Stack & Sean -- Thanks for your positive responses to all this (and the intriguing Mother Jones link).
Will any of the HBaseCon2016 events be live-streamed? (I can't make it -- an Osaka/SF round-trip was not in the budget this spring!) On Sun, May 15, 2016 at 2:05 PM, Stack <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 7:18 PM, Daniel Vimont <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > The first step in working through a problem is acknowledging that there > IS > > a problem, so in that respect, this conversation is going well so far!! > > Here are some thoughts (some of which are barely half-baked, so pardon > the > > "raw dough"). > > > > SHORT-TERM BRAINSTORMING > > I know that HBaseCon2016 is very close, and all the speaking slots and > > topic sessions are locked into place, but I do have a few suggestions: > > > > (1) At *several* points (not just once!) throughout the plenary sessions, > > make a statement that this conversation has come up on hbase-dev, and > it's > > an issue that you think is worthy of our attention and discussion. (I > think > > we're just at the beginnings of a very long conversation, but just > > announcing that the conversation is underway and inviting people into it > > seems a good way to start.) > > > > We can do that. > > > > (2) I see that Intel is sending four representatives to make > presentations > > (two women and two men!). Intel seems to be at the forefront of > > diversification efforts in the broader IT community, having set its goal > > for "full representation" in its workforce by 2020. If these Intel > > presenters feel comfortable, it would be great to devote a few minutes in > > one of the plenary sessions to allow them to informally talk about how > the > > Intel z is going from their > > perspective, and whether that offers any lessons that might be applied in > > the Hadoop/HBase ecosystems. > > > > Let me ask the Intel'ers who are coming to the conference. > > > > (3) For HBaseCon2017, devote complete sessions to the issue of > > diversification. (Perhaps invite Intel's Chief Diversity Officer, > Danielle > > Brown, to lead up some proactive discussions.) > > > > > Yes. I like this suggestion. > > > > > LONGER-TERM STRATEGIZING > > Stepping back to the generic questions of how and why to "recruit" new > > contributors, perhaps this is where my "newbie" eyes can assist in > taking a > > fresh look at things, beginning with a big lead-in question: > > > > The current "staff" of the HBase project: how were we "recruited", and > why > > are we here? > > > > When I look at the contributors list, I see what I expect to see: Almost > > all of the contributors are employees of companies that are the biggest > > stakeholders in the HBase ecosystem, with the biggest number coming from > > those companies that are existentially bound to the HBase/Hadoop > > ecosystems, and a smaller number of contributors coming from companies > that > > make strategically vital use of HBase in their operations. My assumption > is > > that these companies are not magnanimous philanthropists, they're just > > (quite appropriately) looking after their own vital interests. Bottom > line: > > this majority of contributors are *paid* to be here; their employers > > "allow" them to spend a percentage (or maybe in some cases, all) of their > > working hours tending to the care and feeding of the open-source golden > > goose that keeps their proprietary enterprises going. > > > > And then there are people like me (likely in much smaller numbers) who > are > > here to beef up their expertise in current technologies in a way that > also > > gives them a publicly-displayed "portfolio" of work with which to > > subsequently seek out paid engagements (of either the contract or > > employment variety). I'm sure I don't fully buy into the prevailing > wisdom > > that "code is the new resume" and "just put your stuff out there on > GitHub > > -- WE'LL find YOU!!"; nonetheless, for the last several months I've been > > setting aside my doubts and building just such a "portfolio". > > > > > The above is a fair assessment I'd say. > > > > So, if my take on the current "staffing" situation is approximately > > correct, it suggests to me that the quickest path to "full > representation" > > in the HBase project is initially through conversations with the Human > > Resources chiefs and the CEOs of the corporations that provide the > majority > > of this project's "staff". What initiatives are underway in these firms > (1) > > to recruit a diverse workforce and (2) to assure that once members of > > underrepresented minorities are brought in, that they find themselves in > a > > safe, supportive environment in which they want to stay? Finally, if good > > initiatives are already underway, what might be done to hasten the > "trickle > > down" from these initiatives into a more diversely-staffed HBase project? > > > > > > There was a call-to-arms a while back that echoed around the valley (Here > is one origin story [1] that references this interesting looking project > [2]). Where I work there is a special project afoot to work on problem #1, > at least, from your list above. Ultimately it should translate into better > numbers out here in projects like ours but I'm not sure improving presence > in open source is a captured metric. Let me ask. > > St.Ack > > 1. > > http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/silicon-valley-gender-sexism-women-engineers-tracy-chou > 2. https://github.com/triketora/women-in-software-eng > > > > On Sat, May 14, 2016 at 12:39 AM, Sean Busbey <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 10:10 PM, Stack <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > On Thu, May 12, 2016 at 8:37 PM, Daniel Vimont <[email protected] > > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >> With regard to recruiting new contributors, I'll just toss out a > > > question > > > >> which I hope does not give offense: What can be done to encourage > more > > > >> gender-diversity in this project (and projects like it)? > > > >> > > > >> > > > > Thank you for raising this 'awkward' question up here on the dev > list. > > > > > > > > Our ratio is awful. I'm ashamed to cite numbers. > > > > > > > > I don't know what we can do to encourage participation. I'd be > > interested > > > > in any ideas others might have and would be up for acting them to try > > and > > > > make redress. > > > > > > > > > > > > > Yes, thank you Daniel. This is an issue that weighs on me. The ASF in > > > general has a demographic problem, and our particular corner of it > > > seems particularly homogenous. > > > > > > I'm a firm believer in "can't fix what you don't measure." Stack do > > > you have numbers from somewhere? I was looking at ways we could run an > > > opt-in poll to get an idea of how our community looks outside of what > > > I can already see in the committer and PMC ranks from meetups. > > > > > > I don't think there are any fast answers to this issue, but I think > > > there are some things we could try doing that would help the project > > > generally: > > > > > > 1) We could use better student outreach. Presuming we come up with > > > some materials for trying to get students involved overall, we should > > > get a few folks go out of our way to present those materials to > > > student groups that try to provide space for folks who aren't in our > > > dominant demographic. > > > > > > 2) Similar to #1, there are meetups (at least in my area) that try to > > > make things accessible and comfortable for e.g. women. We could make a > > > habit of presenting to these meetups in addition to our normal "big > > > data" themed groups. > > > > > > 3) I've noticed that none of the meetups or conferences where I see > > > HBase stuff have child care options. This doesn't only impact women, > > > but it disproportionately impacts them due to societal expectations. > > > We the community could start pushing folks to have something and we > > > the PMC could perhaps push this a little harder, like we do the need > > > for a Code of Conduct. > > > > > >
