0:00:01.726,0:00:04.249
Get my notes ready

0:00:04.249,0:00:07.181
So, uh, part of the theme this year is

0:00:07.181,0:00:09.798
"Perl the Next Generation"

0:00:09.798,0:00:11.347
and what will the next generation of

0:00:11.347,0:00:13.464
Perl people look like?

0:00:13.464,0:00:14.734
And before I can answer that

0:00:14.734,0:00:18.201
I think we first have to answer this:

0:00:18.201,0:00:20.760
"what do we want them to look like?"

0:00:20.760,0:00:22.266
and before we can answer that

0:00:22.266,0:00:25.219
we have to know what we look like right now.

0:00:25.219,0:00:27.855
So — and why.

0:00:27.855,0:00:29.394
So we're going to take a little poll

0:00:29.394,0:00:32.557
So first off please everyone that can stand

0:00:32.557,0:00:34.218
please stand up and if you can't stand up

0:00:34.218,0:00:38.262
just raise your hand.

0:00:38.262,0:00:41.631
A little exercise in the morning.

0:00:41.631,0:00:44.113
Oh God!

0:00:44.113,0:00:45.753
Yeah I've got to stand here for 45 minutes.

0:00:45.753,0:00:47.287
[laughter]

0:00:47.287,0:00:50.783
So this is our control, everyone's that's

0:00:50.783,0:00:52.113
gonna stand up stand up.

0:00:52.113,0:00:54.685
Looks like everyone has stand up, good.

0:00:54.685,0:00:56.666
So, whoever wants to take a picture

0:00:56.666,0:00:59.303
do it right now.

0:00:59.303,0:01:03.913
Now I'd like everyone who does not identify as a guy

0:01:03.913,0:01:07.646
to sit down and put your hand up.

0:01:07.646,0:01:08.953
Now if there's any question:

0:01:08.953,0:01:14.128
your choice, seriously.

0:01:14.128,0:01:18.125
All right, now look around.

0:01:18.125,0:01:20.422
This is the question I want ask you is

0:01:20.422,0:01:22.692
why is this room overwhelmingly full of guys?

0:01:22.692,0:01:28.436
[laughter and applause]

0:01:28.436,0:01:29.530
Why are there?

0:01:29.530,0:01:30.660
I can make a bet that there are probably

0:01:30.660,0:01:35.584
more Michaels here than women.

0:01:35.584,0:01:38.692
It's funny but it's also very sad.

0:01:38.692,0:01:43.987
All right, thanks, have a seat.

0:01:43.987,0:01:46.981
So how can we talk about the next generation

0:01:46.981,0:01:53.576
when this room looks more like my Dad's generation?

0:01:53.576,0:01:56.847
So Perl is — and Open Source in general —

0:01:56.847,0:02:00.291
is overwhelmingly full of guys.

0:02:00.291,0:02:01.519
And why is that?

0:02:01.519,0:02:03.423
And you might think well just because computing

0:02:03.423,0:02:05.400
is in general dominated by guys.

0:02:05.400,0:02:08.101
Or maybe that we're just better at math or something

0:02:08.101,0:02:09.291
because you know Perl programming

0:02:09.291,0:02:11.755
involves a whole lot of math right?

0:02:11.755,0:02:14.117
Or basically that we're just reflecting

0:02:14.117,0:02:15.875
a larger problem that's out of our control.

0:02:15.875,0:02:18.818
But it turns out it's not true.

0:02:18.818,0:02:20.975
There's been some fantastic data on this

0:02:20.975,0:02:23.702
from an organization called FLOSSPOLS.

0:02:23.702,0:02:27.139
Commercial software is about 28% female.

0:02:27.139,0:02:31.366
Open Source is somewhere between 2 and 6.

0:02:31.366,0:02:35.757
Pretty consistently. So, what the hell?

0:02:35.757,0:02:36.815
And we could talk all day about

0:02:36.815,0:02:37.661
the exact numbers

0:02:37.661,0:02:38.735
I really don't do that right now.

0:02:38.735,0:02:39.839
We'd be just be arguing about whether

0:02:39.839,0:02:43.554
it's merely terrible or truly appalling.

0:02:43.554,0:02:46.553
But no matter how you feel about the topic

0:02:46.553,0:02:48.892
there is one conclusion you can draw from this

0:02:48.892,0:02:51.022
without argument or judgement

0:02:51.022,0:02:52.389
which is quite simply that

0:02:52.389,0:02:56.923
Open Source is doing something to lose women.

0:02:56.923,0:02:59.053
And like it or not we have to face that

0:02:59.053,0:03:02.421
and decide what we're going to do about it.

0:03:02.421,0:03:05.134
But honestly this isn't really about women.

0:03:05.134,0:03:08.921
The problem isn't "how do we get more women?"

0:03:08.921,0:03:12.710
or it's not even "why are there so many men?"

0:03:12.710,0:03:15.993
The problem is "why are we so damn homogenous?"

0:03:15.993,0:03:19.368
[laughter and applause]

0:03:19.368,0:03:20.890
And despite knowing that there is a problem

0:03:20.890,0:03:22.297
— I didn't think you people would be so

0:03:22.297,0:03:23.355
chipper in the mornings

0:03:23.355,0:03:24.850
[laughter]

0:03:24.850,0:03:27.220
you're laughing at my jokes —

0:03:27.220,0:03:28.744
and being so concerned about it

0:03:28.744,0:03:30.315
we remain homogenous.

0:03:30.315,0:03:32.591
I came into Perl in 1995.

0:03:32.591,0:03:35.926
I can't do math right now but that was a while ago.

0:03:35.926,0:03:38.075
And we look basically the same as we did then

0:03:38.075,0:03:39.971
maybe a little worse.

0:03:39.971,0:03:43.570
There's more of us but basically it's

0:03:43.570,0:03:46.299
made up of the same type of people.

0:03:46.299,0:03:48.246
Ah and there's so many other points of diversity

0:03:48.246,0:03:50.311
I could go on about besides gender.

0:03:50.311,0:03:52.554
I could talk about race, language, time zone,

0:03:52.554,0:03:56.138
physical ability, economics, education, culture and so on.

0:03:56.138,0:03:57.728
Ah but quite honestly

0:03:57.728,0:04:00.751
gender is so damn obvious that that's what I'm going to use

0:04:00.751,0:04:02.964
and I only have 45 minutes.

0:04:02.964,0:04:05.690
So apologies for not covering all the axes,

0:04:05.690,0:04:08.280
there's a lot of them.

0:04:08.280,0:04:10.324
So, if Perl and Open Source have one thing in common

0:04:10.324,0:04:14.189
it's their belief in the meritocracy

0:04:14.189,0:04:15.382
the idea that you should be judged

0:04:15.382,0:04:16.445
based on your merits

0:04:16.445,0:04:18.601
your code and your contributions

0:04:18.601,0:04:20.373
not on how much money you have

0:04:20.373,0:04:22.812
or say your gender or whatever else.

0:04:22.812,0:04:24.411
It's all about the code, your contributions,

0:04:24.411,0:04:26.870
your work and so on and so forth.

0:04:26.870,0:04:30.233
If we had a healthy meritocracy

0:04:30.233,0:04:32.886
this room would be about 28% women

0:04:32.886,0:04:37.262
matching commercial IT and I'd be talking about something else.

0:04:37.262,0:04:39.144
If we had a healthy meritocracy we'd have

0:04:39.144,0:04:41.566
28% female speakers.

0:04:41.566,0:04:43.881
I had to do some guessing on the gender

0:04:43.881,0:04:47.107
so my apologies if I got anybody wrong.

0:04:47.107,0:04:48.229
If this were a healthy meritocracy

0:04:48.229,0:04:49.300
we would have had at least one female

0:04:49.300,0:04:52.152
[??] by now.

0:04:52.152,0:04:53.689
And it really pains me to say this but

0:04:53.689,0:04:55.826
our meritocracy is broken.

