Open-Source Software Tools for the Arts (#OSSTA)
Convening Information Packet • June 2-3, 2018 • Minneapolis
- Key Contacts
- Overview
- Venue, Dates and Times
- Agenda / Schedule
- Code of Conduct
- Other Policies for the #OSSTA Convening
Tom Hughes is the Associate Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at CMU, and is the Production Manager for the #OSSTA Convening. Please speak with Tom if you have a question about logistics.
Linda Hager is the Business Manager of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at CMU. Contact Linda if you have a question about finances. Linda will not be present in Minneapolis.
Golan Levin & Lauren Lee McCarthy. Golan (Professor of Art, and Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, CMU) and Lauren (Assistant Professor of Design / Media Arts, UCLA, and founder, p5.js) are the Principal Investigators of the #OSSTA Convening. Please speak with Golan and/or Lauren if you have a question about the program content.
You have been invited to participate in a unique event: a Convening on Open-Source Software Toolkits for the Arts (#OSSTA), which will take place in Minneapolis on the weekend before the 2018 Eyeo Festival. The purpose of this event is to bring together leaders in the open-source arts community who are interested in having an in-depth conversation around the challenges and opportunities facing these platforms—specifically regarding sustainability, funding, growth, management, diversity, and community building. This gathering has been organized by Golan Levin and Lauren McCarthy, and is made possible by a grant from The Knight Foundation.
This is a one-day ‘unconference’, populated by fellow founders, maintainers, and contributors of open-source arts-engineering tools such Processing, p5.js, openFrameworks, Cinder, three.js, and more. Officers from The Knight Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) will also be in the room, as well as a handful of other volunteers and support staff. Experts in the management of arts organizations and open-source communities will help direct group discussions and breakout sessions, in order to make the absolute most of your time.
We (the organizers) will work to synthesize findings from this convening into a report of key insights. This report will be published to a wide network, with the goal of generating new opportunities for recognizing and supporting your work in this field. We hope that this report will be a document that you can use to help explain the value of what you do.
We invite you to be a part of an open conversation and to freely express your opinions. The organizers will take on the task of documenting the conversation, and producing a final report.
For those not familiar, these types of convenings are common for national funders. It's how big foundations stay up-to-date on what elements are pushing a field forward. It gives them a direct understanding of social needs, and helps guide their funding priorities. The point of the report we will produce is to amplify the message (generated during this event) about the value and impact of open-source, artist-generated tools—and to make a case for future funding opportunities, resources, and/or modes of support. The report we produce will not be the end of this conversation.
You’ll get to share questions, ideas, solutions, and best practices with your peers. You’ll have the ear of major stakeholders who are interested in understanding your challenges. You’ll have the opportunity to contribute key insights to a smartly-written report (amplified by two important national funders) that articulates the value of what you’re doing.
The #OSSTA Convening takes place just prior to the 2018 Eyeo Festival: from 6pm-9pm on the evening of Saturday, June 2, 2018, and from 9am-6pm on Sunday, June 3, 2018
We will provide dinner on Saturday, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available.
Our convening takes place at Mill City Museum, located in downtown Minneapolis on the west bank of the Mississippi River, near the corner of Park Avenue and South 2nd Street.
By light rail, Mill City Museum is accessible from the Blue and Green Lines via the U.S. Bank Stadium Station: walk west 1/2 block to Park Avenue, then north on Park Avenue for 4 short blocks. By bus, Mill City Museum is serviced by Metro Transit bus #22, which runs on Washington Avenue, one block southwest of the museum. Mill City Museum does not have its own parking lot, but nearby parking options include Mill Quarter Ramp (711 South 2nd St.), and Riverfront Municipal Ramp (212 9th Ave S).
- 6:00-6:30pm Introductions
- 6:30-9:00pm Welcome Dinner
- 9:00pm+ Homework
- 9:00-9:30 Arrival & Breakfast
- 9:30-9:45 Welcome (Golan Levin; Lauren McCarthy)
- 9:45-10:00 Refresher introductions (speed round)
- 10:00-10:15 [15m] Opening thoughts (Taeyoon Choi)
- 10:15-11:15 [60m] Conversation 1: What are the biggest challenges in #OSSTA?
