Episode 51: Working in Public: Nadia Eghbal and her new book about Making and Sustaining Open Source Software

<center> <small>Sponsored by:</small> https://www.honeybadger.io/images/navbar_logo.svg?1597697989 (https://www.honeybadger.io/) </center> Panelists Allen "Gunner" Gunn | Eric Berry | Justin Dorfman | Richard Littauer Guest Nadia Eghbal (https://nadiaeghbal.com/) Show Notes Hello and welcome to Sustain! Today, we have special guest. Nadia Eghbal, a writer and researcher, works for Substack, and has a new book out which we will be talking about today! We discuss Nadia’s book, what it’s all about, why she wrote it, and why Eric refers to it as the “Open Source Bible.” She also talks about the report she did called, “Roads and Bridges,” published by the Ford Foundation. Find out why she has been called the “Open Source Archaeologist.” Download this episode now! [00:01:43] Nadia tells us all about her book, what it’s about, and why she wrote it. [00:02:56] Justin asks Nadia what her expectations were of writing her report, Roads and Bridges. [00:05:01] Eric mentions a talk Nadia gave a few years back, and she used a “lobster” reference throughout it, so he wonders what her motivation was behind going so deep into creating a legacy of documentation and knowledge that very few people in the world have. [00:09:16] Richard brings up Mike McQuaid’s sticker funds and Nadia brings up an example of this. [00:11:40] Eric talks about Nadia’s book which he refers to as the “Open Source Bible,” and Gunner adds his viewpoint as well. [00:13:24] Gunner asks Nadia if this book leads to actions and does she have any thoughts about what actions she would like it to lead to on the part of readers. [00:15:36] Gunner has an archaeology question for Nadia and is curious to know if she has reflected on the idea that when you’re not downloading, when you’re not installing the idea of a license or the idea of a piece of technology, being more community created, as a more abstract or removed concept. [00:17:52] Justin brings up a previous podcast guest, Matt Asay from AWS, talking about Amazon working hand in hand with Redis and a