Episode 249: Why work with writers in Open Source? With Jenn Turner

Guest Jenn Turner Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this
episode of Sustain, host Richard Littauer interviews Jenn Turner, a
content strategist at Fastly and part of the Glitch team. They
discuss Jenn's unusual journey from journalism to open source, the
challenges of being a non-technical contributor in a technical
field, and the importance of effective communication in open source
projects. Jen shares insights about maintaining work-life balance,
the role of community in sustaining open source, and the impact of
social media changes on community engagement. They also touch on
strategies for non-technical contributions to open source and the
value of humanities skills in tech. Hit download now to hear more!
[00:01:57] Jenn shares her journey into open source. [00:05:09]
Richard asks how Jenn navigated being an editor through the world
of open source. She emphasizes that many brilliant coders lack the
communication skills necessary to bring communities along and
highlights the importance of developing critical thinking skills
through humanities courses. [00:07:25] Jenn talks about how editors
and writers can play an essential role in promoting and
communicating the value of open source projects. [00:08:30] We
learn that Jenn had to deal with the pressure to learn how to code
early in her career, but she recognized coding wasn’t her passion.
[00:10:38] Jenn explains how she contributed to Node.js community
by writing newsletters and serving on the community committee.
[00:11:56] Richard and Jenn discuss the challenges of identifying
as non-technical while contributing to technical spaces. [00:14:58]
Jenn shares how she decoupled her identity from her occupation to
prioritize time with her daughter. [00:17:23] We hear advice from
Jenn for non-technical people looking to join a project in open
source. [00:21:18] Richard and Jenn discuss the importance of event
organizing in the open source space, encouraging listeners to get
involved with organizing conferences. [00:23:09] Jenn reflects on
the challenges of social media and community engagement, and she
shares how Glitch and Fastly try to create meaningful conversations
in their forums to foster a more centralized community. [00:32:06]
There’s a conversation on the importance of having a style guide
for social media to ensure consistency and fun communication.
[00:34:00] Find out there you follow Jenn and find her work online.
Quotes [00:05:16] “One of the funny things about the tech industry
is how much emphasis is put on the ability to code.” [00:05:24]
“You could be the world’s most intelligent coder but have no
skillset to bring a community along.” [00:13:42] “Truly no one’s
value is creating code on a project; it’s their thought process and
all of the intentions and goals and things that they’re working
towards.” [00:23:33] “You have to have a level of cultural fluency
in order to be able to authentically connect with your audience.”
Spotlight [00:35:13] Richard’s spotlight is Nolan Lawson.
[00:37:12] Jenn’s spotlight is Lynn Fisher’s website,
lynnandtonic.com. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org)
richard@sustainoss.org (mailto:ricahrd@sustainoss.org) SustainOSS
Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/tags/sustainoss) Open
Collective-SustainOSS (Contribute)
(https://opencollective.com/sustainoss) Richard Littauer Socials
(https://www.burntfen.com/2023-05-30/socials) Jenn Turner Website
(https://jennturner.glitch.me/) Jenn Turner Mastodon
(https://mastodon.social/@jennwrites) Jenn Turner LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennwrites/) Glitch Blog
(https://blog.glitch.com/) Glitch (https://glitch.com/) Fastly
(https://www.fastly.com/) Human JavaScript by Henri Joreteg
(https://read.humanjavascript.com/) Sustain Podcast-Episode 59:
Jenn Schiffer on Satire, Coding, Why Teaching OSS is Super
Important (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/59) Sustain
Podcast-Episode 244: Jan Lehnardt & Alba Herrerías Ramírez of
Neighbourhood.ie
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/jan-lehnardt) Sustain
Podcast-2 episodes featuring guest Tracy Hinds
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/hinds) Sustain Podcast-2
episodes featuring guest Ashley Williams
(https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/williams) Whichlight
(https://whichlight.com/) Anil Dash Website
(https://www.anildash.com/) Robbie Augspurger Website
(https://www.robbieaugspurger.com/) Digital Savvies
(https://digitalsavvies.com/) Nolan Lawson Website
(https://nolanlawson.com/) Lynn Fisher Website
(https://lynnandtonic.com/) 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:
Jenn Turner.