0:04:55.826,0:05:02.281
[applause]

0:05:02.281,0:05:05.037
And like I said this isn't really about women

0:05:05.037,0:05:06.787
this is about us.

0:05:06.787,0:05:10.549
This is about — demographic diversity is the

0:05:10.549,0:05:12.786
canary in the coal mine.

0:05:12.786,0:05:16.059
Gender is simply easy to track.

0:05:16.059,0:05:17.363
It's the most obvious thing in front of our face.

0:05:17.363,0:05:18.718
If gender is out of whack

0:05:18.718,0:05:20.310
if demographic diversity is out of whack

0:05:20.310,0:05:27.079
then there's a good chance that other things are as well.

0:05:27.079,0:05:29.410
And have we optimised ourselves for

0:05:29.410,0:05:32.434
thick-skinned male library developers?

0:05:32.434,0:05:33.362
[laughter]

0:05:33.362,0:05:35.719
And even now beyond that

0:05:35.719,0:05:37.485
if we're doing something to drive away women

0:05:37.485,0:05:39.559
who else are we driving away?

0:05:39.559,0:05:40.648
What other sorts of people?

0:05:40.648,0:05:42.025
What ideas are we losing?

0:05:42.025,0:05:45.486
And what viewpoints and skills?

0:05:45.486,0:05:46.672
So who do we tend to have trouble

0:05:46.672,0:05:48.291
finding in the Perl community?

0:05:48.291,0:05:52.069
And what skills are underrepresented?

0:05:52.069,0:05:56.176
Tech writers, mobile developers, Windows users,

0:05:56.176,0:05:57.730
yeah how often do you need to fix something

0:05:57.730,0:06:00.750
on Windows and you can't find anybody?

0:06:00.750,0:06:03.144
Grant writers, interface designers, community managers,

0:06:03.144,0:06:05.142
GUI developers, new programmers,

0:06:05.142,0:06:06.417
new to Perl programmers,

0:06:06.417,0:06:09.504
conference organizers, graphic designers,

0:06:09.504,0:06:12.351
teachers, trainers

0:06:12.351,0:06:13.894
— my list is cut off at the bottom —

0:06:13.894,0:06:16.982
[flicks pages]

0:06:16.982,0:06:19.544
young folks, old folks,

0:06:19.544,0:06:20.758
marketing people, business people.

0:06:20.758,0:06:23.785
All of these skills are needed

0:06:23.785,0:06:26.442
for a healthy language community.

0:06:26.442,0:06:29.094
And when I talk about growing the Perl community

0:06:29.094,0:06:31.191
I don't mean just more of the same.

0:06:31.191,0:06:33.690
I mean different kinds of people.

0:06:33.690,0:06:35.094
Different ideas, different thoughts,

0:06:35.094,0:06:36.767
different viewpoints.

0:06:36.767,0:06:38.370
So we can adapt and change and grow

0:06:38.370,0:06:40.497
and be healthy as the world around us

0:06:40.497,0:06:42.505
and technology changes.

0:06:42.505,0:06:44.510
If we don't change with it

0:06:44.510,0:06:46.985
we just get left behind.

0:06:46.985,0:06:48.676
So, I don't want to turn this into

0:06:48.676,0:06:50.714
a finger-pointing guilt-fest.

0:06:50.714,0:06:53.552
Because I know when I was kind of struck with all this

0:06:53.552,0:06:54.772
many moons ago

0:06:54.772,0:06:56.927
I you know felt the weight of

0:06:56.927,0:07:00.224
you know white male privilege coming down on me

0:07:00.224,0:07:03.923
or you know not weight, shouldn't go off script,

0:07:03.923,0:07:06.273
[laughter]

0:07:06.273,0:07:08.910
So I believe that the people in this community

0:07:08.910,0:07:12.503
are overwhelmingly good people.

0:07:12.503,0:07:14.755
And I view it as something like this:

0:07:14.755,0:07:18.718
we have a small chunk of loud-mouth assholes

0:07:18.718,0:07:20.712
and a vast majority are good people

0:07:20.712,0:07:22.092
who just kind of want to be left alone to code

0:07:22.092,0:07:23.998
and not think about this stuff.

0:07:23.998,0:07:26.256
And then a small chunk who do want to think

0:07:26.256,0:07:27.944
about this stuff.

0:07:27.944,0:07:31.583
And unfortunately the people in the middle

0:07:31.583,0:07:33.194
sometimes are a little loud

0:07:33.194,0:07:34.538
about how much they don't want

0:07:34.538,0:07:35.914
to think about this stuff.

0:07:35.914,0:07:36.778
And the problem is

0:07:36.778,0:07:37.861
not that we're bad people

0:07:37.861,0:07:39.142
or that we do awful things.

0:07:39.142,0:07:41.068
The problem is that we're so damn alike.

0:07:41.068,0:07:42.857
Back to homogeny.

0:07:42.857,0:07:44.689
That 95% in the middle that's

0:07:44.689,0:07:50.147
primarily male library developers and sysadmins

0:07:50.147,0:07:53.153
who are thick-skinned, socially passive,

0:07:53.153,0:07:55.230
and don't want to hear about community issues.

0:07:55.230,0:08:02.437
[laughter and applause]

0:08:02.437,0:08:06.693
So I'm glad this is going —

0:08:06.693,0:08:09.053
homogeny breeds more homogeny,

0:08:09.053,0:08:10.910
it's inbreeding.

0:08:10.910,0:08:13.188
And unless you do something about it

0:08:13.188,0:08:16.735
it just doesn't go away.

0:08:16.735,0:08:18.409
So it's perfectly natural to want

0:08:18.409,0:08:19.423
to make a community that

0:08:19.423,0:08:20.654
you're comfortable in.

0:08:20.654,0:08:23.083
One that works for you and your friends.

0:08:23.083,0:08:25.649
But if your friends are all like you

0:08:25.649,0:08:27.154
and if the same things make them comfortable

0:08:27.154,0:08:28.326
and uncomfortable

0:08:28.326,0:08:30.596
if you all want the same things

0:08:30.596,0:08:35.407
then you're going to optimise the community for them.

0:08:35.407,0:08:38.113
If you — the more you optimize for you and your friends

0:08:38.113,0:08:39.097
and people like you

0:08:39.097,0:08:41.417
the less it will work for people on the fringes.

0:08:41.417,0:08:43.013
And they will start to leave.

0:08:43.013,0:08:46.397
And they will start to, they will not come back.

0:08:46.397,0:08:47.917
It's very easy to put your head down

0:08:47.917,0:08:50.942
and just write code and not notice

0:08:50.942,0:08:52.327
that their voices and opinions and ideas

0:08:52.327,0:08:54.945
will get quieter and quieter.

0:08:54.945,0:08:56.507
Individuals will come and be made uncomfortable

0:08:56.507,0:08:57.845
and leave.

0:08:57.845,0:08:59.461
And without being able to build up

0:08:59.461,0:09:01.892
enough people to get themselves heard.

0:09:01.892,0:09:04.961
Until one day there's more Michaels than women.

0:09:04.961,0:09:06.976
And we're all just agreeing with each other

0:09:06.976,0:09:08.653
while the rest of the world moves on

0:09:08.653,0:09:12.788
and forgets about us.

0:09:12.788,0:09:17.725
And that is why I think this room is full of white guys.

0:09:17.725,0:09:20.506
[laughter]

0:09:20.506,0:09:25.424
So the women are sick of trying to tell us this

0:09:25.424,0:09:28.612
And it's about time the guys started to deal

0:09:28.612,0:09:29.873
with their own crap.

0:09:29.873,0:09:33.685
And I'm sick of the situation after 17 years in Perl.

0:09:33.685,0:09:35.448
And I'm sick of seeing my friends leave

0:09:35.448,0:09:37.644
or be immediately turned off.

0:09:37.644,0:09:38.869
I'm sick of seeing people told they

0:09:38.869,0:09:41.259
just have to deal with it.

