Open Designing

Open Designing is an online talk on why design matters in open source, and on what it takes for a community to feel welcoming to everyone who wants to be part of it. It starts with the basics. Many people never find open source because nobody told them it exists, or that there is a place in it for whatever they are good at. Code is only one way in.

From there it moves to a problem communities meet more often than they admit: making room for the people at either far end of the usual crowd, who are easy to overlook because they do not look like the average contributor.

Then Muneer brings it home with a call to action. He will talk about where design is needed in these communities, what it was like for him, and what he hopes we do better for the people who come after us.

The talk is aimed mostly at designers, and especially our university's design department. Your skills are needed in open source, and there are several career paths ahead if you step in. We are also hoping some of you will join our team, because like many communities, we could really use designers.