Sustain Open Source Design Richard Littauer

Guest

Mike Gifford


Panelist

Richard Littauer


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we as coders, work with other designers. Today, Richard is super excited to have as his guest, Mike Gifford, who’s a Senior Strategist at CivicActions and a thought leader on digital accessibility and the public sector. He was the Founder and President of OpenConcept Consulting, which worked extensively with Drupal, and he became a Drupal 8 Core Accessibility Maintainer in 2012. As a long-term environmentalist, Mike has found ways to integrate his passions for the web and planet. Today, Mike talks about his views on sustainability, his work with open source software, and the importance of accessibility and multilingualism in technology. Download this episode now to hear more!


[00:02:18] Mike shares his views on sustainability, and he tells us he’s been working fully with CivicActions for the last two years after closing OpenConcept Consulting.


[00:04:18] We learn about CivicActions, a web development firm that does a lot of work with both open source and Drupal, as well as HCD. They primarily work in the government space, largely focused on the US government.


[00:05:15] Mike tells us about the Canadian Open Source Advisory Board that he runs.


[00:06:21] We find out the differences between the Canadian and US government’s approach to open source software.


[00:08:13] How does Mike see himself as a designer in all these conversations? He talks about the work he does with the Drupal community to make Drupal more accessible.


[00:09:35] Mike explains where oral design interfaces mix with open source and he mentions Preston So from the Drupal community, who wrote the book, Voice Content and Usability.


[00:11:11] We hear about the groups of people who are looking at accessibility.


[00:13:38] There’s some great tools that are useful when talking about the disability spectrum, such as Accessibility Insights, which is a Microsoft tool, and an accessibility engine called, axe, which was built by Deque.


[00:15:41] Mike talks about the multilingual accessibility being a challenge in technology, and the challenges of identifying language content and tools, especially in open source software, and the predominance of English in accessibility resources.


[00:18:02] We hear about the open source work Mike’s doing with CivicActions, a project he was involved in creating called, OpenACR, and the need for procurement to include accessibility requirements.


[00:20:52] He highlights the responsibility of open source maintainers to set an example of accessibility best practices.


[00:22:39] How does Mike think ChatGPT is going influence accessibility practices? He emphasizes the responsibility of humans to evaluate and implement accessible code.


[00:26:00] Richard and Mike discuss the importance of building accessibility into the workflow of teams and developers. Accessibility is not just for those with disabilities but for everyone since abilities can impact all of us at one point.


[00:30:58] Mike tells us where you can find him on the web.


Quotes

[00:02:33] “Sustainability is a word that is too loose and can be applied to many things much like accessibility.”


[00:13:51] “It’s about trying to remember that this is about progress, not perfection.”


[00:21:07] “I think there’s a huge responsibility for open source maintainers to set an example.”


[00:21:35] “If you provide examples in your code that aren’t following accessibility best practices, then you’re propagating that.”


[00:29:16] “Accessibility doesn’t just affect a small number of people; it affects all of us at one point or another because we’re human.”


Spotlight


[00:31:43] Richard’s spotli

Guest

Ashlyn Knox


Panelist

Richard Littauer


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we as coders, work with other designers. Richard is the sole panelist today and he welcomes guest, Ashlyn Knox, who’s a web developer, UI/UX designer, and community contributor, joining us from the Fedora community. Today, Ashlyn talks about their work doing front-end development and design for their websites and apps team. They discuss the Fedora website revamp project, people involved, and the funding. They describe their experience with code switching and a design problem they faced while working on the navbar and how they solved it. Then, Ashlyn fills us in on the usability studies for the Fedora Project Website Revamp, using Penpot prototypes tested with real users, and how they believe a closer connection between design and dev teams is so important to improve design in open source projects. Download this episode now to hear more!


[00:01:15] Ashlyn tells us what they do at Fedora, primarily doing front-end development and design work.


[00:03:02] The revamp of the Fedora website has been a large project, and Ashlyn fills us in on the people involved, the process, and how the funding for Fedora comes from Red Hat and sponsors.


[00:05:14] We hear about the stakeholders that they negotiate with as far as the decision making with the website.


[00:07:18] Ashlyn discusses their experience with code switching between design and development and how they need space to switch between the two.


[00:09:28] Ashlyn describes a particular design problem they faced while working on the navbar and how she needed a structured approach to solve it.