0:09:41.259,0:09:42.266
Or if they don't like it

0:09:42.266,0:09:45.376
they should go start their own group.

0:09:45.376,0:09:48.554
I am really not the best person for the job.

0:09:48.554,0:09:50.072
I've honestly been freaking out about

0:09:50.072,0:09:51.383
this keynote for months.

0:09:51.383,0:09:53.992
And I'm really glad you were laughing.

0:09:53.992,0:09:57.113
[laughter]

0:09:57.113,0:09:58.005
And I'm not the first person to

0:09:58.005,0:10:00.965
come up with anything that I'm going to tell you.

0:10:00.965,0:10:03.506
But I was given the keynote spot

0:10:03.506,0:10:06.115
and this is all too important to ignore.

0:10:06.115,0:10:07.993
And there are so many things that

0:10:07.993,0:10:10.556
I want to talk to you about this subject.

0:10:10.556,0:10:12.270
Systematic discrimination and privilege

0:10:12.270,0:10:16.177
being two huge issues I unfortunately won't be covering

0:10:16.177,0:10:19.436
because I don't have time to do them right.

0:10:19.436,0:10:21.269
So I'm going to do the best I can

0:10:21.269,0:10:23.832
to get the most of you I can

0:10:23.832,0:10:25.279
thinking about the problem

0:10:25.279,0:10:27.875
and deciding if you want to solve it

0:10:27.875,0:10:29.267
and how you're going to solve it.

0:10:29.267,0:10:33.109
Because you are smart people, you're good people

0:10:33.109,0:10:36.823
and you're very good at solving problems.

0:10:36.823,0:10:39.216
But once you understand it's a problem

0:10:39.216,0:10:41.950
and once you decide it's worth solving.

0:10:41.950,0:10:43.356
So I'm also going cover some solutions

0:10:43.356,0:10:45.823
I'm not just going to berate you all day.

0:10:45.823,0:10:47.686
And solutions that we can do as a group

0:10:47.686,0:10:50.529
and that we can do as individuals.

0:10:50.529,0:10:53.534
In order to do that, first I need to bring up

0:10:53.534,0:10:56.024
a really touchy topic,

0:10:56.024,0:10:59.190
one that you probably have very strong feelings about

0:10:59.190,0:11:03.392
and it might divide the community just by bringing it up.

0:11:03.392,0:11:05.610
I am of course referring to Star Trek captains.

0:11:05.610,0:11:10.046
[laughter and scattered applause]

0:11:10.046,0:11:12.143
So, let's take another little poll

0:11:12.143,0:11:14.888
you don't need to stand up this time.

0:11:14.888,0:11:17.730
Raise your hand, you can vote more than once,

0:11:17.730,0:11:19.437
you can raise your hand more than once.

0:11:19.437,0:11:22.682
Raise your hand for Kirk.

0:11:22.682,0:11:24.178
OK.

0:11:24.178,0:11:26.555
Piccard?

0:11:26.555,0:11:29.061
Oh wow, OK, excellent, that's a good sign.

0:11:29.061,0:11:30.971
Uh, Cisco?

0:11:30.971,0:11:32.570
OK, less for Cisco.

0:11:32.570,0:11:35.852
And Janeway?

0:11:35.852,0:11:38.341
OK, and finally Porthos.

0:11:38.341,0:11:41.940
[laughter]

0:11:41.940,0:11:47.062
We know who was really running that ship!

0:11:47.062,0:11:52.132
And let's talk about the two most iconic captains

0:11:52.132,0:11:54.356
Kirk and Piccard.

0:11:54.356,0:11:57.727
Two very different star ship captains, 25 years apart,

0:11:57.727,0:12:00.888
each for a different generation.

0:12:00.888,0:12:03.810
Captain Kirk from the original 60s TV show

0:12:03.810,0:12:05.755
what's Kirk do in a crisis?

0:12:05.755,0:12:09.582
Kirk? Kirk takes action. Kirk gives orders.

0:12:09.582,0:12:13.024
Kirk is decisive. Kirk beams down to the planet.

0:12:13.024,0:12:16.268
Kirk punches the alien, Kirk kisses the girk.

0:12:16.268,0:12:17.789
Kirk, Kirk, Kirk, Kirk, Kirk, Kirk, Kirk.

0:12:17.789,0:12:19.163
It's all about Kirk.

0:12:19.163,0:12:23.445
Maybe he talks to his two best buddies.

0:12:23.445,0:12:25.141
But it's all about Kirk.

0:12:25.141,0:12:33.790
[laughter]

0:12:33.790,0:12:37.884
And that's great for Kirk and Kirk's buddies.

0:12:37.884,0:12:40.465
Now, Captain Piccard, from the early 90s

0:12:40.465,0:12:42.570
Star Trek Next Generation.

0:12:42.570,0:12:44.941
What does Piccard do in a crisis?

0:12:44.941,0:12:48.864
Piccard holds a meeting.

0:12:48.864,0:12:50.552
Piccard gathers his senior staff

0:12:50.552,0:12:52.747
and he gets their opinions.

0:12:52.747,0:12:54.657
Worf wants to fight it.

0:12:54.657,0:12:56.510
Geordi wants to study it.

0:12:56.510,0:12:58.914
Beverley wants to know if it's hurt.

0:12:58.914,0:13:04.075
Riker wants to have sex with it.

0:13:04.075,0:13:06.666
Troi wants to know how you feel about it.

0:13:06.666,0:13:08.707
And Data feels bad because he doesn't have feelings.

0:13:08.707,0:13:12.282
[laughter]

0:13:12.282,0:13:15.342
So Piccard listens to all their different viewpoints

0:13:15.342,0:13:18.222
and only then does he

0:13:18.222,0:13:20.505
[laughter]

0:13:20.505,0:13:22.729
only then does he make an informed decision.

0:13:22.729,0:13:26.020
Now Piccard was given a huge job

0:13:26.020,0:13:28.159
and it was not the Enterprise-D.

0:13:28.159,0:13:31.690
Piccard's job was following 20 years of Kirk.

0:13:31.690,0:13:34.213
Following 20 years of the same thing.

0:13:34.213,0:13:38.909
20 years of one captain, 20 years of one way to do it.

0:13:38.909,0:13:41.459
The Next Generation brought in all of this change.

0:13:41.459,0:13:43.562
How many people watched it, watched Next Generation,

0:13:43.562,0:13:45.596
when it first came on the air?

0:13:45.596,0:13:47.333
OK, good, a good number.

0:13:47.333,0:13:48.969
So you remember like "oh my God

0:13:48.969,0:13:51.013
the bridge looks like the lobby of a Hilton Hotel!"?

0:13:51.013,0:13:53.315
[laughter]

0:13:53.315,0:13:56.411
They have interstellar HR.

0:13:56.411,0:14:00.741
Piccard surrenders the Enterprise in the first episode.

0:14:00.741,0:14:03.038
Aw, why can't the captain just shoot the bad guys

0:14:03.038,0:14:05.658
and kiss the green women, seriously?

0:14:05.658,0:14:07.573
Well, it's all different and complicated

0:14:07.573,0:14:08.749
and that was the point.

0:14:08.749,0:14:11.315
20 years went by and the world was different.

0:14:11.315,0:14:12.544
Things were different and complicated

0:14:12.544,0:14:13.974
but also better.

0:14:13.974,0:14:17.818
Piccard updated Star Trek for a new generation.

0:14:17.818,0:14:22.616
And Piccard introduced Star Trek to a wider audience.

0:14:22.616,0:14:24.437
Come to think of it

0:14:24.437,0:14:26.879
Larry, how old is Perl?

0:14:26.879,0:14:28.500
[inaudible reply]

0:14:28.500,0:14:30.639
20, 25 years old? OK, just checking.

0:14:30.639,0:14:33.390
[laughter]

0:14:33.390,0:14:34.512
No, no reason.

0:14:34.512,0:14:42.488
[laughter]

0:14:42.488,0:14:44.096
So Kirk gave us three seasons.

