My current boss and long-time friend Anil Dash explains how he and I–a guy who looks like a terrorist and a gay-married woman–prioritize diversity in the community of developers working on ThinkTank. The entire interview is worth reading if you’re wondering what the heck we’re working on, but here’s a tidbit:
Q: How do you go about ensuring diversity in an open development project? If all comers are welcome…
The same way any diversity effort happens, I think. Outreach, specifically asking people to engage, having prominent community members whose identities are clear.
Q: That’s interesting. Is that, in your view, an ethos that’s coming from the White House?
It was more about what I saw as the failings of the tech industry where people would excitedly say, “You can get people to contribute to an open source app just by giving them t-shirts!” And the choice of t-shirts are men’s medium or large.
An Interview with Anil Dash, Director of Expert Labs [techPresident]
