9 July 2025

Attendees: Karen Ruggles, Rachel Rose, Carol Payne, Bill Ballew, Kaitlin Pollock, Adelie Creek, Jennifer “Ferby” Cramer, Stephen Mackenzie, Munira Tayabji

Agenda

• Upcoming events (Carol Payne):

  • Virtual Town Hall

  • Open Source Days

  • SIGGRAPH BoF

• Academic Integration Presentation (Karen Ruggles)

ASWF D&I Vision & Plans

• Mission statement

• 3 focus areas:

  • Increase D&I representation within ASWF

  • External outreach and education

  • Member guidance

• Working group 2025 plans

  • Plans for this quarter (Q3):

    • More outreach for SLP

    • Reinvigorating push on D&I framework discussion

    • Diving deeper into TAC diversity

Open Source Days

• The OSD schedule is now posted (August 10, all day, Marriott Pinnacle Ballroom 1+2) here: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/program/schedule/

• Register for either in-person or virtual: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/register/

  • If you plan to attend in person, please sign up as soon as possible, as spots are filling quickly!

• Note: Some talks may not be posted online afterward, depending on presenter permissions, so attending live ensures you don't miss out!

Upcoming Virtual Town Hall

The virtual town hall is scheduled for August 5 @ 9am PDT, during which Carol, Rachel, and Karen will present a 5-year retrospective.

SIGGRAPH BoF

• Ferby, Carol, and Rachel will be hosting a Birds of a Feather session on August 11 @ 2pm PDT in the Marriott Pinnacle Ballroom 1, which will be in-person only without the possibility of streaming virtually nor recording.

• Carol and Ferby are working to identify past and current D&I Working Group members and Summer Learning Program mentees who can attend the BoF session.

• The full BoF schedule is posted here: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-days/program/schedule/

Academic Integration (Presentation by Karen)

• First Draft

  • Karen presents the first draft of her Academic Integration program, which outlines formal involvement from higher education institutions (“partners”) through a designated faculty representative:

    • The faculty representative would oversee a cohort of 10 CS-inclined students, either in a classroom or club setting, as they engage with a curated curriculum and an assigned ASWF project.

    • As part of the program, the partnered faculty member would receive training (to be developed) that would orient them to the ASWF landscape, the specific open source project their cohort will engage with, and the broader goals of the initiative.

    • Faculty would be asked to embed the program’s curriculum into existing courses, using ASWF projects as case studies or practical components.

    • Schools would be able to participate even if they don’t have media, VFX, or entertainment-specific programs. By reaching into more traditional computer science courses, the program can spark interest in open source and lower the barrier for students who might not have otherwise engaged with the ASWF ecosystem.

• Proposed Pilot

  • Who: 6 faculty members overseeing 10 CS-inclined students students each who should have prior experience (e.g., Intro to Python as a prerequisite)

  • When: Over a semester or full academic year

  • Curriculum: More advanced material (perhaps from pre-existing Linux Foundation training materials, if not developed specifically for this program); an assigned ASWF project for each student group

• Funding

  • If this pilot model moves forward as is, the estimated costs for around 6 faculty-led cohorts would be roughly $3K per university (total projected budget of $18K), generating a small surplus that would be reinvested into ASWF and directly back into student support. Integrated into the pricing model for each academic partner would be an accolades program where, for example, a $500 scholarship is awarded to selected participating institutions that performed the best or contributed the most. The overarching goal of this funding structure is to incentivize ongoing involvement and create a sustainable, student-centered model.

  • Karen and Carol are in conversation with The Linux Foundation to define what funding might look like, while building out the feasibility and structure of the pilot.

  • There's also the possibility of launching the pilot with little to no initial budget, in which case the focus would be on proving its value first, then using that success to secure funding for future cohorts, similar to how the SLP was initially launched.

• Goals

  • This initiative was born out of exploring how D&I efforts can integrate more deeply with academia and how academic partnerships could boost participation in DevDays, the SLP, and contributions to ASWF projects, with the overarching goal to educate students in the art + tech space and support the pipeline of young people entering the field, aligning with the original mission of the SLP.

  • This could eventually create new on-ramps, such as engaging self-taught coders who may not have followed an academic route and involving high school students.

• Outreach

  • As part of the agreement with faculty and their institutions, participating partners would be asked to identify at least one local community college and one high school to introduce to ASWF, ideally through existing recruitment pipelines, admission counselors, etc. Hosting an on-campus event, such as a recruiting or alumni event, would also be encouraged.

  • Visual assets (e.g., a standard PowerPoint deck) would need to be developed to support these outreach efforts.

• Ancillary Benefits

  • This program could help address current ASWF bottlenecks by bringing in contributors who already have some knowledge of the industry, the project landscape, and the technical tools actually used in production.

  • Once people are in the community and reach that first commit, they're likely to stick around!

  • This program would run parallel to the SLP and feed into Dev Days.

• Q&A/Discussion

  • A key barrier for launching a pilot with 6 partners is that finding strong partners can be challenging, especially since participants need to be open to an experimental pilot model where constructive feedback will be actively solicited. Securing even 6 well-aligned partners for the pilot may prove to be a significant ask.

  • Bill notes that having 60 students join all at once could potentially place extra pressure on our projects and working groups at this time, so starting with 2-3 partner schools may be a more manageable and realistic approach. He also points out that larger institutions may expect a more substantial commitment or return, while smaller schools might be more flexible. Some level of attrition among students should also be expected.

  • Rachel shared that she gave a keynote presentation last year at SIGCSE, where about 2,000 computer science educators were in attendance. The final third of her talk focused on the ASWF and the D&I working group. Afterwards, many professors approached her, expressing strong interest in what we're working on. She believes there's a clear desire among educators for opportunities to not only teach their students more directly about open source, but also to connect them with communities like this that many students don't even realize exist.

Action Items

• If you would like to participate in the virtual town hall, please reach out to Carol, Rachel, and/or Karen!

• If you will be attending SIGGRAPH, please reach out to Ferby about attending the BoF and scheduling a photo op with other attendees.

• Karen welcomes feedback on her Academic Integration proposal via Slack DMs. If you know a faculty member at a higher education institution who might be interested in participating, please reach out to Karen directly as well!