Episode 246: Divya Mohan of SUSE on CHAOSS Asia

Guest Divya Mohan Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this
episode, host Richard Littauer welcomes guest Divya Mohan,
Principal Technology Advocate at SUSE, as they discuss her journey
into open source and her role in advocating for SUSE's projects.
The conversation delves into the importance of community
involvement, the goals of CHAOSS Asia, and the challenges of
fostering a cohesive open-source community across a diverse
continent. They also explore the necessity of standardization
within the CHAOSS project to ensure trust and reliability,
highlighting cultural differences in open-source adoption across
Asia. Additionally, Divya shares insights on bridging gaps in FOSS
education, overcoming language barriers, and new initiatives,
including efforts to include Oceania and focus on disabled Asians
in the open-source community. Press download now to hear more!
[00:01:30] Divya explains her journey into open source and her
current role in advocating for projects without focusing on
marketing or selling. [00:02:24] She elaborates on SUSE’s focus on
cloud-native projects, SAP, and Edge, while mentioning that she was
the sole technology advocate until recently. [00:03:02] Divya
discusses her responsibilities, including creating awareness
materials, live streams, and courses around SUSE’s projects,
particularly focusing on open source projects. [00:04:22] Divya
emphasizes the importance of community involvement in open source
projects, mentioning that while the core maintainers are SUSE
employees, the wider community is encouraged to contribute. She
also clarifies that SUSE projects are inherently open source from
the beginning. [00:07:42] The conversation shifts to Divya’s
involvement in CHAOSS Asia, a regional chapter of the CHAOSS
project, and she talks about the goals of CHAOSS Asia, which
include discovering unique challenges of open source communities in
Asia, building a database of these communities, and working on the
standardization of metrics. [00:11:42] The discussion delves deeper
into why standardization is necessary for CHAOSS Asia, particularly
focusing on the regional differences and the need for a trusted
seal of approval. [00:13:26] Richard questions the necessity of ISO
standards for open source projects, and Divya explains that it’s
about providing a clear definition of what is accepted within the
metrics, drawing parallels with the open chain standard. [00:15:39]
The conversation returns to the ISO standard, with Divya noting
that the demand for a standard came from Asian companies,
highlighting the cultural and regional differences in the IT
industry. [00:17:14] Richard and Divya discuss the diverse
approaches to open source contributions across different Asian
regions and the challenges of fostering a cohesive open source
community across such a diverse continent. [00:19:03] Divya shares
insights on the varying governmental and business support for open
source in different Asian countries, and the fragmented nature of
FOSS education across the continent. [00:22:17] Divya touches on
the language barriers within CHAOSS Asia and how they’re addressed
through transcription tools and subgroups. She also mentions new
initiatives, including a focus group for disabled Asians in the
open source community. [00:23:26] Richard and Divya discuss the
inclusion of Oceania in CHAOSS Asia and expresses hope for more
participation from Oceania. [00:24:40] Find out where you can
follow Divya and CHAOSS Asia online. Quotes [00:22:50] “OSS
projects are the best example of how asynchronous communities can
give something of value.” Spotlight [00:25:36] Richard’s spotlight
is Stephen E. Thorpe. [00:26:44] Divya’s spotlight is Savitha
Raghunathan. Links SustainOSS (https://sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (email) (mailto:podcast@sustainoss.org)
richard@theuserismymom.com (email)
(mailto:richard@theuserismymom.com) 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) Divya Mohan LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/divya-mohan0209/) Divya Mohan’s
Website (https://www.divyamohan.com/) Divya Mohan X/Twitter
(https://x.com/Divya_Mohan02?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor)
SUSE (https://www.suse.com/) CHAOSS Asia
(https://github.com/chaoss/chaoss-asia) CHAOSS Metrics and Metrics
Models (https://chaoss.community/kb-metrics-and-metrics-models/)
Stephen E. Thorpe (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_E._Thorpe)
Savitha Raghunathan LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/savitharaghunathan/) 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: Divya Mohan.