[00:11:08] We hear Ashlyn’s history and how they were interested in coding as a kid but pursued a career in music teaching until the pandemic, which led them to taking a Bootcamp course.


[00:12:47] They tell us about some of their previous projects and how it’s gone to design and build websites, as well as finding clients.


[00:14:49] Ashlyn explains more about the usability studies for the Fedora Revamp Project and how that went. They mention an amazing book on usability studies they read called, Don’t Make Me Think.


[00:17:33] Richard wonders how many people they had in their earliest usability study, where did they find them, and why is usability in the design process for open source projects seem so rare.


[00:19:09] The prototypes were built using Penpot, a Figma tool, and tested with real users. Ashlyn talks about having a close relationship between the development and design teams and how they acted as a bridge between the two during the project.


[00:21:01] Ashlyn shares that acknowledging the differences in languages and being okay with learning from each other can help make teams stronger and reduce miscommunication and friction. They also tell us how mentorship plays a crucial role and how they taught designers how to work with developers.


[00:24:42] Find out where you can follow Ashlyn on the web.


Quotes

[00:07:35] On Design: “Basically, I put that part of my brain into a box, and I just run with the other part of it.”


[00:21:09] “I think the acknowledgement of speaking different languages needs to be made and people just need to be okay with that and with learning other’s languages.”


Spotlight


[00:25:16] Richard’s spotlight is his high school art teacher, Mrs. Rosoff.
[00:25:46] Ashlyn’s spotlight is Tony Grimes at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Máirín Duffy with the Fedora Project.


Links


Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Design & UX working group
SustainOSS Discourse
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Richard Littauer Twitter
Fedora
Sustain Open Source Design Podcast-Episode 35: M

Guests

Winfried Tilanus | Emilie Tromp


Panelist

Richard Littauer


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we as coders, work with other designers. Richard has two amazing guests joining him, Winfried Tilanus, who’s a Privacy Consultant at Privacy Company, and Emilie Tromp, who’s a Social Design Strategist at Reframing Studio.


Today, they discuss how Privacy by Design should be approached, and the importance of understanding the different perspectives on privacy. We’ll hear about the Samen Beter project they did, challenges of designing privacy centered systems, the importance of user feedback and testing, and the iterative process of building trust with users when it comes to their data. Download this episode to hear much more!


[00:01:41] What is Privacy by Design?


[00:02:59] Emilie has more of a social design strategy background, so she tells us the project she worked on with Winfried through eHealth applications, and how Privacy by Design should be approached and the importance of understanding the different perspectives on privacy.


[00:07:27] Richard wonders if they’ve implemented Privacy by Design as a theoretical framework for designing something in any open source projects or if they’ve talked to open source projects and how they should implement this.


[00:08:53] Emilie explains more about the project they worked on called, Better Together (Samen Beter in Dutch).


[00:10:05] As part of this open standard that they’ve built for privacy by design, we find out how they made sure that they took into account all the different definitions of privacy.


[00:12:17] Emilie and Winfried highlight how they tested some concepts with end users who don’t use eHealth but could envision a scenario in the future where they would be using eHealth, and they explain a game they developed called, The Privacy Game.


[00:17:15] Earlier, they mentioned this is an open standard they’re making, and we hear if someone wants to build an app, how they can implement Privacy by Design as a standard into their process.


[00:21:24] Richard wonders if he can see the standard for Privacy by Design and how he can apply it directly whenever he’s working, and Emily tells us there’s a new standard for Privacy by Design, currently in the draft stage.


[00:26:52] In Emilie and Winfried’s work with implementing Privacy by Design, developing a standard on it, and talking to users, we learn what work they had to do to convince other people in their organization that it’s a good idea, and they share some ideas on how other designers do that.


[00:29:23] Winfried and Emilie gave a talk at FOSDEM, and we hear if they had any special notes about reaching out to open source designers or developers about how they could implement these principles into their work.


[00:31:05] Find out where you can learn more about Privacy by Design and where to follow Winfried and Emilie on the web.


Quotes

[00:29:50] “It may be even easier for open source developers to work through the methodology because a lot of projects have clear stated principles as guidelines for what commits to accept or not.”


[00:30:18] “When it’s open source, it’s much easier to show what you’re doing in reality is what you show also, that it aligns.”


