Whilst open source is now more widely accepted, there are still large parts of the engineering community who have yet to "see the light". Advocacy remains a key role for all who care about open source, while mentoring helps user make best use of open source technology.
This is a joint meeting with the British Computer Society Open Source Specialist Group.
Software Freedom Conservancy
Software Freedom Conservancy helps promote, improve, develop, and defend Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects.
Karen M. Sandler
is the executive director of Conservancy. Karen is known as a
cyborg lawyer for her advocacy for free software, particularly in relation to
the software on medical devices. Prior to joining Conservancy, she was
executive director of the GNOME Foundation. Before that, she was general
counsel of the Software Freedom Law Center. Karen co-organizes Outreachy, the
award-winning outreach program to support women globally and for people of
color who are underrepresented in US tech. She is also pro bono counsel to the
FSF and GNOME. Karen is a recipient of the Free Software Foundation's Award for
the Advancement of Free Software and the O'Reilly Open Source Award.
Karen received her law degree from Columbia Law School in 2000, where she was a
James Kent Scholar and co-founder of the Columbia Science and Technology Law
Review. Karen received her bachelor's degree in engineering from The
Cooper Union.
Cooking with a touch of science and a dash of engineering.
Free Software Foundation Europe is a charity that empowers users to control technology.
Software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives; and it is
important that this technology empowers rather than restricts us. Free Software
gives everybody the rights to use, understand, adapt and share software. These
rights help support other fundamental freedoms like freedom of speech, press and
privacy.
Paul Adams is a co-founder of BCS Open Source SG and its second Chair. He served as a FSFE Fellow in 2009 and regularly gives presentations on behalf of the FSFE.
Advocacy for Women in Open Source
Cornelia Boldyreff is a Visiting Professor at the University of Greenwich. She gained her PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Durham. In 2004 she became the first Professor of Software Engineering at the University of Lincoln, where she co-founded and directed the Centre for Research in Open Source Software. Cornelia was most recently Associate Dean (Research and Enterprise) at the University of East London She is a founding committee member of the BCSWomen Specialist Group, a committee member of the BCS e-Learning Specialist Group, and from 2013-2017 chaired the BCS Open Source Specialist Group. She has been actively campaigning for more women in STEM throughout her career. Together with Miriam Joy Morris and Dr Yasmine Arafa, she founded the start-up, ebartex Ltd, and together they are developing a new digital bartering currency, ebarts.
Note: Please aim to arrive by 18:15 as the event will start at 18:30 prompt.