Episode 147: Jan Ainali and the Foundation for Public Code

Guest Jan Ainali Panelists Richard Littauer | Justin Dorfman Show
Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk about
sustaining open source for the long haul. On this episode, we have
an amazing guest, Jan Ainali, who’s a steward at the Foundation for
Public Code, where they develop tools, processes, and collecting
best practices for community building. Earlier, he ran a
consultancy called Open by Default and he was swept into the ‘open
movement’ through Wikipedia editing and leading him to cofound the
Swedish Wikimedia chapter and become chairman and later, CEO.
Today, we’ll learn all the details about the Foundation for Public
Code, the process of becoming a member, what sets them apart from
others, and their Standard for Public Code that is for anyone who
wants to prepare their code to be collaborated on. Also, Jan shares
what’s he looking forward to in the next few months about the
standard and the Foundation for Public Code. Download this episode
now to learn much more! [00:02:02] Jan tells us about the
Foundation for Public Code, as well as how many member
organizations it has. [00:03:43] With only one member currently, we
find out if Jan is trying to get others on to work with the
foundation, he explains the process of becoming of member with
them, and the team sizes that are directly working with them.
[00:07:02] We learn what sets apart the Foundation for Public Code
from the other trans-provincial and trans-governmental
organizations that are doing the work of InnerSource Commons but
with politics. He also goes into the policies that have gone into
code that he’s worked on. [00:09:46] Wikimedia and Wikipedia have
chapters, and Jan reveals how big his was, how many other chapters
there are in the world, and the difference between them. [00:11:15]
Find out who Sverker Johansson is and what he did. [00:13:12] Jan
tells us more about the Standard for Public Code, what it is, how
it applies, who wrote it, and we hear the 16 criteria for it.
[00:18:13] Jan explains the “must be in plain English” requirement
and what the global efforts are for the Foundation for Public Code.
[00:20:13] We learn how Jan is making it beneficial for everyone to
join in a way that helps them out as being super awesome and grow
the network that way. [00:21:02] Has Jan gotten any pushback from
developers in other places? [00:22:24] Jan tells us businesses he’s
working with to help push this initiative forward. [00:24:38] We
hear if there’s a sign on process for getting people to use this
standard, and Jan talks about the accreditation process. [00:29:14]
Richard asks Jan if he knows of other standards that are already in
this space and what sets his apart from the others. [00:30:32] Jan
explains their level of standards, as well as what he’s most
looking forward to in the next few months about the standard and
the foundation. [00:32:54] Find out where you can follow Jan on the
web. Quotes [00:03:19] “We really think if you collaborate with
everyone, that’s better than to collaborate with just a few."
[00:07:22] “We only work with code bases with the public purpose
where someone tries to put a policy into code. That’s where we’re a
little bit narrower than others.” Spotlight [00:34:04] Justin’s
spotlight is WeasyPrint. It’s open source and turns simple HTML
pages into gorgeous PDF’s and open source. [00:34:39] Richard’s
spotlight is Sverker Johansson. [00:35:10] Jan’s spotlight is Denny
Vrandečić, first project manager at Wikidata, and right now working
on Abstract Wikipedia. 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) 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)
Jan Ainali Twitter
(https://twitter.com/Jan_Ainali?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
Jan Ainali Website (https://ainali.com/) Foundation for Public Code
(https://publiccode.net/) Standard for Public Code
(https://standard.publiccode.net/) WeasyPrint
(https://weasyprint.org/) Standard for Public Code (Book)
(https://github.com/publiccodenet/standard#generating-a-pdf-of-the-standard-for-public-code)
Sverker Johansson-Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sverker_Johansson) [The Dawn of
Language by Sverker
Johansson](https://www.amazon.com/The-Dawn-of-Language/dp/1529411416/ref=tmmpapswatch0?encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)
xkcd-Standards (https://xkcd.com/927/) Wikidata
(https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Main_Page) Abstract
Wikipedia (https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abstract_Wikipedia)
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 Guest:
Jan Ainali.