Episode 81: Mae Beale and Using Open Source for Good

Guest Mae Beale Panelists Eric Berry | Richard Littauer Show Notes
TRIGGER WARNING: There is a mention of blood in this episode. Hello
and welcome to Sustain! The podcast where we talk about sustaining
open source for the long haul. Being surrounded by beautiful
mountains is wonderful, but even more wonderful is our guest today,
Mae Beale, who is the Engineering Manager for True Link Financial,
Vision and Operations Strategist for Title Track Michigan, and the
Founder and CEO of Beale Street Software. Today, you will find out
about Mae’s involvement and the many hats that she wears working
for True Link Financial, Title Track Michigan, and Ruby for Good.
Also, we learn about some of the projects she’s built and others
she’s involved in, which are Mutual Aid, Voices of Consent, and
Terrastories. Mae shares some awesome stories and advice, so go
ahead and download this episode now to hear much more! [00:01:20]
Mae tells us about True Link Financial and Title Track Michigan.
[00:04:47] Eric wonders if acknowledging or giving thanks for the
land that I’m on is really common where Mae lives, and she explains
the culture behind it. [00:07:21] Mae shares her thoughts with us
on the topic of how people talk about laziness a lot in our
industry. [00:11:38] We learn about the work that Mae is doing with
Ruby for Good. [00:13:41] Mae tells us what kind of projects she
has built through Ruby for Good, such as diaper and essential needs
for diaper banks and an animal shelter. [00:15:18] Eric asks Mae to
talk about if you want to get involved, what type of commitment is
required, if it’s open for volunteers and to whatever extent they
can contribute, the typical contributor that she sees in this
program, and if you have to be a Rubyist to do this. [00:17:04]
Richard brings up problems with open source such as how to choose
the right project, how to fund this work long-term, how to avoid
vendor lock-in for the non-profits and now have to use this code
that was made for them. Mae shares her thoughts and also mentions a
great project called the Terrastories Project. [00:20:32] Mae tells
us her views on how to stop young person burnout. [00:22:26] We
learn about two more projects Mae is involved in, Voices of consent
and Mutual Aid. [00:27:22] Mae talks about how doing a better job
of verbalizing could help with interpreting what’s happening, and
she tells us a great analogy. [00:29:30] Mae tells us about Mutual
Aid and how you can get involved. [00:31:38] Find out where you can
follow Mae and see her work on the internet. Quotes [00:02:56] “And
rights of the water itself. So, there’s a lot of different efforts
similar to how companies became people. There is precedent for
natural spaces to becoming people are entities that have their own
rights. So, the protection is on behalf of the lake itself.”
[00:06:34] “That’s generally my MO is I have a high sensitivity to
the way in which the language that we use and the things that we
focus our attention on shape who we are and how we are to each
other.” [00:07:05] “But, acknowledging what is happening that makes
one uncomfortable is something I try to be willing to share and
willing to receive.” [00:08:34] “But, calling it lazy it is in my
opinion, problematic and communicates things to other people,
amongst ourselves and to other people, that don’t disclose our
awareness of our privilege.” [00:10:00] "But, sometimes, part of
language adjustments over time that we’re always trying to do is
the difference between intent and impact.” [00:15:52] “So, there
really is no average contributor we’ve had in the repos I’ve been
involved in.” [00:21:39] “There’s people who like to be in
community and so there’s a lot we get out of it that isn’t just
coding.” [00:26:29] “And we operate as if relationships are Boolean
states, and if we can shift that to being able to engage and build
trust and build understanding then we can get somewhere.”
[00:30:12] “Mutual Aid also includes a political arm of taking a
political stance in that it’s not charity. There’s a phrase,
“Solidarity - not charity.” Spotlight [00:33:11] Eric’s spotlight
is Bridgetown. [00:34:14] Richard’s spotlight is EMA: The Erasmus
Mundus Students and Alumni Association. [00:35:00] Mae’s spotlight
is Ruby for Good. Links Mae Beale Twitter
(https://twitter.com/mae701?lang=en) Mae Beale GitHub
(https://github.com/maebeale) True Link Financial
(https://www.truelinkfinancial.com/) Ruby for Good
(https://rubyforgood.org/) Title Track Michigan
(https://titletrackmichigan.org/story/) Title Track
Michigan-Understanding Racial Justice course
(https://titletrackmichigan.org/understandingracialjustice/) A
guide to indigenous land acknowledgement
(https://nativegov.org/a-guide-to-indigenous-land-acknowledgment/)
Ruby for Good Diaperbase-GitHub
(https://github.com/rubyforgood/diaper) Terrastories
(https://terrastories.io/) Ruby for Good Terrastories-GitHub
(https://github.com/rubyforgood/terrastories) Voices of Consent
(https://github.com/rubyforgood/voices-of-consent) Ruby for Good
Voices of Consent-GitHub
(https://github.com/rubyforgood/voices-of-consent) Ruby for
Good-Mutual Aid (https://github.com/rubyforgood/mutual-aid)
Bridgetown (https://www.bridgetownrb.com/) EMA: The Erasmus Mundus
Students and Alumni Association (https://www.em-a.eu/) Ruby for
Good-GitHub (https://github.com/rubyforgood) WeCamp
(http://we-camp.us/#home) 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 at
Peachtree Sound (https://www.peachtreesound.com/) Special Guest:
Mae Beale.