ROSE Blog Interviews: Linux Foundation's Angela Brown

Aug 25, 2009 GMT

Over the past few months I've been working with The Linux Foundation's Angela Brown to provide Live streaming from the upcoming LinuxCon event. Angela is one of many women in open source who are diligently working behind the scenes to organize Linux and open source events and help promote free and open source technology.Q: Who are you? A: I'm Angela Brown, the Event and Marketing Manager at The Linux Foundation. I organize our annual Collaboration Summit and End User Summits. But, this year is an especially fun (and important) year, because I'm organizing the first ever LinuxCon. The conference theme is "All Matters Linux." We believe that this wide-angled approach is missing in...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Erica Brescia, CEO of BitRock

Aug 24, 2009 GMT

I met Erica more than a year ago at LugRadio Live USA, and since then I've run into her at several events, including OSCON and OpenSourceWorld 2009. In July, Erica was one of many people who contributed to making the first Community Leadership Summit such a success. Q: Who are you? A: I’m Erica Brescia, the CEO of BitRock. We make server software easy to deploy on site, in virtual environments, and on the cloud. I’ve been with BitRock since we launched the company in early 2005. Prior to joining BitRock, I managed several sales teams for T-Mobile and served as a liaison to the mobile enthusiast community. In the past, I also worked as an Analyst at Oakwood Worldwide and as a...

Success and Struggle of Women in Tech

Aug 20, 2009 GMT

Check out this great article in PC World today: Women in IT: Success and StruggleIn the article, Network World's Ellen Messmer looked at nine successful women in IT: Eva Chen, CEO of Trend Micro Grace Egan, VP of engineering product management at Time Warner Cable in Broomfield, Colorado Maria Cirino, managing director of .406 Venture Rhonda MacLean, founder of MacLean Risk Partners Patricia Titus, CISO at Unisys Emma McGratten, senior VP of engineering at Ingres (and frequent speaker at open source events) Sherita Ceasar, vice president of cross-platform applications and engineering services at Comcast in Philadelphia Dena Haritos Tsamitis, Director of Carnegie-Mellon...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Ohio LinuxFest's Beth Lynn Eicher

Aug 19, 2009 GMT

You'll meet a lot of friendly folks in Linux and open source, but you'll probably never meet a nicer person than Ohio LinuxFest's Beth Lynn Eicher. And if you're looking for a mentor, she's got you covered.Q: Who are you? A: I am Beth Lynn Eicher, co-chair of the Ohio LinuxFest 2009: 40 Years of UNIX Celebration. For six years I have been involved with running this show. We build community out of people who love the software. Year after year, folks come back to the same friendly faces. That's why last year's theme was The Linux Neighborhood. The Ohio LinuxFest isn't just an event – it is a place where people live, work, play, develop, and network.Q: What do you currently do in open...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Ohio LinuxFest's Moose

Aug 19, 2009 GMT

Meet Moose – When it comes to Ohio LinuxFest, she's a juggler extraordinaire and a woman who wears many hats.Q: Who are you? A: I am Moose: unemployed, disabled, System Administrator. I am the Speakers Chair for Ohio LinuxFest 2009, as well as coordinator for part of the training day the day before the conference (OLFU) and the Diversity in Open Source Workshop on Sunday.Q: What do you currently do in open source? What do you love about it?A: I organize and encourage. I do the above stuff for Ohio LinuxFest. I work with an organization called the League of Professional System Administrators (LOPSA) to organize training events – we mostly pair with OSS conferences such as OLF and...

ROSE Blog Interviews: Carla Schroder

Aug 18, 2009 GMT

Recently I posted some interview questions and asked for volunteers to respond. Dru Lavigne and Amber Graner promptly responded (see comments). And then there was the sound of crickets chirping. I know for a fact that there are many other interesting women working and playing in open source, and plenty of them I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. Last week I met Kelaine Vargas at OpenSourceWorld and she sat down and answered my questions in person. I enjoyed that meeting so much that I've decided to continue my efforts to find out what women in open source are doing and why they do it. And if I can't meet you in person, I'll try to track you down online.Carla Schroder took time out...

Green Goes Geek: Interview with Kelaine Vargas

Aug 17, 2009 GMT

At OpenSource World last week, I attended a talk by Kelaine Vargas, urban ecologist and project manager of the Urban Forest Mapping Project. San Francisco's Urban Forest Mapping Project is an effort to "digitally pinpoint" the location of trees, maintain tree data (e.g., planting date, location, maintenance) in a database, and offer web access to the tree data. In San Francisco, for example, more than a dozen organizations have jurisdiction over trees and the project will help map and coordinate them. The community can get involved by posting photos, stories, and other information about trees in the area. Why does this matter? Mapping the trees could help track disease spread,...