LF Research was founded on a track record of excellence in research led by the Linux Foundation, on topics such as exploring the Kernel at 30, or the FOSS Contributor Survey in partnership with the Laboratory of Innovation Science at Harvard. Since its launch in April, 2021, Linux Foundation Research has published two dozen reports based on empirical methodologies that describe open source as a paradigm for mass collaboration at scale. LF Research projects fall into four frameworks: industry vertical analysis, technology horizontal analysis, geographic/regional analysis, and ecosystem analysis, for research projects that span all industries, technologies, and regions. It has become a mechanism through which the open source community can share feedback and perspectives in an open and transparent way. Among the early reports published was Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Open Source: Exploring the Challenges and Opportunities to Create Agency and Equity Across Open Source Ecosystems. This report and others in financial services, film and entertainment, SBOMs, and cybersecurity, identify developer and contributor experiences, motivations, and priorities among other trends and key findings, specifically when it comes to securing software supply chains. This talk will identify what developers and contributors have said they experience, need, and want most across numerous LF Research studies, identify opportunities for the audience to access open datasets, and how to become further involved in the research process.
Speakers: Hilary Carter