Spotlight


[00:33:08] Richard’s spotlight is Privacy Badger.
[00:33:28] Winfried’s spotlight is the book, The Space Between Us by Cynthia Cockburn.
[00:34:11] Emilie’s spotlight is the book, Le Grand Vide by Lea Murawiec.


Links


Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
podcast@sustainoss.org
Sustain Design & UX working group
SustainOSS Discourse
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Richard Littauer Twitter
Winfried Tilanus LinkedIn
Winfried Tilanus Twitter
Emilie Trom

Guest

Mogashni Naidoo


Panelist

Django Skorupa


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design, a podcast where we discuss the intersections between design, open source, and what it takes to sustain communities that interact with both. Today, Django is hosting, and he’s excited to talk to his guest, Mogashni Naidoo, who’s a UX Researcher working in open source Bitcoin products and applications. The conversation covers her journey from volunteering in the Bitcoin community to becoming a UX research evangelist. Mo discusses her work on Lightning Wallet, and she shares her passion for the Bitcoin Industry’s ethos of financial freedom and openness. She also emphasizes her work ethic of working in public, she shares her approach to working in the open, which involves sharing her work very openly in the Slack community and posting a blog once a week. We’ll also here the importance of building products that empower users and make them feel confident and educated in their actions. Download this episode to hear more!


[00:01:08] Mo tells us what she does as a UX research evangelist within the Bitcoin design community, and what it looks like to be advocating user research in this field.


[00:03:10] Django brings up a project called Lightning Wallet and asks Mo what this project looked like before she came on board and how hit looks now.


[00:06:32] We hear about the ethos and the sensibilities Mo took in when she started this work.


[00:09:26] If you’re listening right now and want to learn about Bitcoin, how to speak in this field, and how to listen in this field, Mo tells us how you can.


[00:13:15] When talking about fostering new growth and sustaining open source, what’s the role of the public design mentor?


[00:19:13] Mo tells us about a Bitcoin UX Research toolkit she’s building, and how it’s taught her a lot about working out in the open and working in public.


[00:21:29] When talking about empowerment in the idea of physical independence, Django wonders how we can make people feel better when they’re using a lightning wallet or Bitcoin products.


[00:26:46] Find out where you follow Mo on the web.


Spotlight


[00:23:40] Mo’s spotlight is the Bitcoin Design Community.
[00:25:12] Django’s spotlight is sharing he’s a Film Photographer, and using the Massive Dev Chart which is the reason he’s been able to get this far in his art.


Links


Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Design & UX working group
SustainOSS Discourse
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Richard Littauer Twitter
Django Skorupa Twitter
Django Skorupa LinkedIn
Django Skorupa Instagram
Mogashni Naidoo Twitter
Mogashni Naidoo LinkedIn
Bitcoin Design
Bitcoin Design Projects
Lightning Wallet
Bitcoin UX Research Hub
The Massive Dev Chart


Credits


Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Mogashni Naidoo.

Guest

Daniel Burka


Panelists

Memo Esparza | Django Skorupa


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we as coders, work with other designers. Today, we have an amazing guest joining us, Daniel Burka, who’s a product manager and designer who focuses on solving complex global health problems in simple ways. Currently, he’s the director of product and design at Resolve to Save Lives, where he leads the open source project, Simple. Simple is used by thousands of hospitals in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Ethiopia to manage over 3.2 million patients with hypertension and diabetes. He’s also on the board of Laboratoria, and Founded the open source project Health icons, to provide free icons to healthcare projects around the world. Daniel started his career with a design agency but switched his focus towards global health. We’ll hear all the cool things he’s doing with the Simple project, he details how design really matters in public health projects, and how he thinks of design. We end with an extraordinary sentiment from Daniel saying, “Design is a big tent, and we need to welcome more people into that tent.” Find out why he said this and much more. Press download now!


[00:01:30] Daniel tells us what he’s currently doing right now with the Simple project.


[00:02:48] Since Daniel is shifting his focus towards healthcare, we hear how that happened.


[00:06:21] How did Daniel go about integrating the field with the design aspect when he was approaching a problem like Simple?


[00:12:12] We hear about the intersection and how the intersection functions between paper and digital.


[00:13:55] How can you be a designer without relying so much of your work on technology?


[00:17:22] Django shines some light on the idea of the service of a designer, and he asks Daniel to tell us what the majority of his design process involves in his work.


