From d515caf579b8008d19d96c332a0e3fd167fd40c7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Bdale Garbee Date: Tue, 2 May 2006 00:01:00 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] post --- bdale/blog/posts/Gender_Research.mdwn | 38 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 38 insertions(+) create mode 100644 bdale/blog/posts/Gender_Research.mdwn diff --git a/bdale/blog/posts/Gender_Research.mdwn b/bdale/blog/posts/Gender_Research.mdwn new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a07261e --- /dev/null +++ b/bdale/blog/posts/Gender_Research.mdwn @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +Back in mid-February, I was invited to participate in a review of +EU government policy support research +on gender issues in Free Software communities at the University of +Cambridge. The meeting was fascinating to me not +only because of my level of interest in +the content, but also because the reviewers were a wonderfully diverse group +of genuinely interesting people. I also must admit that being a +guest of Kings College for two nights +was quite an experience in and of itself... + +As someone who has been a strong proponent of the idea that approaches and +technologies adopted by Free Software developers are something other +communities might want to borrow from or emulate, I found the results of this +research both disturbing and enlightening. The disturbance centers around +just how strongly male-biased our current behaviors seem to be in practice, +particularly in the Debian project. My moment of enlightenment was the +realization that many of the ideas we +discussed about how to encourage and enable more female participation in our +communities could simultaneously make our projects more appealing and rewarding +to all of our contributors! + +I've talked to various people about this research in my travels since the +meeting in February, and many have followed up asking for pointers to +the findings. I was pleased to learn this morning that the +integrated report of findings +and +recommendations +from this work are finally available online. + +I hope at least some of you will read this report, and will then be as +interested as I am in looking for ways to change the status quo. Perhaps a +BOF at the upcoming +Debian developer's conference +to discuss these results and brainstorm specific actions we can take in +the Debian project would be a good place to start? I expect to arrive +late on the 15th, and must depart early on the morning of the 21st... + +[[!tag tags/debian]] -- 2.30.2