Comments on: Open Source research ideas

By: Ana

Ana — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:02:25 +0000

I would totally look at the retention of women in open source.
There are a lot efforts going on in attract women into open source projects, they are more or less successful. Then, what I see in the projects I work on, they start, give some shy steps and then disappear. Given the most difficult step is starting, I would love to know better why they disappear or become disenchanted so soon.
I know this happens to most of the people trying to contribute in FLOSS, but the percent I see in women is higher.

By: Mackenzie

Mackenzie — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:55:22 +0000

I suspect even within the local LinuxChix chapter, the average answer would be lower than within the local hackerspace. I say that because the others in the LinuxChix chapter were surprised to find I work on open source software, saying they’d never considered it. Seemed odd to me…I mean…it’s LinuxChix! Meanwhile there is quite a bit of overlap between the hackerspace and the local Python and Linux communities. Oh, um, most of the LinuxChix here do not go to LUG.

By: Mackenzie

Mackenzie — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:50:59 +0000

On my Amazon Wishlist too now. “Women Don’t Ask” as well.

By: Mackenzie

Mackenzie — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:48:05 +0000

I wonder how many have that “core developer” goal. For the last year my goal has been Ubuntu Developer (not core, just regular dev), and I intend to apply after this release is out the door. As it is there are 2 women in the Ubuntu Developer ranks (1 is core), out of about 150.

By: Terri

Terri — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:56:30 +0000

I’d like to see what women in open source most *want* to be doing. I’m thinking medium and long-term goals, like “I want to be a core developer on $OSSProject” or “I want to make this software available in my language” or “I want to make a new IM client that does $foo” or “I want to make $OSSProject community more welcoming to newcomers.”

I’m curious as to whether these goals are different from those of our male counterparts the way studies have claimed that our job goals are different (e.g. more focus on work/life balance, less focus on rising in the hierarchy). And I’m curious whether these goals are typically getting met and whether it takes longer, shorter or comparable time.

By: Skud

Skud — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:36:08 +0000

What do you consider female traits? Also, I’m interested to hear how you would measure success of an open source project.

By: Dirk Riehle

Dirk Riehle — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:34:28 +0000

I’d probably look into whether particular female traits, if present, make projects more successful and in what ways.

By: Sarah Allen

Sarah Allen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 03:38:38 +0000

I wonder if you ask men and women in the industry “how many people do you know who develop open source software?” that men would have a higher number. That is just a guess, but it would tie into the social element and also, how people even know that such jobs/activities exist and understand the motives behind them.

By: Skud

Skud — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 18:25:27 +0000

The leisure time thing seems obvious to *us*, but I’ve seen it coming up again and again lately and people saying “really!? I’m sure it’s not that big a deal! Most people work on FLOSS as part of their dayjob anyway!”

I actually think it ties in quite closely with the financial remuneration thing.

By: jadelennox

jadelennox — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:53:20 +0000

I would really focus on the financial compensation part. We know what the leisure time research will show, and ultimately, there’s so much research saying that women don’t excel in [anything women don't excel in] because the people who do excel at it aren’t responsible for child care and home care that one more nail in that coffin won’t help.

On the other hand, have worked in many software companies where it was taken for granted by the powers that be that men were spending a fair amount of their paid time working on Linux/NetBSD/tcsh/ssh/etc., but I have never worked in a company where women had the same level of permissiveness. I’ve worked at companies where men had it written into their contracts that they would be working on open-source software on business hours, but never women. I think that would make a real difference, correcting that — especially because we are so far from being able to correct the leisure time problem.