What is an Open Source Community? with Thierry Carrez
07/21/21 • 23 min
Trying to define what an open source community is might sound like a simple task, but it is a layered, nuanced collective with many moving parts. Today's guest, Thierry Carrez, has been in the open source community for years and is currently the VP of engineering at the Open Infrastructure Foundation. In this episode, Thierry sheds light on some of the key traits that characterize open source communities. We hear about the importance of governance, principles, scope, and documentation and find out how everyone, even those who do not code, can contribute. As Thierry notes, it is not about your technical ability, but rather about adding value where you can and being an engaged member of a community. Building a sustainable community requires effort, but that transparency and collaboration make it a worthwhile endeavor.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The characteristics of an open source community; it’s more complicated than it appears.
- Two major motivations for why people contribute to an open source community.
- The three fundamental tenets every open source community needs, according to Thierry.
- How someone can get involved in an open source community.
- The bar for contributions is not very high, so any input is likely to be valuable.
- Some advice on the complex topic of starting a new open source project.
- Why open source that is owned by one body defeats the point of collaboration.
- The Four Opens principles and how they facilitate sustainable, inclusive communities.
- How you can build a reputation in the open source community.
Tweetables:
“An open source community at the very bottom is all the people who contribute to an open source project but obviously, that just kicks the can down the road and now the question is, what is a contribution?” — @tcarrez [0:02:10]
“Even if you don’t write code or if your time is limited, you can definitely participate in and be part of a community.” — @tcarrez [0:12:51]
“Having an open source project is ultimately to avoid the waste of having several parties develop the same thing on their side while they could collaborate and contribute and avoid wasting that energy by doing it as a collaborative project in open source.” — @tcarrez [0:16:02]
“It’s really not about code, it’s really not about being a technical rock star. It is really more about being useful to others.” — @tcarrez [0:23:44]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Trying to define what an open source community is might sound like a simple task, but it is a layered, nuanced collective with many moving parts. Today's guest, Thierry Carrez, has been in the open source community for years and is currently the VP of engineering at the Open Infrastructure Foundation. In this episode, Thierry sheds light on some of the key traits that characterize open source communities. We hear about the importance of governance, principles, scope, and documentation and find out how everyone, even those who do not code, can contribute. As Thierry notes, it is not about your technical ability, but rather about adding value where you can and being an engaged member of a community. Building a sustainable community requires effort, but that transparency and collaboration make it a worthwhile endeavor.
Key Points From This Episode:
- The characteristics of an open source community; it’s more complicated than it appears.
- Two major motivations for why people contribute to an open source community.
- The three fundamental tenets every open source community needs, according to Thierry.
- How someone can get involved in an open source community.
- The bar for contributions is not very high, so any input is likely to be valuable.
- Some advice on the complex topic of starting a new open source project.
- Why open source that is owned by one body defeats the point of collaboration.
- The Four Opens principles and how they facilitate sustainable, inclusive communities.
- How you can build a reputation in the open source community.
Tweetables:
“An open source community at the very bottom is all the people who contribute to an open source project but obviously, that just kicks the can down the road and now the question is, what is a contribution?” — @tcarrez [0:02:10]
“Even if you don’t write code or if your time is limited, you can definitely participate in and be part of a community.” — @tcarrez [0:12:51]
“Having an open source project is ultimately to avoid the waste of having several parties develop the same thing on their side while they could collaborate and contribute and avoid wasting that energy by doing it as a collaborative project in open source.” — @tcarrez [0:16:02]
“It’s really not about code, it’s really not about being a technical rock star. It is really more about being useful to others.” — @tcarrez [0:23:44]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Previous Episode
Introducing The OCTOpod
Welcome to the OCTOpod! After a career spent in enterprise software, with a focus on open source advocacy and emerging tech, Alan Clark looks forward to sharing some top industry insights. With the help of some incredibly talented people in the community, season one will be all about open source. You can expect topics like managing a community, the importance of diversity in open source, and so much more! We hope you join us on this exciting journey.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Introducing the show’s host, Alan Clark.
- What season one will be all about.
- Some of the topics you can expect to hear in the upcoming season.
Tweetables:
“In season one, it’s all about open source.” — Alan Clark [0:00:20]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Next Episode
Open Source: It’s Everywhere with Chris Aniszczyk
These days, open source has become pervasive across every aspect of our lives. From your refrigerator to your TV to your phone, almost everything you’re using incorporates some aspect of open source software. Today we welcome Chris Aniszczyk to the show. Chris is an open source technologist with a passion for building a better world through open collaboration. He's currently a CTO at the Linux Foundation where he focuses on developer relations and running the Open Container Initiative and the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. He’s also a partner at Capital Factory, where he focuses on mentoring, advising, and investing in open source and infrastructure focused startups. Chris’s CV also includes creating Twitter’s open source program and serving on the Eclipse Foundation Board. Today we discuss how open source became as pervasive as it is today and how it has changed over time. We talk about which types of companies or areas open source has not yet permeated and why, as well as the vast benefits of open source program offices. To hear more about the value of open source and the importance of keeping the ‘open’ in ‘open source’, tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
- An introduction to today’s guest Open Source Technologist Chris Aniszczyk.
- Insight into how pervasive open source is in software today.
- How Chris first became interested in open source.
- Thoughts on how the definition of open source has changed over time.
- Why a vendor or a company may choose to not go with open source.
- The example of Netflix and how it uses open source to its benefit.
- Areas that open source hasn’t penetrated and the barriers to them.
- Insight into what an open source program office (OSPO) does.
- The growth of open source programs in companies.
- How OSPOs are making a difference in adoptions and software contributions.
- The role of OSPOs as impactful strategic players in business.
- How we can keep the ‘open’ in ‘open source’.
- How people or corporates could be more involved in or attuned to open source.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
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