0:14:44.096,0:14:45.520
And Kirk kicked it all off and that

0:14:45.520,0:14:48.303
and we wouldn't be here without Kirk.

0:14:48.303,0:14:50.221
Piccard, Piccard gave us seven seasons and

0:14:50.221,0:14:53.876
kicked off two more shows with fourteen more.

0:14:53.876,0:15:00.006
So there you go.

0:15:00.006,0:15:06.399
A good segue to talking about why I'm getting old.

0:15:06.399,0:15:09.049
In the finest tradition of Larry's keynotes

0:15:09.049,0:15:12.181
I'm going to talk about my eyes.

0:15:12.181,0:15:15.624
So now I'm getting old you get to hear about the medical issues.

0:15:15.624,0:15:18.652
12 months ago I went to get my eyes checked

0:15:18.652,0:15:20.505
ah the wonderful American healthcare system

0:15:20.505,0:15:23.317
it hadn't happened in a while.

0:15:23.317,0:15:26.309
And I found out I have a blind spot.

0:15:26.309,0:15:28.275
I've lost some of my field of view in my left eye

0:15:28.275,0:15:31.156
to pigmentary glaucoma.

0:15:31.156,0:15:32.483
Now interestingly enough

0:15:32.483,0:15:35.245
I can't see the blind spot

0:15:35.245,0:15:37.583
even after it's been pointed out.

0:15:37.583,0:15:39.647
Which is kind of weird, right?

0:15:39.647,0:15:41.487
I can't even trick myself into seeing it

0:15:41.487,0:15:42.942
it doesn't work.

0:15:42.942,0:15:46.051
My brain tricks me into thinking it's just not there.

0:15:46.051,0:15:47.847
And if my doctor hadn't pointed it out

0:15:47.847,0:15:49.504
I never would have known.

0:15:49.504,0:15:51.826
And I would have inevitably lost all sight

0:15:51.826,0:15:56.635
in my left eye, irreversibly.

0:15:56.635,0:15:59.019
Now I can keep it from getting worse with some eye drops.

0:15:59.019,0:16:00.823
So once it's pointed out and once I know about it

0:16:00.823,0:16:02.157
even though I can't see it

0:16:02.157,0:16:03.846
I believe what my doctor said.

0:16:03.846,0:16:06.124
And I take my medicine.

0:16:06.124,0:16:07.585
It's a good thing I went to an expert

0:16:07.585,0:16:09.087
and it's a good thing I listened to them

0:16:09.087,0:16:12.223
and it's a good thing I did something about it.

0:16:12.223,0:16:13.648
So Perl has a blind spot

0:16:13.648,0:16:18.515
and I feel it's lack of diversity.

0:16:18.515,0:16:23.981
Perl has lost you know, 80, 90% of its field of vision

0:16:23.981,0:16:25.642
it's lost people and their ideas.

0:16:25.642,0:16:27.109
And even after it's been pointed out

0:16:27.109,0:16:30.893
Perl cannot see that blind spot

0:16:30.893,0:16:34.512
because we do not know what we do not know.

0:16:34.512,0:16:36.763
And if we keep going like we've been going

0:16:36.763,0:16:38.243
we never will.

0:16:38.243,0:16:42.881
Now fortunately, unlike my blind spot that's nerve damage

0:16:42.881,0:16:45.697
Perl's blind spot can be fixed.

0:16:45.697,0:16:48.262
But if and only if we do something about it.

0:16:48.262,0:16:50.057
Because I can tell you if we do nothing about it

0:16:50.057,0:16:54.683
it'll just stay the same.

0:16:54.683,0:16:56.809
So Perl's blind spot looks like this.

0:16:56.809,0:16:57.610
And let me tell you

0:16:57.610,0:17:04.195
we had machines rendering for hours on these.

0:17:04.195,0:17:06.664
This is how much of the Perl community

0:17:06.664,0:17:09.052
that we can see.

0:17:09.052,0:17:10.195
That you know is on the IRC channels

0:17:10.195,0:17:13.265
and mailing lists and everything else.

0:17:13.265,0:17:16.171
These are the Perl users that we know about

0:17:16.171,0:17:19.077
These are the Perl users we don't know about.

0:17:19.077,0:17:21.560
And this is kind of all the potential Perl users

0:17:21.560,0:17:25.842
that we could be hauling in.

0:17:25.842,0:17:29.004
And we like to think that we are the Perl community

0:17:29.004,0:17:33.321
that irc.perl.org and p5p and the perl.org mailing lists

0:17:33.321,0:17:34.690
and YAPC and CPAN and Perl Mongers

0:17:34.690,0:17:36.568
and all that is the Perl community.

0:17:36.568,0:17:38.001
But we're not.

0:17:38.001,0:17:39.141
And I'm just going to give us a name

0:17:39.141,0:17:41.725
I'm going to call us the perl.org community

0:17:41.725,0:17:43.168
just so that we don't keep saying 'community'

0:17:43.168,0:17:47.891
back and forth. Maybe I'm talking about the TV show.

0:17:47.891,0:17:49.952
Now, who is the community and

0:17:49.952,0:17:52.110
who owns the community, these are very good questions.

0:17:52.110,0:17:54.915
And who gets to set the rules for the community

0:17:54.915,0:17:57.315
which is very very important?

0:17:57.315,0:17:59.128
The people who currently make up

0:17:59.128,0:18:00.617
the perl.org community, do they, should they

0:18:00.617,0:18:02.600
be setting the rules?

0:18:02.600,0:18:04.925
The people who already use Perl?

0:18:04.925,0:18:06.099
Well that's a little better.

0:18:06.099,0:18:07.585
If we're getting more people.

0:18:07.585,0:18:10.359
The people who you want to see using Perl?

0:18:10.359,0:18:11.851
Almost there.

0:18:11.851,0:18:13.525
The people who want to use Perl

0:18:13.525,0:18:15.116
should be the ones that we're

0:18:15.116,0:18:17.383
building the community for.

0:18:17.383,0:18:19.817
The community should be built not just

0:18:19.817,0:18:21.555
for the people here at YAPC and not just

0:18:21.555,0:18:23.611
for those on IRC and not just for

0:18:23.611,0:18:26.393
the people on the perl.org mailing lists

0:18:26.393,0:18:28.016
and not just for the Perl Mongers.

0:18:28.016,0:18:30.028
It certainly should be built for all those people.

0:18:30.028,0:18:31.549
But it should also be built for the people

0:18:31.549,0:18:34.052
who use and want to use Perl

0:18:34.052,0:18:38.491
that we don't yet know about.

0:18:38.491,0:18:40.456
How do you do that?

0:18:40.456,0:18:44.016
Well, you start by getting people representing

0:18:44.016,0:18:45.617
all the different types of people

0:18:45.617,0:18:47.262
[tongue noise]

0:18:47.262,0:18:48.451
you start by getting people representing

0:18:48.451,0:18:49.636
all the different types of people

0:18:49.636,0:18:51.291
at the table as you can.

0:18:51.291,0:18:53.841
You give them voice, power and responsibility.

0:18:53.841,0:18:55.244
You give them empowerment.

0:18:55.244,0:18:57.768
So they can't be ignored or forgotten about

0:18:57.768,0:19:03.289
in the sea of white male thick-skinned developers.

0:19:03.289,0:19:04.906
And then you all build from there together.

0:19:04.906,0:19:09.184
Just like being Piccard with his bridge crew.

0:19:09.184,0:19:13.000
You build a senior staff representing

0:19:13.000,0:19:17.032
all the important viewpoints on the ship

0:19:17.032,0:19:19.902
you have them present for all the important decisions and discussions

0:19:19.902,0:19:23.054
and you listen to them.

