Episode 171: Chris Baker & Stephen Jacobs on Open@RIT

Guests Chris Baker | Stephen Jacobs Panelists Richard Littauer |
Justin Dorfman | Abby Cabunoc Mayes Show Notes Hello and welcome to
Sustain! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source for
the long haul. Today, we are excited to have as our guests, Chris
Baker and Stephen Jacobs, who work at RIT (Rochester Institute of
Technology). Chris is the Assistant Director for the Open@RIT
Program Office, and Stephen is a Professor at RIT and the Founder
of Open@RIT. Our conversations today focus on how academia is
trying to integrate open source into traditional academic
practices, and how OSPO’s are creating standards and best
practices. Stephen and Chris also discuss how to help students deal
with diverse incentives in open source and academia, the importance
of role diversity in software development, and Stephen advocates
for policy change to recognize the value of open work and to give
credit to those who do it. Download this episode to hear more!
[00:01:39] Chris fills us in on Open RIT where they’re working to
build open community and foster collaboration in the open space.
[00:03:19] Stephen tells us about RIT having an open source
department that teaches open source classes, offers an academic
minor, and has an experiential education program. [00:07:50] Abby
wonders if OSPO’s are creating more career pathways, and Stephen
explains they hope to create more opportunities in open source work
in the future. [00:10:19] We hear about The Boyer’s model of
scholarship, and a classification system of four types of
scholarship, and Stephen mentions the classic “Einstein Eureka”
model being one of many, and he brings up Open Work Definition that
RIT and a couple of other collaborators put out. [00:15:06] Stephen
talks about The Sloan Foundation and why they’re so interested in
the research space of open source. [00:17:37] Open@RIT was founded
by Stephen, Chris is the Assistant Director, and Mike Nolan is the
Associate Director, and we’ll hear about their responsibilities.
[00:19:03] Chris explains how he’s helping students deal with
diverse incentives in open source and academia, and Stephen adds
there’s a need for educating on open science practices. [00:23:45]
Stephen believes that policy need to change to recognize the value
of open work and to give credit to those who do it. He also
discusses the importance of role diversity in software development
and how it can lead to more DEIA friendly projects. [00:27:10] What
successful alumni came out of the Open@RIT? How about Justin Flory
Jenn Kotler, and our very own Django Skorupa. [00:29:29] Chris and
Stephen talk about other avenues they’re pursuing to help teach
open work outside of the university, and the FOSSY conference is
mentioned. [00:33:59] Find out where you can learn more about Open
work at RIT and where you can follow Chris and Stephen on the web.
Quotes [00:04:25] “We became the second university with an OSPO.”
[00:19:42] “We’re taking students given their backgrounds, whether
it be full-stack developers, or graphic design, and using that to
produce the structure for open work inside of research.” Spotlight
[00:36:49] Justin’s spotlight is the 988 Crisis Lifeline. [00:37:23
Abby’s spotlight is GitHub + Slack Integration open source project.
[00:37:45] Richard’s spotlight is getyourshittogether.org and Brain
Donor Project. [00:38:28] Stephen’s spotlight is Software Freedom
Conservancy FOSSY Conf. [00:38:55] Chris’s spotlight is the young
ladies in rural high schools who are standing up to passive and
aggressive sexism. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/)
SustainOSS Twitter
(https://twitter.com/SustainOSS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
SustainOSS Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Mastodon (https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Richard Littauer
Twitter
(https://twitter.com/richlitt?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Justin Dorfman Twitter
(https://twitter.com/jdorfman?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Abby Cabunoc Mayes Twitter (https://twitter.com/abbycabs?lang=en)
Stephen Jacobs LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/itprofjacobs)
Stephen Jacobs RIT
(https://www.rit.edu/directory/sxjics-stephen-jacobs) Chris Baker
LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/visuallychrisbaker) Chris
Baker RIT (https://www.rit.edu/directory/cabopen-christopher-baker)
Open@RIT (https://openr.it/) Rochester Institute of Technology
(https://www.visitrochester.com/listing/rochester-institute-of-technology/7303/)
Boyer’s model of scholarship
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyer%27s_model_of_scholarship) Open
Work Definition (https://openworkdefinition.com/) Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation-Technology
(https://sloan.org/programs/digital-technology) The Journal of Open
Source Software (https://joss.theoj.org/) Sustain Podcast- Episodes
featuring Mike Nolan
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/michael-nolan) Sustain
Podcast-Episodes featuring Justin W. Flory
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/justin-w-flory) Sustain Open
Source Design-Episode 27: Jenn Kotler on Astronomical Sonification
and Designing UX for Science & Open Data
(https://sosdesign.sustainoss.org/guests/kotler) 988 Suicide &
Crisis Lifeline (https://988lifeline.org/) GitHub + Slack
Integration (https://github.com/integrations/slack) Get Your Shit
Together (https://getyourshittogether.org/) Brain Donor Project
(https://braindonorproject.org/) Software Freedom Conservancy-FOSSY
(https://sfconservancy.org/fossy/) Credits Produced by Richard
Littauer (https://www.burntfen.com/) Edited by Paul M. Bahr at
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Show notes by
DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/)
Special Guests: Chris Baker and Stephen Jacobs.