[00:20:06] Memo shares his thoughts on how only a few designers can work on problems that Daniel is working on, and he wonders how we can make working in healthcare more universal and access of the design work more universal.


[00:29:50] Find out where you can follow Daniel on the web.


Quotes

[00:04:46] “The challenge with venture capital, it’s very cushy, but none of the problems are your problems.”


[00:07:06] “The first thing you notice is that healthcare workers have almost no time.”


[00:10:06] “I was in Switzerland to speak at a conference, and the title of the talk was, “Can Designers Save Lives? Not By Themselves.”


[00:12:19] “Technologists love to think that we should digitize everything. Paper is great!”


[00:15:16] “Another thing that’s really important is to think about who sets the requirements for a system.”


[00:18:08] “A lot of design is talking.”


[00:18:22] “Designers love coming in with solutions, but oftentimes, especially in healthcare, you’re designing for an audience who’s very unlike you.”


[00:18:46] “I like that designers can be shepherds of those kinds of stories and connect the decision makers to healthcare workers who literally work for those decision makers.”


[00:19:09] “One of the superpowers of design is to make potential futures appear real.”


Spotlight


[00:26:49] Django’s spotlight is nappy.co.
[00:27:54] Daniel’s spotlight is the book, Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling.
[00:29:14] Memo’s spotlight is The New Ways of Working Playbook by Mark Eddleston.


Links


Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Design & UX working group
SustainOSS Discourse
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Richard Littauer Twitter
Memo Esparza Twitter
Django Skorupa Twitter
Daniel Burka

Guest

Seth Hillbrand


Panelist

Richard Littauer


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Sustain Open Source Design! The podcast where we talk about sustaining open source with design. Learn how we, as designers, interface with open source in a sustainable way, how we integrate into different communities, and how we as coders, work with other designers. Richard is very excited to have a guest with him since he’s solo today. Joining him is Seth Hillbrand, who’s a Lead Developer at KiCad, which is one of the leading electronic design and automation tools, and he’s the Founder of KiCad Services Corporation. Today, Seth explains what KiCad does, the products they make, how the KiCad project works, and how donations, services, and feature implementations help to fund it. We’ll also learn how KiCad has created ways to donate, interact, and be a part of their community. Download this episode now!


[00:01:10] Seth tells us what he does at KiCad, what KiCad does, and what kind of physical products the designers are making, which are some amazing things.


[00:05:59] How many people and how many developers are using KiCad?


[00:07:42] We heard about the contributors, and now we’ll learn about how the funding works for the open source project itself, and it may surprise you to hear that the bulk of their funding comes through donations, but not in the usual way that people do donations.


[00:13:45] Richard brings up the donate banner at the top of the KiCad page and wonders how Seth is designing this button for donations, and if it’s to make users feel different or to stick around.


[00:20:11] Seth explains how KiCad is not immune to the idea of radical transparency when it comes to showing how their funds are being used, he tells us for the KiCad project how they have different ways of distributing funds, and he how they changed their release model.


[00:33:59] Find out where you can follow Seth and KiCad online.


Quotes

[00:09:59] “Everyone says you can’t build an open source project on donations, and I want to emphasize that is bunk. That is not a true statement unless you do the donation design wrong.”


[00:18:25] “We have two groups within our larger community. One group is the designers and the engineers who use KiCad to build their boards and projects, and the other group is going to be all the other industries that surround us that benefit from KiCad’s existence and want to have a greater say in how the community develops, because it’s a part of their success for KiCad to be successful.”


[00:21:53] “The hardest thing we have to do in KiCad is pay people to do work.”


Spotlight


[00:31:53] Richard’s spotlight is the AudioMoth.
[00:32:11] Seth’s spotlight is wxWidgets.


Links


Open Source Design Twitter
Open Source Design
Sustain Design & UX working group
SustainOSS Discourse
Sustain Open Source Twitter
Richard Littauer Twitter
Seth Hillbrand LinkedIn
Seth Hillbrand GitHub
Seth Hillbrand Twitter
KiCad
KiPro
Donation Page Design-Seth’s talk at FOSDEM 2023 (video)
AudioMoth
wxWidgets


Credits


Produced by Richard Littauer

Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound

Show notes by DeAnn Bahr Peachtree Sound

Special Guest: Seth Hillbrand.