0:19:23.054,0:19:25.797
So little segue

0:19:25.797,0:19:26.662
most of you know I maintain

0:19:26.662,0:19:28.201
a bunch of really important CPAN modules

0:19:28.201,0:19:34.180
such as AAAAAAAAAAAA

0:19:34.180,0:19:37.130
and you know, other things like Test::More

0:19:37.130,0:19:38.835
that everyone uses for testing

0:19:38.835,0:19:41.511
and Test::Builder that all the other test modules are built on

0:19:41.511,0:19:43.962
and MakeMaker that handles most modules installs.

0:19:43.962,0:19:46.922
So if you're installing a module

0:19:46.922,0:19:48.891
you're probably using my stuff.

0:19:48.891,0:19:51.158
So let me ask you something:

0:19:51.158,0:19:52.843
why am I allowed to control

0:19:52.843,0:19:56.469
how you write tests and install modules?

0:19:56.469,0:20:00.129
And you might say that it's because I'm doing good work

0:20:00.129,0:20:02.169
and that's not really, well, that's not really true.

0:20:02.169,0:20:04.869
[laughter]

0:20:04.869,0:20:06.215
But that's not why.

0:20:06.215,0:20:08.512
And it's not because I'm the best person for the job

0:20:08.512,0:20:10.386
it's not because you all decided

0:20:10.386,0:20:12.299
on the best person for the job.

0:20:12.299,0:20:14.247
It's not because you think I should take care of it.

0:20:14.247,0:20:18.355
So 10 years ago I led a drive to build a better testing system

0:20:18.355,0:20:22.214
and grabbed the namespaces for Test::More and Test::Builder

0:20:22.214,0:20:24.381
along with chromatic and a bunch of other people

0:20:24.381,0:20:27.754
and 10 years ago I led fixing up MakeMaker

0:20:27.754,0:20:30.877
and shoved it onto CPAN and got the namespaces.

0:20:30.877,0:20:33.866
And so 10 years ago I took over

0:20:33.866,0:20:34.893
some areas that were languishing

0:20:34.893,0:20:37.149
and did some things of merit.

0:20:37.149,0:20:40.279
10 years later why am I still controlling

0:20:40.279,0:20:42.847
how you write tests and install modules?

0:20:42.847,0:20:45.772
And there is one and only one real reason.

0:20:45.772,0:20:48.913
I own the namespaces.

0:20:48.913,0:20:51.569
And nobody can take them away from me,

0:20:51.569,0:20:54.344
at least not in the current system.

0:20:54.344,0:20:56.673
So 10 years ago I did some work of merit

0:20:56.673,0:21:01.232
and now I have total control.

0:21:01.232,0:21:10.893
Benevolent-ish dictatorship. Not meritocracy.

0:21:10.893,0:21:12.601
But dictatorship.

0:21:12.601,0:21:13.698
And when I'm done with them

0:21:13.698,0:21:15.970
I'll hand them off to someone I trust

0:21:15.970,0:21:18.188
which now becomes inheritance.

0:21:18.188,0:21:20.649
And a government of inherited dictatorship

0:21:20.649,0:21:23.235
is an aristrocracy.

0:21:23.235,0:21:25.829
Most of Perl works this way.

0:21:25.829,0:21:31.175
Perl has become an aristocracy, not a meritocracy.

0:21:31.175,0:21:32.293
Now there are some projects that

0:21:32.293,0:21:34.871
buck the trend and the system.

0:21:34.871,0:21:37.135
But the system continues to encourage aristrocracy

0:21:37.135,0:21:39.060
and dictatorship.

0:21:39.060,0:21:40.637
You can do some homesteading on the edges

0:21:40.637,0:21:41.522
but more and more and more

0:21:41.522,0:21:45.499
the center of Perl development is an aristocracy.

0:21:45.499,0:21:49.189
And aristrocracies are very resistant to change.

0:21:49.189,0:21:51.408
Dictators have blind spots.

0:21:51.408,0:21:52.576
If the dictator has a blind spot

0:21:52.576,0:21:54.468
the whole project has a blind spot.

0:21:54.468,0:21:55.874
If the dictator hands off the project

0:21:55.874,0:21:56.902
to someone of their choosing

0:21:56.902,0:21:59.369
the successor will likely have the same blind spot.

0:21:59.369,0:22:02.658
And this is why we're so homogenous, the aristocracy.

0:22:02.658,0:22:04.080
Year after year, it becomes harder and harder

0:22:04.080,0:22:05.839
to break into the core

0:22:05.839,0:22:08.430
and the core gets larger and larger

0:22:08.430,0:22:10.529
And I don't just mean the core of Perl

0:22:10.529,0:22:13.218
I mean all the big CPAN modules.

0:22:13.218,0:22:17.142
It's harder to break in and effect real change.

0:22:17.142,0:22:20.119
So we need more Piccards.

0:22:20.119,0:22:22.976
Kirk, Kirk is overworked and at times

0:22:22.976,0:22:26.326
a bit paranoid and narrow-minded.

0:22:26.326,0:22:28.633
Piccard? He has time to learn the whistle.

0:22:28.633,0:22:29.835
[laughter]

0:22:29.835,0:22:33.267
Maybe play some space squash.

0:22:33.267,0:22:40.081
Piccard has a carefully crafted senior staff

0:22:40.081,0:22:41.986
and they make up all the different stakeholders

0:22:41.986,0:22:43.684
on a Federation starship.

0:22:43.684,0:22:45.752
Defense, science, engineering, medical, social,

0:22:45.752,0:22:48.938
discipline, even the teachers, parents,

0:22:48.938,0:22:51.267
families and so on and so forth.

0:22:51.267,0:22:52.396
Each of these represent a different

0:22:52.396,0:22:53.587
viewpoint, a way of thinking

0:22:53.587,0:22:55.555
and a set of ideas.

0:22:55.555,0:22:57.056
They have not just a voice,

0:22:57.056,0:22:59.119
but they also have power and responsibility

0:22:59.119,0:23:01.346
and importantly respect, the respect of

0:23:01.346,0:23:02.721
Piccard on the Enterprise.

0:23:02.721,0:23:04.517
They are empowered.

0:23:04.517,0:23:06.242
And when there's a decision to be made

0:23:06.242,0:23:08.263
none of them can be ignored or forgotten

0:23:08.263,0:23:09.984
because they're all right there

0:23:09.984,0:23:15.815
represented on the Bridge, in the crisis.

0:23:15.815,0:23:17.038
So Perl and Open Source in general

0:23:17.038,0:23:18.923
is made of up Kirks.

0:23:18.923,0:23:21.880
And this is I believe the root of our problem.

0:23:21.880,0:23:24.793
This is why we find it so hard to

0:23:24.793,0:23:27.320
gather and maintain diversity and ideas.

0:23:27.320,0:23:29.038
It doesn't do any good to make an effort

0:23:29.038,0:23:31.362
to think about diversity today

0:23:31.362,0:23:33.549
if the people in power don't really get it

0:23:33.549,0:23:36.718
and are going to forget about them tomorrow

0:23:36.718,0:23:37.786
if they're just going to go back to

0:23:37.786,0:23:42.020
optimising for themselves and their friends.

0:23:42.020,0:23:44.025
It's like letting carnivores do the meal-planning

0:23:44.025,0:23:45.324
for vegetarians.

0:23:45.324,0:23:46.209
Oh boy.

0:23:46.209,0:23:48.727
Another raw veggie platter.

0:23:48.727,0:23:53.041
Or letting car drivers design bike lanes.

0:23:53.041,0:23:54.837
So nobody eats the boring veggies

0:23:54.837,0:24:04.168
[laughter and applause]

0:24:04.168,0:24:05.591
nobody eats the boring veggies

0:24:05.591,0:24:06.803
nobody rides in the dangerous bike lines

0:24:06.803,0:24:08.083
that go nowhere useful.

0:24:08.083,0:24:09.145
You might wind up concluding that

0:24:09.145,0:24:10.425
there are no vegetarians

0:24:10.425,0:24:11.388
there are no cyclists

0:24:11.388,0:24:13.592
why are we putting in the effort?

