Marina Zhurakhinskaya

Free software overall remains remarkably undiverse, with the latest GitHub survey finding that only about 3% of contributors are women, but communities that are making an effort to improve diversity are seeing results. Learn about several major efforts over the last seven years that have had an impact: Outreachy, the Ada Initiative, Python community outreach, the Women in Open Source Award sponsored by Red Hat, and a track at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. Hear about emerging trends, such as efforts being made to reach people from a broader set of underrepresented backgrounds, and the establishment of paid positions and consulting opportunities for people working to improve diversity and inclusion in free software. You will leave with a good grasp of the history of diversity efforts in free software, and inspiration to connect with at least one of them!

The full potential of free software is to break down the barriers to technology and to participation, and to include users and contributors from a wide range of backgrounds. There are four key steps for making communities diverse and inclusive: creating a welcoming environment, teaching skills, fostering connections, and increasing visibility of contributors from underrepresented backgrounds. Whether you are a prospective contributor wondering what an inclusive community looks like, a project contributor wanting to take concrete steps to improve your project's outreach, or a project leader looking to create a diversity strategy for your community, this talk will have the information you need. Marina will share best practices and inspiring stories from her years of experience in free software diversity outreach in roles including outreach specialist at Red Hat, co-organizer of Outreachy, advisor and director for the Ada Initiative, and outreach lead for GNOME.

Since 2010, the GNOME Foundation's Outreach Program for Women has provided 130 women with an opportunity to participate in remote internships with twenty three free software organizations. It has helped participants become established free software contributors and has made a deep impact on the communities that have participated. We'll present what currently makes the program successful and will seek input from the audience about how the program can be expanded to offer opportunities to other underrepresented people, in addition to women.

Other people: Karen Sandler

In the last several years, free software projects and events have made great strides in representing the voices of groups which have previously had almost no voice. The ratio of female presenters at major conferences is on the rise, and nearly every event boasts a talk or panel specifically about the place of women in technology. In this panel, we propose to go further. We ask: what comes after representation? Now that we have found ways to give voice to a second gender in free software, how can we actively and effectively make room for others? With a specific emphasis on race, sexuality and gender beyond the binary, this panel seeks to explore ways of advancing our discussions beyond the simple metrics of representation. We aim to both raise issues and offer tools for thinking further than the mere problem of presence.

Other people: ginger coons Sara Hendren Kÿra