- Troy, New York, United States
Brian R Callahan
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, ITWS, Faculty Member
- Science and Technology Studies, Anthropology, STS (Anthropology), Science and Technology Policy, Technoculture, Social Problems, and 15 moreTechnology And Culture, Practice theory, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Open Source Software, Open Source and Free Software Studies, Hackers, OpenBSD, LGBTQ studies, Transgender Studies, Transgender, Social Justice, Ethnocomputing, Ethnomathematics, Free Software, and Women and Minority In STEM Fieldsedit
Gender and racial diversity initiatives have been an important social force in the free software movement in the last several years. These social justice campaigns have been successful: see for example PyCon. However, those further... more
Gender and racial diversity initiatives have been an important social force in the free software movement in the last several years. These social justice campaigns have been successful: see for example PyCon. However, those further marginalized, such as transgender hackers, may not feel properly included in these initiatives. They have turned to free software as a model for their own liberation as well as a way to critique the culture of the status quo and mainstream diversity initiatives.
This talk, co-given by a trans hacker and an anthropologist, highlights how free software offers powerful models and critiques of the lack of gender diversity in the free software movement by retelling several ethnographic stories of a free software project led by and comprised of trans women.
By presenting these ethnographic stories we wish to springboard with the audience a conversation of the value of challenges from below to diversity initiatives in free software and the tech industry at large.
This talk, co-given by a trans hacker and an anthropologist, highlights how free software offers powerful models and critiques of the lack of gender diversity in the free software movement by retelling several ethnographic stories of a free software project led by and comprised of trans women.
By presenting these ethnographic stories we wish to springboard with the audience a conversation of the value of challenges from below to diversity initiatives in free software and the tech industry at large.
Research Interests: Computer Science, Queer Studies, Education, Technology, Social Sciences, and 14 moreDiversity, Transgender Studies, Queer Theory, Open Source Software, Linux, Theories of Gender and Transgender, STS (Anthropology), Transgender, Open Source and Free Software Studies, Free Software, BSD, Women and Minority In STEM Fields, Linux/GNU/BSD Etc., and Science and Technology Studies
Diversity and inclusivity initiatives across the technology world have been gaining visibility over the past several years. From huge multinationals to small Open Source projects, the effects of these initiatives are becoming more... more
Diversity and inclusivity initiatives across the technology world have been gaining visibility over the past several years. From huge multinationals to small Open Source projects, the effects of these initiatives are becoming more pronounced. This paper documents where the *BSD community stands in relation to these initiatives and asks us to imagine a brighter future for underserved minority coders within the broader *BSD world. By introducing a Generative Justice framework into an analysis of education initiatives, marketing, Codes of Conduct, educational outreach, and the global *BSD User Group network, we can see how the effort spent on these initiatives contribute to a symbiotic positive recursive loop both on the quality of code produced by the community and on social leadership in the broader tech landscape.
Research Interests:
These are the slides to a talk given on the published paper. Diversity and inclusivity initiatives across the technology world have been gaining visibility over the past several years. From huge multinationals to small Open Source... more
These are the slides to a talk given on the published paper.
Diversity and inclusivity initiatives across the technology world have been gaining visibility over the past several years. From huge multinationals to small Open Source projects, the effects of these initiatives are becoming more pronounced. This paper documents where the *BSD community stands in relation to these initiatives and asks us to imagine a brighter future for underserved minority coders within the broader *BSD world. By introducing a Generative Justice framework into an analysis of education initiatives, marketing, Codes of Conduct, educational outreach, and the global *BSD User Group network, we can see how the effort spent on these initiatives contribute to a symbiotic positive recursive loop both on the quality of code produced by the community and on social leadership in the broader tech landscape.
Diversity and inclusivity initiatives across the technology world have been gaining visibility over the past several years. From huge multinationals to small Open Source projects, the effects of these initiatives are becoming more pronounced. This paper documents where the *BSD community stands in relation to these initiatives and asks us to imagine a brighter future for underserved minority coders within the broader *BSD world. By introducing a Generative Justice framework into an analysis of education initiatives, marketing, Codes of Conduct, educational outreach, and the global *BSD User Group network, we can see how the effort spent on these initiatives contribute to a symbiotic positive recursive loop both on the quality of code produced by the community and on social leadership in the broader tech landscape.
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Sociology, Geography, Diversity, Open Source Software, Economic Justice, and 15 moreInclusion, Open Source and Free Software Studies, Diversity and Inclusion, Free Software, Entropy, Open Source, Demographics, Value Creation, Free/libre open source software, Generative grammar, Scholarship, Free and Open Source Software, Inclusivity, Generative Justice, and Teknokultura
Research Interests: Geography, Diversity, Open Source Software, Inclusion, Diversity & Inclusion, and 11 moreOpen Source and Free Software Studies, Free Software, Entropy, Open Source, Demographics, Value Creation, Free/libre open source software, Free and Open Source Software, Inclusivity, Generative Justice, and Teknokultura
Scholarship utilizing the Generative Justice framework has focused primarily on qualitative data collection and analysis for its insights. This paper introduces a quantitative data measurement, contributory diversity, which can be used to... more
Scholarship utilizing the Generative Justice framework has focused primarily on qualitative data collection and analysis for its insights. This paper introduces a quantitative data measurement, contributory diversity, which can be used to enhance the analysis of ethical dimensions of value production under the Generative Justice lens. It is well known that the identity of contributors—gender, ethnicity, and other categories—is a key issue for social justice in general. Using the example of Open Source Software communities, we note that that typical diversity measures, focusing exclusively on workforce demographics, can fail to fully illuminate issues in value generation. Using Shannon’s entropy measure, we offer an alternative metric which combines the traditional assessment of demographics with a measure of value generation. This mapping allows for previously unacknowledged contributions to be recognized, and can avoid some of the ways in which exclusionary practices are obscured. We offer contributory diversity not as the single optimal metric, but rather as a call for others to begin investigating the possibilities for quantitative measurements of the communities and value flows that are studied using the Generative Justice framework.