0:24:13.592,0:24:15.013
And that's because it's not

0:24:15.013,0:24:16.656
"if you build it they will come"

0:24:16.656,0:24:18.869
it's if you build it for the people

0:24:18.869,0:24:20.342
and maintain it, it will come,

0:24:20.342,0:24:23.619
they will come.

0:24:23.619,0:24:25.171
So I became really convinced of this

0:24:25.171,0:24:26.602
by a conference in my town called

0:24:26.602,0:24:27.938
Open Source Bridge

0:24:27.938,0:24:29.351
shameless plug!

0:24:29.351,0:24:33.887
There's still tickets available!

0:24:33.887,0:24:37.561
This is my favourite conference.

0:24:37.561,0:24:40.006
OS Bridge came about in part because

0:24:40.006,0:24:41.887
they were sick of how Open Source conferences

0:24:41.887,0:24:43.837
are run.

0:24:43.837,0:24:47.625
Open Source Bridge is technology agnostic.

0:24:47.625,0:24:49.663
It's not so much about how you do it

0:24:49.663,0:24:53.394
as what you're doing, what you're doing with it.

0:24:53.394,0:24:55.732
Nobody cares if you're optimising your Postgres database

0:24:55.732,0:24:58.658
they care about what you're putting into it.

0:24:58.658,0:25:00.842
OS Bridge is explicitly about having all the

0:25:00.842,0:25:03.446
people involved in Open Source

0:25:03.446,0:25:04.916
not just developers

0:25:04.916,0:25:07.715
users, admins, businesses, institutions

0:25:07.715,0:25:11.956
designers, journalists, newbies, oldbies, whatever.

0:25:11.956,0:25:13.931
The talk proposals are all public

0:25:13.931,0:25:15.707
and they're open to community comment

0:25:15.707,0:25:20.315
and anybody can apply to be on the talk selection committee.

0:25:20.315,0:25:22.900
OS Bridge has 25% women speakers.

0:25:22.900,0:25:25.081
And I was told that Linux Conf Australia

0:25:25.081,0:25:27.602
hit 25% this year.

0:25:27.602,0:25:29.506
Woo!

0:25:29.506,0:25:33.356
Men and women speak at the same time!

0:25:33.356,0:25:34.871
It's you know amazing!

0:25:34.871,0:25:37.082
You know, women appear everywhere,

0:25:37.082,0:25:40.154
and it's really no big thing.

0:25:40.154,0:25:42.372
And they solved this

0:25:42.372,0:25:44.873
they solved reams of typical Open Source conference problems

0:25:44.873,0:25:47.396
with a fairly simple trick

0:25:47.396,0:25:50.011
equity at the top.

0:25:50.011,0:25:51.258
When they set up the conference committee

0:25:51.258,0:25:54.507
they made sure that it was made up of different kinds of people.

0:25:54.507,0:25:56.350
Different genders and races and viewpoints and languages

0:25:56.350,0:25:58.018
and jobs and interests and concerns,

0:25:58.018,0:26:01.766
all part of Open Source.

0:26:01.766,0:26:03.643
They all had responsibility and they all had

0:26:03.643,0:26:05.614
power and they had voice.

0:26:05.614,0:26:07.550
And they all made sure that,

0:26:07.550,0:26:09.949
they were all right there from the start,

0:26:09.949,0:26:11.761
and they all made sure that when things were getting

0:26:11.761,0:26:15.294
set up, everybody was being taken into account

0:26:15.294,0:26:16.829
because they're all right there

0:26:16.829,0:26:18.569
with their voice and their power.

0:26:18.569,0:26:20.869
Right from the beginning to the end.

0:26:20.869,0:26:22.860
And this isn't to say that it wasn't hard

0:26:22.860,0:26:25.496
and tricky work and dedicated

0:26:25.496,0:26:27.723
but it worked and it continues to work.

0:26:27.723,0:26:31.441
I think they're on year 3.

0:26:31.441,0:26:33.384
So instead of building a broken system

0:26:33.384,0:26:36.086
dominated by a single set of concerns

0:26:36.086,0:26:38.050
and then trying to fix it later

0:26:38.050,0:26:45.461
[laughter]

0:26:45.461,0:26:48.023
and having a big fight about it when people are upset

0:26:48.023,0:26:49.562
because you didn't think about them

0:26:49.562,0:26:50.813
or your fixes stink

0:26:50.813,0:26:53.032
or and winding up with something half-assed

0:26:53.032,0:26:54.718
and we know how frustrating this is

0:26:54.718,0:26:56.132
in a software project right?

0:26:56.132,0:26:59.053
trying to turn a ship after it's been designed.

0:26:59.053,0:27:00.625
They designed it right from the start

0:27:00.625,0:27:02.037
and like the best designs

0:27:02.037,0:27:04.579
you don't even know it was designed that way.

0:27:04.579,0:27:08.906
It just all works and it flows beautifully

0:27:08.906,0:27:11.814
from equity at the top.

0:27:11.814,0:27:14.598
And the rest of it works itself out.

0:27:14.598,0:27:16.911
There's a reference, I have a reference at the end

0:27:16.911,0:27:18.323
if you want to hear more about this.

0:27:18.323,0:27:23.950
"Open Source Citizenship", at the end of it.

0:27:23.950,0:27:25.253
So you might be thinking

0:27:25.253,0:27:27.866
a lot of people say "right, that's a conference,

0:27:27.866,0:27:30.526
are there any software projects that work that way?"

0:27:30.526,0:27:32.664
And the answer is "yes, quite a bit".

0:27:32.664,0:27:34.453
The Apache Software Foundation,

0:27:34.453,0:27:36.895
not just a webserver.

0:27:36.895,0:27:39.939
Apache has over 100 projects of all different types

0:27:39.939,0:27:41.747
and different languages.

0:27:41.747,0:27:48.431
Most of which started as Kirks, all of which are now Piccards.

0:27:48.431,0:27:51.826
They will not allow a Kirk.

0:27:51.826,0:27:53.562
So we're very lucky to have

0:27:53.562,0:27:55.617
Nóirín Plunkett here, Executive Vice President

0:27:55.617,0:27:57.540
of the Apache Software Foundation

0:27:57.540,0:28:00.289
and she's going to give a couple of talks

0:28:00.289,0:28:04.277
about they do it, so we get to see another way to do it.

0:28:04.277,0:28:05.795
So she's giving one called

0:28:05.795,0:28:07.117
"There's More Than One Way To Run a Project:

0:28:07.117,0:28:07.998
the Apache Way"

0:28:07.998,0:28:11.360
and that's at 11 o'clock in Pyle 325

0:28:11.360,0:28:13.244
and I kind of recommend that as a followup

0:28:13.244,0:28:15.012
to this if you're interested

0:28:15.012,0:28:17.230
and then tomorrow she's giving a Q&A called

0:28:17.230,0:28:18.620
"Becoming a Better Benevolent Dictator"

0:28:18.620,0:28:23.223
again at 11 o'clock in the Lowell Dining Room.

0:28:23.223,0:28:24.898
If you want to hear about another way to do it

0:28:24.898,0:28:26.750
go to her talks.

0:28:26.750,0:28:30.547
Because the Apache Foundation is nothing to be slouched at.

0:28:30.547,0:28:32.982
Find out what you don't know you don't know

0:28:32.982,0:28:35.267
Learn a new way to do it and

0:28:35.267,0:28:39.211
fix your blind spot.

0:28:39.211,0:28:40.636
Now I'll admit it.

0:28:40.636,0:28:43.295
I'm a Kirk.

0:28:43.295,0:28:45.942
But I want to be a Piccard.

0:28:45.942,0:28:50.042
But I can't just shave my head and call it all good.

0:28:50.042,0:28:52.059
So I'm going to be doing some work

0:28:52.059,0:28:56.196
in the future to change how my CPAN modules are run.