- 11:15-12:15 [60m] Conversation 2: FLOSS growth + management (devops, planning)
- 12:15-1:30 [60m] Lunch Break and sticker exchange
- 1:30-2:30 [60m] Conversation 3: Community building, diversity, and inclusion
How can we better scaffold users to become contributors?
- 2:30-3:30 [60m] Conversation 4: Funding + sustainability
- 3:30-3:50 [20m] Coffee Break and group photo
- 3:50-4:30 [40m] Conversation 5: How do we describe what we do, and its value?
Discussion: What is the mission statement for your software toolkit? Why is our work important? What is the current impact of what we do? What are the risks if these challenges aren't addressed? What is the potential impact or loss if your user communities are not supported?
- 4:30-5:30 [60m] Conversation 6: What is the future we want to see? (Discussion: Take reality out as a limitation. Then, what do we need to do to get there? What is the potential impact if our limitations are removed?)
- 5:30-6:00 [30m] Closing thoughts (Dorothy Santos; Jax Deluca)
- 6:00pm+ We have no formal plans for dinner and/or drinks on Sunday evening.
Discussions for Conversations #2, #3, and #4 are structured around a common set of questions—which boil down to: what are you good at, what are you bad at, what do you need, what are you worried about, and what are you excited about?
We recommend that breakout groups discussing Conversations #2, #3, and #4 adhere to the following structure:
- What are the vulnerabilities or deficits within your #OSSTA community? What skills, knowledge, or resources are lacking that would help address these challenges?
- What are some tactics that are already being employed within a particular #OSSTA community that could be adopted by others? Share what has worked and what hasn’t, and try to define some best practices.
- Where is there untapped potential? Thinking about your strengths, is there some aspect of your toolkit or your network of users/developers that could be leveraged to improve this issue? What would you need to make this happen?
We ask that you kindly read and agree to the following Code of Conduct:
We are committed to providing an inclusive experience that is free of harassment and intimidation for all participants—regardless of gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We will not tolerate any form of harassment and/or discriminatory, oppressive, suppressive, or violent behavior. Harassment may include, but is not limited to, offensive verbal comments, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption, inappropriate or non-consensual physical contact, unwelcome sexual attention, and/or refusing to accept the limits or boundaries set by another participant. We further define suppressive behavior as any sort of communication that stifles or belittles another. Participants asked to stop any behavior are expected to comply immediately. This code applies to everyone. If you have any concerns, we encourage you to speak up, say something, and/or contact a member of the organization staff immediately.
In addition to the Code of Conduct above, we ask you to please review and comply with the following policies that are specific to the #OSSTA Convening:
The purpose of this Convening is to have a conversation! We ask you to please avoid using your phones and/or computers during meeting sessions, unless the use of these devices is specifically required for a group task.
This is a small community. We are gathering, privately, to discuss common challenges. Your peers may choose to express things here, which they might not feel comfortable saying in more public contexts. For this reason, if you must tweet during this event, we ask you to please exercise good judgement. If you post something you have overheard, we ask you to please not attribute the remark to that speaker without their permission. We expressly ask you to refrain from “subtweeting” (tweeting about an individual without naming them).
This Convening is a private meeting, organized in a compressed timeframe without a public call, with participation by invitation only. We have done our best, within the limits of time, logistics, available funds, and our own abilities, to gather an amazing group of participants whom we feel could productively contribute to our conversation and the forthcoming #OSSTA report. But we can all imagine how someone, somewhere, might become upset that they weren’t invited. We ask you to please be particularly conscientious in mentioning this event publicly, especially to persons who might feel (deservedly or not) that they really ought to have been invited. We recognize that there are many more toolkits, contributors, and perspectives than those represented by this one convening. We see this as a conversation that can hopefully spark many others and contribute to an ongoing dialogue.