On joining the FSF board
Oct. 29th, 2014 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mjg59I joined the board of directors of the Free Software Foundation a couple of weeks ago. I've been travelling a bunch since then, so haven't really had time to write about it. But since I'm currently waiting for a test job to finish, why not?
It's impossible to overstate how important free software is. A movement that began with a quest to work around a faulty printer is now our greatest defence against a world full of hostile actors. Without the ability to examine software, we can have no real faith that we haven't been put at risk by backdoors introduced through incompetence or malice. Without the freedom to modify software, we have no chance of updating it to deal with the new challenges that we face on a daily basis. Without the freedom to pass that modified software on to others, we are unable to help people who don't have the technical skills to protect themselves.
Free software isn't sufficient for building a trustworthy computing environment, one that not merely protects the user but respects the user. But it is necessary for that, and that's why I continue to evangelise on its behalf at every opportunity.
However.
Free software has a problem. It's natural to write software to satisfy our own needs, but in doing so we write software that doesn't provide as much benefit to people who have different needs. We need to listen to others, improve our knowledge of their requirements and ensure that they are in a position to benefit from the freedoms we espouse. And that means building diverse communities, communities that are inclusive regardless of people's race, gender, sexuality or economic background. Free software that ends up designed primarily to meet the needs of well-off white men is a failure. We do not improve the world by ignoring the majority of people in it. To do that, we need to listen to others. And to do that, we need to ensure that our community is accessible to everybody.
That's not the case right now. We are a community that is disproportionately male, disproportionately white, disproportionately rich. This is made strikingly obvious by looking at the composition of the FSF board, a body made up entirely of white men. In joining the board, I have perpetuated this. I do not bring new experiences. I do not bring an understanding of an entirely different set of problems. I do not serve as an inspiration to groups currently under-represented in our communities. I am, in short, a hypocrite.
So why did I do it? Why have I joined an organisation whose founder I publicly criticised for making sexist jokes in a conference presentation? I'm afraid that my answer may not seem convincing, but in the end it boils down to feeling that I can make more of a difference from within than from outside. I am now in a position to ensure that the board never forgets to consider diversity when making decisions. I am in a position to advocate for programs that build us stronger, more representative communities. I am in a position to take responsibility for our failings and try to do better in future.
People can justifiably conclude that I'm making excuses, and I can make no argument against that other than to be asked to be judged by my actions. I hope to be able to look back at my time with the FSF and believe that I helped make a positive difference. But maybe this is hubris. Maybe I am just perpetuating the status quo. If so, I absolutely deserve criticism for my choices. We'll find out in a few years.
It's impossible to overstate how important free software is. A movement that began with a quest to work around a faulty printer is now our greatest defence against a world full of hostile actors. Without the ability to examine software, we can have no real faith that we haven't been put at risk by backdoors introduced through incompetence or malice. Without the freedom to modify software, we have no chance of updating it to deal with the new challenges that we face on a daily basis. Without the freedom to pass that modified software on to others, we are unable to help people who don't have the technical skills to protect themselves.
Free software isn't sufficient for building a trustworthy computing environment, one that not merely protects the user but respects the user. But it is necessary for that, and that's why I continue to evangelise on its behalf at every opportunity.
However.
Free software has a problem. It's natural to write software to satisfy our own needs, but in doing so we write software that doesn't provide as much benefit to people who have different needs. We need to listen to others, improve our knowledge of their requirements and ensure that they are in a position to benefit from the freedoms we espouse. And that means building diverse communities, communities that are inclusive regardless of people's race, gender, sexuality or economic background. Free software that ends up designed primarily to meet the needs of well-off white men is a failure. We do not improve the world by ignoring the majority of people in it. To do that, we need to listen to others. And to do that, we need to ensure that our community is accessible to everybody.
That's not the case right now. We are a community that is disproportionately male, disproportionately white, disproportionately rich. This is made strikingly obvious by looking at the composition of the FSF board, a body made up entirely of white men. In joining the board, I have perpetuated this. I do not bring new experiences. I do not bring an understanding of an entirely different set of problems. I do not serve as an inspiration to groups currently under-represented in our communities. I am, in short, a hypocrite.
So why did I do it? Why have I joined an organisation whose founder I publicly criticised for making sexist jokes in a conference presentation? I'm afraid that my answer may not seem convincing, but in the end it boils down to feeling that I can make more of a difference from within than from outside. I am now in a position to ensure that the board never forgets to consider diversity when making decisions. I am in a position to advocate for programs that build us stronger, more representative communities. I am in a position to take responsibility for our failings and try to do better in future.
People can justifiably conclude that I'm making excuses, and I can make no argument against that other than to be asked to be judged by my actions. I hope to be able to look back at my time with the FSF and believe that I helped make a positive difference. But maybe this is hubris. Maybe I am just perpetuating the status quo. If so, I absolutely deserve criticism for my choices. We'll find out in a few years.
Re: Wait a minute
Date: 2014-11-02 06:57 am (UTC)And I don't really agree we face the software bloat issue here. I see that to people developing GNOME and KDE there are more important issues (because they simply have powerful enough computers). And that is there could appear a couple of developers, who come from places where it is not possible to obtain new Core i3.
Re: Wait a minute
Date: 2014-11-03 03:57 am (UTC)The Arabic script problems are a good example of a situation where other perspectives are needed. I was not even aware of any issues with Arabic scripts and had mentioned Chinese ideograms in my previous comment since they are the only non-Latin characters with difficult implementation that I could think of off the top of my head. You are right that since neither of us can read Arabic, we can't solve these problems, nor even know that under some conditions Arabic text is displayed incorrectly. For someone who can read Arabic, there is an "itch" that you and I neither feel nor can scratch. But this is how Free Software is better: the people who feel that "itch" and experience the problem, can fix the problem.
When Aziz finds that some text is displayed incorrectly and decides to fix it, what welcome to the community will he get? This is the problem that we can see and can fix. Platitudes about diversity will only distract us from this problem. The people who can find problems like bad Arabic text rendering will come to us when they do find the problems, regardless of who is on the FSF board or anywhere else. How will we welcome them? A harsh "this code is c**p"? A helping "I don't get exactly what this is trying to fix, can you explain?" This is my point: we must be welcoming to newcomers.
And that leads back to why I argue that we do face the issue of software bloat here: when Aziz is sitting with his solar-powered hand-me-down laptop after a long day herding his family's goats and dreaming of a better life, the battery in his laptop only holds so much power and every step the machine takes counts. In much of the world, it isn't just that the latest hardware may be unobtainable, but even the electricity to run whatever they do have may be quite dear.
Re: Wait a minute
Date: 2015-01-31 01:26 am (UTC)I have to doubt that because I have heard 2 qualified non-white people say = People are attracted and then actually courted, and then dismissed. In one case a white person with less skills was hired instead.
Anecdotal and second hand info?
Not sure what to make of this - going in deeper for impirical data. Join me, ask FSF some questions, apply for something or stay tuned.