Episode 235: The State of Open Infrastructure 2024, from IOI with Emmy Tsang

Guest Emmy Tsang Panelist Richard Littauer Show Notes In this
episode of Sustain, host Richard Littauer welcomes Emmy Tsang, the
Engagement Lead at Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI). Emmy
introduces the mission of IOI, which focuses on increasing
investment in and adoption of open infrastructure to promote
equitable access and participation in research. The discussion
delves into what constitutes 'open infrastructure,' the need for
nuanced definitions, and IOI's efforts in providing evidence-based
tools, strategic support, and funding pilots within the space. Emmy
also highlights IOI's inaugural 'State of Open Infrastructure 2024'
report, set to serve as an annual resource for understanding the
open infrastructure landscape. They discuss the report's contents,
including analysis of funding, governance trends, and policies
affecting open infrastructure, and Emmy invites feedback from the
community to improve future iterations of the report. Press
download to hear more! [00:01:04] Emmy explains IOI and how it
provides tools and recommendations, strategic support, and runs
funding pilots. [00:02:14] There’s a discussion on the growth of
the IOI team and the importance of a global perspective, as well as
an explanation of IOI’s funding and fiscal sponsorship by Code for
Science and Society. [00:03:47] Emmy explains open infrastructure
as a spectrum and the importance of context and mentions the five
criteria for defining open infrastructure. [00:07:37] Richard asks
Emmy for clarification on the definition of infrastructure on the
context of open infrastructure. She tells us a broader definition
as services and technologies relied upon by researchers and
scholars and gives an example. [00:10:34] Richard questions how IOI
integrates community feedback into their work. Emmy explains IOI’s
privileged position to consider open infrastructure at an ecosystem
level, mentions the Infra Finder tool for open infrastructure
discovery, and her role as an engagement person. She also mentions
shifting power in funding decisions and increasing accessibility of
funding to low and middle-income economies. [00:15:32] The “State
of Open Infrastructure 2024” report will launch on May 28th. Emmy
discusses the topics covered in the report, explains how they used
their Infra Finder tool, and the data from the report will be
shared openly via Zenodo. [00:19:38] Richard appreciates the scope
and ambition of the report and wonders about the primary audience
of the report and its relevance to open source maintainers. We
learn the report is targeted at funders, but also relevant to
maintainers and developers of open infrastructures. [00:25:16] Emmy
responds on how they reach out to potential infrastructures and
encourage storytelling through their work and engagement. She
explains the unique perspective IOI brings to the concept of
infrastructure and emphasizes the importance of defining success
and sustainability for open infrastructure. Also, she mentions the
“Graceful Transitions” section in the report, highlighting
organizational changes in infrastructures. [00:30:18] Richard
agrees on the need for personal and emotional discussions about
transitions in open source projects. Emmy invites listeners to
participate in community conversations about the report’s chapters
and shares details on the upcoming community conversations and how
to join the mailing list for updates. [00:32:40] Find out where you
can read the report and follow Emmy on the interwebs. Quotes
[00:04:14 ] “We find it easy to put open into really clear
binaries, you’re open or not open, etc, etc.” [00:04:43] “Most of
the time these binaries don’t really make sense.” [00:06:29] “We’re
viewing open infrastructure more as a spectrum.” [00:26:42] “What
does success and sustainability mean for open infrastructure?”
Spotlight [00:34:24] Richard’s spotlight is the book, The (Big)Year
That Flew By by Arjan Dwarshuis [00:35:10] Emmy’s spotlight is the
Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund. Links SustainOSS
(https://sustainoss.org/) SustainOSS Bluesky
(https://bsky.app/profile/sustainoss.bsky.social) SustainOSS
Discourse (https://discourse.sustainoss.org/)
podcast@sustainoss.org (mailto:podcast@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) Richard Littauer
email (mailto:richard.littauer@gmail.com) Richard Littauer
SustainOSS email (mailto:richard@sustainoss.org) Emmy Tsang
X/Twitter (https://twitter.com/emmy_ft) Emmy Tsang Mastodon
(https://mastodon.cloud/@emmyft) Emmy Tsang LinkedIn
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmy-tsang-11aa793b/) Sustain
Podcast-Episode 43: Investing in Open Infrastructure with Kaitlin
Thaney (https://podcast.sustainoss.org/guests/kaitlin-thaney)
Invest in Open Infrastructure (https://investinopen.org/) Code for
Science & Society (https://www.codeforsociety.org/) ggplot2
(https://ggplot2.tidyverse.org/) The Astropy Project
(https://www.astropy.org/) Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor
Behind Our Digital Infrastructure
(https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-reports/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure/)
Infra Finder (https://infrafinder.investinopen.org/solutions) Call
for proposals: Open Infrastructure Fund by Emmy Tsang
(https://investinopen.org/blog/open-infrastructure-fund-pilot-cfp/)
2024 State of Open Infrastructure Report
(https://investinopen.org/state-of-open-infrastructure-2024/sooi-foreword-2024/)
Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/) Arjan Dwarshuis
(https://arjandwarshuis.com/about) Digital Infrastructure Insights
Fund (https://infrastructureinsights.fund/) 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: Emmy Tsang.