive, and give back, in a cycle of nutrition that is equitable where everyone feels they belong.

Thank you

## References

- [OSI 25 years anniversary timeline](https://anniv.co/)
- [Celebrating 25 years of Open Source: Past, Present, and Future](https://fosdem.org/2023/schedule/event/celebrating_25_years_of_open_source/), Nick Vidal FOSSDEM 2023
- [Hacking Diversity: The Politics of Inclusion in Open Technology Cultures](https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691182070/hacking-diversity), Christina Dunbar-Hester
- [Free Software, Free Society](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/rms-essays.pdf): Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman
- [supercollider-gst-rtp](https://github.com/bgola/supercollider-gst-rtp), [Bruno Gola](https://bgo.la/)
- [Open Source Survey, GitHub 2017](https://opensourcesurvey.org/2017/#insights)
- [How does implicit bias hold back many of the open source diversity and inclusion efforts? And why does your community need to address it now?](https://thenewstack.io/how-implicit-bias-impacts-open-source-diversity-and-inclusion/) by Jennifer Riggins
- [Germany's gender pay gap just won't go away](https://www.dw.com/en/women-earning-less-in-2022-germanys-gender-pay-gap-just-wont-go-away/a-64899810), Timothy Rooks