Re: Proposal: Maintaining the Maintainers (Sid Kasivajhula)

[Siddhartha Kasivajhula]

Hiya,

I sent this message on IRC but I have a feeling it didn't go through:

<countvajhula> hey all, I was wondering whether there's still time to edit the
  Q&A for my talk? There's one answer I'd love to elaborate on a
  bit more. No worries if not. Also the video on the talk page
  doesn't seem clickable at the moment - I assume it just hasn't
  been processed yet, but mentioning it just in case :)

<countvajhula> edit the written Q&A, that is

Btw on an unrelated note, if you guys need help with video editing at all, I have some basic skills and am happy to help if I can.

Tc and thanks again for running a brilliant, clockwork operation!

-Sid

On Sat, Dec 3, 2022 at 11:27 AM Corwin Brust <corwin@bru.st> wrote:

Hi Siddhartha!

We're reaching out to let you know that your scheduled talk will start
shortly and we're ready to check you in for your live Q&A session.

If you aren't available for live Q&A please do reply to let us know,
otherwise you can join here and we'll get you sound-checked:

https://bbb.emacsverse.org/b/sac-inw-foz-rhu


Corwin
612-217-1742
612-695-4276 (signal)
corwin@bru.st

On Sat, Oct 1, 2022 at 2:00 AM Siddhartha Kasivajhula
<siddhartha.kasivajhula@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thank you for organizing the conference. My proposal is below.
>
> Speaker name (and optional pronunciation) and preferred pronouns:
>
> Sid Kasivajhula (any pronouns, commonly he/him)
>
> Speaker availability and preferred Q&A approach:
>
> Live preferred, any OK.
>
> Availability: No constraints at this time.
>
> Speaker emergency contact information:
>
> skasivaj@gmail.com
> 229-444-4322
>
> Talk title: "Maintaining the Maintainers: Attribution as an Economic Model for Open Source"
>
> Talk abstract:
>
> The problem of supporting open source software and contributors is a pressing one, and one for which we don't have good solutions.
>
> So many developers today pour their creative energies into freely-distributed works only to have those same works of passion turn into a pain in the neck when they find themselves eternally on the hook to provide support in exchange for minimal or no compensation, and often with limited assistance.
>
> Fundamentally, the reason it's this way is that traditional economic systems operate on _supply and demand_ as the basis of value. In such systems, open and unlimited availability translates into zero market value, and consequently, open source enterprises are not economically sound. Even in high profile projects, developers make a living purely through value added services rather than from the core of the value of their contributions -- that is, from the code they wrote. Since, from a market value standpoint, _that code is worthless_.
>
> Copyright and patents (not to mention proprietary software) are an attempt to address this within the existing economic model by imposing artificial scarcity in order to induce market value. In principle, they also provide safeguards against appropriation. On the other hand, the unlimited availability of creative works is a profoundly good thing from the perspective of maximizing value, and thus suppressing it is deeply misguided. Organizations like the Free Software Foundation have campaigned against such restrictions for some time now, for related reasons; nevertheless, the problem of providing a viable economic basis, aside from these crude attempts, remains unaddressed.
>
> Attribution-based economics is a new model that aims to remedy this state of affairs by changing the basis of value from supply and demand to _collective recognition_. This is facilitated by a process of "inheritance attribution" where we collectively agree on the extent of inherence of ideas and works in other (e.g. derivative) ideas and works, by means of transparent and evolving standards. This model is capable of recognizing a much larger set of valuable contributions, including forms of value that cannot be coerced into a supply-and-demand equation. That is, in this model, there is no need to artificially restrict availability in order for something to be considered valuable. By virtue of the curious property that innovations on the process are themselves subject to the process of recognition in a self-reflective way, we gain accuracy, and by the property that agreed-upon standards apply equally to all, we gain fairness -- guarantees that are at best tenuously present in today's economic systems.
>
> This talk introduces some early experiments with attribution-based economics in the Emacs community, and some initial proposals that point the way forward on how, with your help, such a system might scale up to larger projects and communities far beyond open source.
>
>
> - 5-10 minutes: (brief description/outline)
> Superficial description of the idea and core mechanisms, along with summarizing the efforts so far toward setting it up for a small initial core of Emacs (and some non-Emacs) packages.
>
> - 20 minutes: (brief description/outline)
> Same as above but more concrete details about the mechanisms involved, the specific goals for social experiments in the community (e.g. how the prototype packages like Symex.el aim to funnel financial contributions to direct as well as upstream (e.g. packages like Paredit and Lispy) contributors! Recognizing the giants on whose shoulders we stand is a core part of the model). Details of financial model: how financial contributions would be treated vs how code and other "work" contributions would be treated -- similar to the startup dilution model, except that everyone has an opportunity to participate and we all decide how it works!
>
> - 40 minutes: (brief description/outline)
> Probably would cover the same ground as the 20 minute version but in more depth. I may take a different approach on the format, for instance there might be a "workshop" component that may involve code, and we might look at designs for software that could help implement this at scale.
>
>
> Speaker release:
>
>   By submitting this proposal, I agree that my presentation at
>   EmacsConf 2022 is subject to the following terms and conditions:
>
>   The EmacsConf organizers may capture audio and video (a "Recording")
>   of my presentation and any associated materials, which may include
>   slides, notes, transcripts, and prerecording(s) of my presentation
>   that I provide to the EmacsConf organizers.
>
>   I authorize the EmacsConf organizers to distribute, reproduce,
>   publicly display, and prepare derivative works of the Recording and
>   any derivative works of the Recording (the "Licensed Materials")
>   under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0
>   International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license.
>
>   I grant to the EmacsConf organizers permission to use my name,
>   likeness, and biographic information in association with their use
>   of the Licensed Materials under the above license.
>
>   I represent that I have the authority to grant the above license to
>   the EmacsConf organizers.  If my presentation incorporates any
>   material owned by third parties, I represent that the material is
>   sublicensable to the EmacsConf organizers or that my use of them is
>   fair use.