Dr. Dawn Foster
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geekygirldawn.bsky.social
Dr. Dawn Foster
@geekygirldawn.bsky.social
1.1K followers 250 following 310 posts
Open source strategy consultant, Director of Data Science / Governing Board member at CHAOSS, OpenUK board, runner, sci-fi, 3D printed designs, vegan, world traveler. Opinions my own.
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I had the pleasure of attending the very first Digital Resilience Forum in Madrid, Spain this week where industry leaders, policy makers, governments, and others discussed and collaborated on ways to make our digital infrastructure more sustainable and resilient. fastwonderblog.com/2025/10/30/o...
Open Source Software Driving Digital Resilience, Sovereignty, and Sustainability | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
When I first moved to London, I lived in the downstairs of a converted Victorian and shared a recycling bin with the couple upstairs. I first met my upstairs neighbor as I finished cramming the entire recycling bin to overflowing with boxes. I said, “I hope you don’t have any more recycling” 🤣
You still have a few more days to submit your CHAOSScon EU talk and get the most out of your FOSDEM trip!
Are you already planning your FOSDEM trip? Do you need a talk to get travel approval? CHAOSScon EU is the Thursday before FOSDEM, and our CFP is open until November 2! Join us to chat about metrics, project health, and related topics! chaoss.community/chaosscon-20...
This giant pile of potatoes was our “snack” about 2 hours before dinner 🤣🤣
We’re spending a long weekend in Madrid. I’ve been eating so many delicious potatoes, but not getting enough green veggies, so I just ordered a Russian salad as a starter. This is how I learned that it’s basically a potato salad 🤣
I'm excited to announce the latest in our CHAOSS Practitioner Guide Series on the topic of Assessing Viability! OSS is everywhere, but some projects are more viable than others. This guide has a framework for assessing the viability of the OSS projects you use.
fastwonderblog.com/2025/10/23/a...
Assessing the Viability of Open Source Projects | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
Are you already planning your FOSDEM trip? Do you need a talk to get travel approval? CHAOSScon EU is the Thursday before FOSDEM, and our CFP is open until November 2! Join us to chat about metrics, project health, and related topics! chaoss.community/chaosscon-20...
Did you know that CHAOSS has a bunch of Working Groups (WGs) that anyone can attend? On Wednesday, @andrewnez.bsky.social will be at the Funding Impact Measurement WG to share data about open source project funding. You can find details about all of our meetings at chaoss.community/chaoss-calen...
chaoss.community
I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the Turing Way fireside chat about governance along with @richlitt.bsky.social and @claredillon.bsky.social with hosts Jennifer Tridgell and Arielle Bennett-Lovell. Here's a summary with a link to the video. fastwonderblog.com/2025/10/16/t...
The Turing Way Fireside Chat about Governance | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
In addition to the CHAOSS guide about demonstrating the organizational value of your open source efforts, @mrbobbytabl.es and I recorded a podcast about it! I also have a session at OSPOlogy Lyon (Nov 5 & 6) on this same topic (registration is open & free)!
fastwonderblog.com/2025/10/07/m...
More about Demonstrating Organizational Value | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
Did you know that the CHAOSS project has a working groups that anyone can participate in? Our next OSPO WG meeting is on Thursday, and we'll be talking about measuring the value of your open source efforts. Details are on the CHAOSS Calendar chaoss.community/chaoss-calen... Join us!
CHAOSS Calendar - CHAOSS
chaoss.community
How do we educate the next generation of open source contributors? This is what Ruth Ikegah, Leslie Hawthorne, Stephen Walli, and I discussed at the recent #OSSummit EU in Amsterdam. Here's my blog post with a few more details along with the video of the session. fastwonderblog.com/2025/09/27/e...
Educating the Next Generation of Open Source Project Contributors | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
Reposted by Dr. Dawn Foster
I'm looking forward to attending the Digital Resilience Forum on October 29 in Madrid! I'm particularly interested in the discussions around digital sovereignty and OSS sustainability. It's free to attend, and you can request your ticket and get other details by visiting digitalresilienceforum.com
At OSSEU, I talked about power dynamics, rug pulls, and corporate impacts on OSS sustainability. The point of the talk was that OSPOs can think strategically about what the power dynamics mean and how to anticipate / mitigate the risks associated with rug pulls.

fastwonderblog.com/2025/09/18/w...
What can your OSPO do about power dynamics, rug pulls, and other corporate impacts on OSS sustainability | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
Reposted by Dr. Dawn Foster
Our Call for Participation for FOSS Backstage is now officially open!

Find all the important information you need at a glance in our new blog post.

Read the blog post: <a href="https://26.foss-backstage.de/call-for-participation-is-now-open/" class="hover:underline text-blue-600 dark:text-sky-400 no-card-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-link="bsky">26.foss-backstage.de...

Submit your proposal: 26.foss-backstage.de...
Call for Participation is now open! – FOSS Backstage 2026
Learn about our Call for Participation and how you can become an active part of FOSS Backstage 2026.
26.foss-backstage.de
I wrote a blog post about how OSPOs can take a more strategic approach to conference talks based on some work that I did at previous companies to get the right people speaking at the right events, including improving talk acceptance rates.

fastwonderblog.com/2025/09/07/h...
How OSPOs Can Take a More Strategic Approach to Conference Talks | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
Here's the 5th blog post in my recent series about governance. This one talks about open source project ownership along with the pros, cons, and risks associated with individual, corporate, and foundation ownership.

fastwonderblog.com/2025/08/31/g...
Governance Part 5: Overall Ownership of a Project | Fast Wonder
fastwonderblog.com
I'm looking forward to attending the Digital Resilience Forum on October 29 in Madrid! I'm particularly interested in the discussions around digital sovereignty and OSS sustainability. It's free to attend, and you can request your ticket and get other details by visiting digitalresilienceforum.com
This was also a fun excuse to play with Jekyll and GitHub pages to build a new website!
I've decided to do a little more consulting (in addition to CHAOSS) focused on open source strategy, contributor strategy, project governance, and similar topics. I'm only looking for short engagements. If you'd like to pay for a few hours of my time for advice or feedback, visit fastwonder.com
Consulting by Dawn Foster
Leverage Dawn Foster’s decades of experience working in open source to help companies make the most out of their open source engagements.
fastwonder.com