0:28:56.196,0:28:58.265
And one of the things I'm going to be doing

0:28:58.265,0:29:01.333
is writing down my policies and procedures

0:29:01.333,0:29:04.786
which are basically generally just in my head

0:29:04.786,0:29:07.814
so that people know where they are

0:29:07.814,0:29:10.285
new people know where they are

0:29:10.285,0:29:11.732
existing people know where they are

0:29:11.732,0:29:13.519
and they can be discussed, they can be changed,

0:29:13.519,0:29:15.178
they can be followed and so on and so forth.

0:29:15.178,0:29:18.798
It's not just rule by man, it's rule by law.

0:29:18.798,0:29:20.980
I'm going to move towards a concensus driven

0:29:20.980,0:29:23.821
approach to accepting patches.

0:29:23.821,0:29:25.264
Which basically means

0:29:25.264,0:29:27.004
well basically it means that I don't dominate

0:29:27.004,0:29:29.281
every decision.

0:29:29.281,0:29:31.359
Nóirín will talk more about what consensus is

0:29:31.359,0:29:34.607
and how it works. It's not voting!

0:29:34.607,0:29:41.097
And keep my blind spots from dominating.

0:29:41.097,0:29:43.249
I will try and have, I will have

0:29:43.249,0:29:46.576
a public roadmap of where the project is going.

0:29:46.576,0:29:48.307
Written down so that the community knows

0:29:48.307,0:29:49.508
where things are going and they can have some

0:29:49.508,0:29:50.619
say in the matter.

0:29:50.619,0:29:51.119
Right now?

0:29:51.119,0:29:54.549
All in my head.

0:29:54.549,0:29:57.454
It's going to be awkward.

0:29:57.454,0:30:01.011
First season's always awkward.

0:30:01.011,0:30:02.293
But that's how you learn:

0:30:02.293,0:30:08.126
by doing and by failing and by trying again.

0:30:08.126,0:30:13.420
So who can be a Piccard, here?

0:30:13.420,0:30:14.798
It sounds like I'm talking about doing it from

0:30:14.798,0:30:16.170
the top and that means it must be

0:30:16.170,0:30:18.115
like p5p and that. No.

0:30:18.115,0:30:23.560
Perl is interesting in that we have

0:30:23.560,0:30:27.761
21000 CPAN distributions, something like that?

0:30:27.761,0:30:31.130
So that's 21000 potential Piccards.

0:30:31.130,0:30:34.153
21000? No, 5000 authors.

0:30:34.153,0:30:36.954
There's 5000 potential Piccards, just from CPAN alone,

0:30:36.954,0:30:39.005
each with their own project.

0:30:39.005,0:30:43.290
How many people here have a module on CPAN?

0:30:43.290,0:30:47.260
Yeah, OK, you can all try and be a Piccard.

0:30:47.260,0:30:48.918
If any of you control a mailing list

0:30:48.918,0:30:52.491
or Perl Mongers group or IRC channel

0:30:52.491,0:30:54.520
the more Piccards we have

0:30:54.520,0:30:55.777
the more comfortable we'll be

0:30:55.777,0:31:00.871
with Piccards. And the more Piccards we'll have.

0:31:00.871,0:31:02.616
What else can you do?

0:31:02.616,0:31:04.813
Well, if you see something,

0:31:04.813,0:31:06.215
you can say something.

0:31:06.215,0:31:09.663
If you see an incident, if you see

0:31:09.663,0:31:11.825
something that should be taken care of

0:31:11.825,0:31:16.237
say something, but say it privately.

0:31:16.237,0:31:18.685
Both to the person at fault

0:31:18.685,0:31:21.996
to let them know that what they did is not OK

0:31:21.996,0:31:23.639
but also to the moderator

0:31:23.639,0:31:26.777
to ask them to do their job.

0:31:26.777,0:31:29.816
Because we do not moderate anywhere near enough.

0:31:29.816,0:31:30.877
Why not publicly?

0:31:30.877,0:31:32.891
Well it just tends to fan the flames.

0:31:32.891,0:31:33.923
We just get into flamewars

0:31:33.923,0:31:35.898
and the poor person who had the incident

0:31:35.898,0:31:38.435
winds up in the middle of this furbull

0:31:38.435,0:31:40.589
and then they just leave.

0:31:40.589,0:31:42.865
Or they don't talk about it anymore.

0:31:42.865,0:31:43.880
What else can you do?

0:31:43.880,0:31:46.506
Well, you can be a mentor for someone who isn't like you.

0:31:46.506,0:31:48.943
Different job, different gender, different language,

0:31:48.943,0:31:52.484
different way of thinking, just something, something different.

0:31:52.484,0:31:53.259
Maybe they're just really young

0:31:53.259,0:31:55.090
maybe they're really old, whatever.

0:31:55.090,0:31:57.848
Bring them into Perl, stick up for them,

0:31:57.848,0:31:59.272
sheperd them through, you know,

0:31:59.272,0:32:02.095
teach them all those secret handshakes and everything else

0:32:02.095,0:32:04.652
and kind of actively change the way

0:32:04.652,0:32:06.839
the what our community is made up of.

0:32:06.839,0:32:09.095
What else?

0:32:09.095,0:32:11.212
You can think about it, you can talk about it,

0:32:11.212,0:32:12.205
you can blog about it.

0:32:12.205,0:32:13.738
Part of the reason I'm doing this keynote

0:32:13.738,0:32:16.589
is to bust open the topic.

0:32:16.589,0:32:17.962
So guys?

0:32:17.962,0:32:21.193
You're allowed to talk about diversity

0:32:21.193,0:32:23.909
and gals?

0:32:23.909,0:32:25.631
Help the guys.

0:32:25.631,0:32:27.974
I had a lot of help from a lot of women

0:32:27.974,0:32:30.058
making this talk. It's hard.

0:32:30.058,0:32:33.220
And help the guys that are willing to speak

0:32:33.220,0:32:36.181
check their work, back them up.

0:32:36.181,0:32:38.850
So Nóirín has told me she's having a much more

0:32:38.850,0:32:40.621
enjoyable conference knowing

0:32:40.621,0:32:44.936
she doesn't have to give the unicorn talk.

0:32:44.936,0:32:46.962
A unicorn talk being "so, you're a woman in

0:32:46.962,0:32:48.797
Open Source, why don't you talk about that?"

0:32:48.797,0:32:50.796
Well, she wants to talk about something else.

0:32:50.796,0:32:53.157
So I'm giving it.

0:32:53.157,0:32:57.877
I know a lot of you have things to say on this topic.

0:32:57.877,0:32:59.096
There's so much more to cover

0:32:59.096,0:33:00.317
there's so much more to talk about

0:33:00.317,0:33:02.239
there's so many people

0:33:02.239,0:33:06.552
who are so much better at this than I could be here.

0:33:06.552,0:33:08.362
Don't be afraid to include topics in this talk,

0:33:08.362,0:33:11.351
topics like this in your talks,

0:33:11.351,0:33:14.034
keep the conversation going.

0:33:14.034,0:33:17.585
Because I'm not going to solve this in 45 minutes.

0:33:17.585,0:33:20.212
I'm amazingly on time though.

0:33:20.212,0:33:23.030
So if, so this is the last thing

0:33:23.030,0:33:25.599
so if you've tuned out up to this point

0:33:25.599,0:33:28.690
just kind of wake up, this is all the content you need to hear,

0:33:28.690,0:33:31.627
if after all this you're still unconvinced

0:33:31.627,0:33:33.776
or you tuned out or you don't care

0:33:33.776,0:33:35.685
or you're on the fence or whatever

0:33:35.685,0:33:38.082
this is all that I ask of you

0:33:38.082,0:33:39.828
just one thing:

0:33:39.828,0:33:41.703
when somebody reports an incident

0:33:41.703,0:33:44.958
or somebody suggests running a project differently

0:33:44.958,0:33:47.292
or when someone wants to talk about social oversight

0:33:47.292,0:33:49.493
or community issues or codes of conduct

0:33:49.493,0:33:50.552
or something else

0:33:50.552,0:33:52.640
here's what I want you to, if you do nothing else,

0:33:52.640,0:33:53.847
I hope you will do more,

0:33:53.847,0:33:56.539
but if you do nothing else,

0:33:56.539,0:33:58.568
do this one thing for me.

