CHAOSScast

Thank you to the folks at Sustain for providing the hosting account for CHAOSScast!

CHAOSScast – Episode 126

On this episode of CHAOSScast, host Alice Sowerby introduces a special episode welcoming Leon Nunes as the new host for the CHAOSS Asia podcast. Leon shares his background in customer success, his work with CNCF, and hardware hacking, along with his role in growing the CHAOSS Asia chapter. Together, Alice and Leon talk about the current state of the Asia community, Leon’s curiosity-driven approach to podcast hosting, the stories he wants to surface from across Asia, and how listeners can get involved or pitch episode ideas. Hit download now to find out more!

[00:00:35] Leon shares his background.

[00:01:24] Leon explains his customer success role, supporting customers running software in production, and his many side interests.

[00:02:48] We learn how Leon started with Raspberry Pi in college, building a motion triggered music stand, being inspired by GitHub badges, and shares a recent side project assembling RGB LED Christmas tree kits and gifting them to people.

[00:05:52] How did Leon find CHAOSS? He traces his path into CHAOSS Asia via a friend doing lots of outreach, and his desire to join open source communities beyond just code contributions. He also helps maintain CHAOSS Asia’s LinkedIn and Twitter.

[00:09:03] Alice asks what drew him to hosting a podcast. Leon shares his love of talking to people and using conversations to understand people.

[00:10:48] Alice connects Leon’s curiosity and his love of talking with podcast hosting, and reviews CHAOSScast episode types.

[00:11:51] What kind of stories does Leon want to tell from Asia? He wants to explore how other communities handle challenges like participation and growth and then apply those learnings to CHAOSS Asia. He suggests inviting active CHAOSS Asia contributors to share their experiences on the podcast.

[00:13:55] Alice agrees on a more exploratory approach, using conversations with active members to both document and strengthen the Asia chapter.

[00:14:48] Find out where you can contact Leon on the internet.

Value Adds (Picks) of the week:

[00:15:30] Alice’s pick is looking at a way to make Christmas crackers that are reusable.

[00:18:04] Leon’s pick is doing a lot dancing, like Lindy Hop, and his 3D printer.

Panelist:

Alice Sowerby

Guest:

Leon Nunes

Links:

CHAOSS

CHAOSS Project X

CHAOSScast Podcast

CHAOSS YouTube

[email protected]

Alice Sowerby LinkedIn

Leon Nunes Website

Leon Nunes LinkedIn

Leon Nunes X

CHAOSS Community Chapters

Most recent CHAOSS Asia Chapter meeting- November 13, 2025 (YouTube)

What are Christmas crackers? (YouTube)

Whiteys Lindy Hoppers - Hellzapoppin (YouTube)

Thank you to the folks at Sustain 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

CHAOSS Project X

CHAOSScast Podcast

CHAOSS YouTube

[email protected]

Georg Link Website

Harmony Elendu X

Alice Sowerby LinkedIn

Sean Goggins X

Elizabeth Barron X

Anita Ihuman GitHub

CHAOSScon 2026 Brussles, Belgium

FOSDEM 2026

CHAOSS Education Project

CHAOSS Onboarding Courses-GitHub

CHAOSS Practitioner Guides

First Person Project White Paper

The Road Ahead For Identity Management In Open Source: Humans, Bots, AI Agents-And The Future Of Attribution by Diane Mueller (Bitergia)

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 121: Package Metadata Working Group with Andrew Nesbitt and Damián Vicino

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 100: Celebrating 100 episodes of CHAOSScast

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 76: CHAOSS Goals for 2024 and Beyond

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 71: What’s New in CHAOSS: Podcast Reboot Episode

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 49: CHAOSS Community Year 2021 in Review

CHAOSScast Podcast-Episode 1: Hello, World!

Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Anita ihuman.

Thank you to the folks at Sustain 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

CHAOSS Project X

CHAOSScast Podcast

CHAOSS YouTube

[email protected]

Georg Link Website

Harmony Elendu X

Dawn Foster X

Peculiar Umeh LinkedIn

CHAOSS Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Building Diverse Leadership

About the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides

The Linux Foundation Report -Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Source

The Linux Foundation-Decentralized innovation. Built on trust.

Inclusive Leadership: Effecting change: Introduction | OpenLearn-Open University

CHAOSS Data Use Awareness Recommendation: Privacy and Ethics

n8n

Previous Practitioner Guide Episodes:

Episode 85: Introducing CHAOSS Practitioner Guides: #1 Responsiveness

Episode 88: Practitioner Guides: #2 Contributor Sustainability

Episode 89: Practitioner Guides : #3 Organizational Participation

Episode 97: Practitioner Guides: #4 Security

Episode 120: Practitioner Guides: #5 Demonstrating Organizational Value

Episode 123: Practitioner Guides: #6 Sunsetting an Open Source Project
Special Guest: Peculiar Umeh.

Thank you to the folks at Sustain 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

CHAOSS Project X

CHAOSScast Podcast

CHAOSS YouTube

[email protected]

Harmony Elendu X

Alice Sowerby LinkedIn

Dawn Foster X

Stefka Dimitrova LinkedIn

CHAOSS: Practitioner Guide: Getting Started with Sunsetting an Open Source Project

CHAOSS: About the CHAOSS Practitioner Guides

When and How to Deprecate an Open Source Project by Stefka Dimitrova

Deprecating an Open Source Project, Part 2 by Stefka Dimitrova

Simple Steps for a Calm “Sunset”- Stefka Dimitrova’s video from the Open Source Summit in Europe (2022)

Dos and don’ts when sunsetting open source projects (GitHub Blog)

Shutting Down An Open Source Project (TODO Group Guide)

When to Send Flowers? End of Life and End of Support Across the Ecosystem-Allen Friedman’s video Open Source Summit

10 quick tips for making your software outlive your job (white paper)

Playback Theatre Network

Vitamin B3 can help protect against skin cancer. Here’s who may benefit (npr)
Special Guest: Stefka Dimitrova.

Thank you to the folks at Sustain 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

CHAOSS Project X

CHAOSScast Podcast

CHAOSS YouTube

CHAOSS Slack

[email protected]

Georg Link Website

Alice Sowerby LinkedIn

David Lippert Bluesky

David Lippert GitHub

Victoria Ottah Website

Victoria Ottah LinkedIn

CHAOSScast Podcast episode featuring Victoria Ottah

Cali Dolfi LinkedIn

CHAOSScast Podcast episodes featuring Cali Dolfi

CHAOTIC of the Month - David Lippert (CHAOSS Monthly-GitHub)

CHAOTIC of the Month – Victoria Ottah (CHAOSS Monthly-GitHub)

CHAOTIC of the Month - Cali Dolfi (CHAOSS Monthly-GitHub)

CURIOSS

CHAOSS United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) Working Group

CHAOSS Data Science Working Group

The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz
Special Guests: Cali Dolfi and Victoria Ottah.