Open Source Summit North America 2017

The last few years has seen an explosion in news articles and media focusing on the Diversity and Inclusion issues in the tech world, specifically, Silicon Valley and the Bay Area. Millions of dollars have been spent by tech companies and organizations on touting their diversity numbers and portraying their unflinching commitment to increasing diversity and inclusion. The recent trend to staff up engineers to work on open source projects is gaining steam and bringing to light an even harsher climate for diversity efforts in the open source world.

A closer look at the numbers reveals that this specific needle is either not moving at all or moving in the wrong direction. The numbers are particularly disconcerting if one looks at the technical side of things. While some of the numbers have moved positively, we seem to have reached a plateau regardless of funding and awareness. What are the reasons for this? Shouldn’t we be seeing continued positive movement regarding this issue after all the hoopla? After all, open source is for everyone, not just the select, appointed few, right?

This talk will present some factual stories, statistics and real-world reasons on why all the talk and funding from companies and organizations towards diversity and inclusion is missing the mark. Rupa will, also, propose some solutions to address some of the issues.