0:33:58.568,0:34:01.329
Shut up.

0:34:01.329,0:34:06.910
[applause]

0:34:06.910,0:34:08.199
Now I want to elaborate on that

0:34:08.199,0:34:12.043
[laughter]

0:34:12.043,0:34:14.855
so the other Perl motto is "try it".

0:34:14.855,0:34:18.755
And a corollary to the other Perl motto

0:34:18.755,0:34:21.756
is "let somebody else try it."

0:34:21.756,0:34:26.015
When somebody has a new idea

0:34:26.015,0:34:29.680
particularly if that person is new to the community

0:34:29.680,0:34:31.648
it's very easy to overwhelm them with nit-picks

0:34:31.648,0:34:33.384
and why the idea won't work

0:34:33.384,0:34:36.120
and this is known as 'stop energy'.

0:34:36.120,0:34:37.443
When it comes to social ideas

0:34:37.443,0:34:38.988
we have lots and lots and lots of people

0:34:38.988,0:34:40.801
who want to nit-pick

0:34:40.801,0:34:43.672
with lots of concerns, lots of FUD,

0:34:43.672,0:34:46.468
it's just something we're not used to.

0:34:46.468,0:34:48.432
Who want to say why it won't work

0:34:48.432,0:34:49.398
why they're uncomfortable about it

0:34:49.398,0:34:50.259
and so on and so forth.

0:34:50.259,0:34:51.447
We're a very homogenous community

0:34:51.447,0:34:54.894
of socially passive know-it-alls.

0:34:54.894,0:34:57.388
We overwhelm most attempts at social change

0:34:57.388,0:34:58.847
with stop energy.

0:34:58.847,0:35:00.350
So what I'm asking the people in this room to do

0:35:00.350,0:35:02.413
is don't do that.

0:35:02.413,0:35:03.615
Think and stop.

0:35:03.615,0:35:06.542
If you don't say that we can't change things.

0:35:06.542,0:35:08.823
don't say it's futile, don't say the sky will fall,

0:35:08.823,0:35:10.284
that everybody will leave,

0:35:10.284,0:35:11.914
don't tell someone that if they don't like it

0:35:11.914,0:35:15.296
they can go make their own project instead.

0:35:15.296,0:35:19.018
Don't tell, don't quibble over definitions and semantics,

0:35:19.018,0:35:21.327
don't people they should just deal with it.

0:35:21.327,0:35:26.301
Just let somebody else try it.

0:35:26.301,0:35:29.454
If you must comment, do it on your own blog,

0:35:29.454,0:35:31.182
or a different thread or whatever,

0:35:31.182,0:35:35.461
don't hijack their energy.

0:35:35.461,0:35:38.591
Let them have their spaces succeed or fail.

0:35:38.591,0:35:41.823
And if you have concerns, maybe try working with them

0:35:41.823,0:35:45.025
instead of stopping them at the start.

0:35:45.025,0:35:48.383
Cos we've been doing it the same way

0:35:48.383,0:35:51.000
for 20 years.

0:35:51.000,0:35:53.925
Let somebody else try another way and see what happens.

0:35:53.925,0:35:55.698
It might just work.

0:35:55.698,0:35:58.097
There might just be more than one way to do it.

0:35:58.097,0:35:59.670
[laughter]

0:35:59.670,0:36:02.691
But we'll never know unless we try.

0:36:02.691,0:36:04.107
So what I ask is please please

0:36:04.107,0:36:05.980
honor the other Perl motto

0:36:05.980,0:36:11.555
and please let someone else try it.

0:36:11.555,0:36:12.529
Otherwise we're just going to have

0:36:12.529,0:36:14.766
the same generation over again.

0:36:14.766,0:36:19.595
But this time it's going to look a bit awkward.

0:36:19.595,0:36:22.775
Er.

0:36:22.775,0:36:25.863
So we've had so many Kirks for so long.

0:36:25.863,0:36:28.685
Let's see what happens when we get some Piccards.

0:36:28.685,0:36:33.946
And then maybe we can have a Cisco and maybe Janeway.

0:36:33.946,0:36:36.979
And then hopefully once we reach that point

0:36:36.979,0:36:41.222
nobody will have to give this talk again.

0:36:41.222,0:36:42.173
So, thank you.

0:36:42.173,0:37:11.317
[applause]

0:37:11.317,0:37:12.758
Um so like I said

0:37:12.758,0:37:15.818
these are not fresh ideas.

0:37:15.818,0:37:18.357
I want to reiterate that Nóirín is

0:37:18.357,0:37:20.107
having her talks "There's More Than One Way

0:37:20.107,0:37:24.194
To Run a Project" at 11 in Pyle 325.

0:37:24.194,0:37:26.517
She's doing "Becoming a Better Benevolent Dictator"

0:37:26.517,0:37:28.257
which is basically a Q&A.

0:37:28.257,0:37:29.867
If you are a benevolent dictator

0:37:29.867,0:37:31.553
and want to know how to run your project differently

0:37:31.553,0:37:32.980
she will talk about that.

0:37:32.980,0:37:36.031
There's a, I don't have the URL up here,

0:37:36.031,0:37:39.136
she has a URL for questions that you

0:37:39.136,0:37:41.409
might want to have answered at that Q&A.

0:37:41.409,0:37:43.469
I presume it's in the schedule.

0:37:43.469,0:37:44.490
What's that?

0:37:44.490,0:37:46.303
[inaudibie]

0:37:46.303,0:37:51.130
bit.ly/nationbuilding all lower case no spaces?

0:37:51.130,0:37:53.950
bit.ly/nationbuilding

0:37:53.950,0:37:55.067
And for further reading

0:37:55.067,0:37:58.848
I've basically put together notes and stuff

0:37:58.848,0:38:00.656
it's a little low sorry

0:38:00.656,0:38:08.067
http://bit.ly/YAPC2012_Keynote

0:38:08.067,0:38:09.792
and that contains a lot of the references here

0:38:09.792,0:38:11.833
the numbers that I've been using

0:38:11.833,0:38:15.704
things like Audrey Eschright's Open Source Citizenship

0:38:15.704,0:38:20.650
the various 'meritocracies are broken" arguments

0:38:20.650,0:38:25.208
a fantastic one called

0:38:25.208,0:38:29.190
"Why Biology Demonstrates Why There are No Women In Open Source

0:38:29.190,0:38:33.382
(Hint: It Doesn't)"

0:38:33.382,0:38:37.461
Everybody got time to get those things?

0:38:37.461,0:38:39.516
Great. Thank you so much.

0:38:39.516,0:38:40.836
I'm going to collapse now.

0:38:40.836,0:38:42.082
[laughter]

0:38:42.082,0:38:52.998
[applause]

0:38:52.998,0:38:55.580
Am I under time?

0:38:55.580,0:38:56.442
Jokes!

0:38:56.442,0:38:58.677
Jokes? I could just show you images that I didn't

0:38:58.677,0:39:00.506
put in the— no.

0:39:00.506,0:39:04.874
[laughter]

0:39:04.874,0:39:08.414
I had one hour of sleep,

0:39:08.414,0:39:09.679
I'm not taking questions, sorry.

0:39:09.679,0:39:11.108
Catch me in the hallway

0:39:11.108,0:39:13.953
catch me anywhere else seriously

0:39:13.953,0:39:16.537
but I really do have one hour of sleep.

0:39:16.537,0:39:19.773
Ah, I can't field them.

0:39:19.773,0:39:21.969
But catch me anywhere else.

0:39:21.969,0:39:23.431
Oh and also you can ask me on email

0:39:23.431,0:39:28.771
schwern@pobox.com, and uh I'm pretty easy to find.

0:39:28.771,0:39:30.967
[applause]