FOSS Backstage 2025

Dawn Foster

Dr. Dawn Foster works as the Director of Data Science for CHAOSS where she is also a board member / maintainer. She is co-chair of CNCF TAG Contributor Strategy and an OpenUK board member. She has 20+ years of experience at companies like VMware and Intel with expertise in community, strategy, governance, metrics, and more. She has spoken at over 100 industry events and has a BS in computer science, an MBA, and a PhD. In her spare time she enjoys reading science fiction, running, and traveling.


Mastodon

https://hachyderm.io/@geekygirldawn

LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnfoster/


Sessions

03-10
14:35
30min
Toolkit for Measuring the Impacts of Public Funding for FOSS
Cailean Osborne, Dawn Foster, Mirko Boehm, Paul Sharratt

Introducing a practical toolkit for measuring the impacts of public funding for FOSS development, based on firsthand insights from EU and German funding initiatives and methodologies developed by the CHAOSS project. Learn how to assess social, economic, and technological outcomes for evidence-based FOSS funding strategies in the public interest.

Economics
Auditorium
03-11
16:05
30min
Data to Action: Build Healthy & Sustainable OSS Communities
Dawn Foster, Peculiar C. Umeh

Being proactive about improving sustainability before it becomes a crisis can help make our software better for all of us. However, not everyone has the experience or skills required to make improvements that will benefit their community over the long-term. This talk focuses on tools and techniques to build healthy and sustainable OSS projects.

Governance & Community
Wintergarten