Abby’s 2021 Year in Review
In many ways, 2021 felt like a repeat of 2020. But for me, this was the perfect setting to virtually engage with the open source community while bonding with a newborn at home.
In my day-to-day, I tend to think about tomorrow more than yesterday. I love this chance at new years to both think ahead, but also pause and reflect on the year behind. Past Year in Reviews: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016.
✨ A Few Highlights ✨
- 🐣 Welcomed our first child, Baby E, into the world
- 🎉 Let the movement take over: celebrated many programs in the Open Leaders network win grants, continue to grow, and mentor new open leaders — by their many names — around the world
- 📝 Wrote about open source maintainership, mentorship, & trustworthy AI
- 📣 Spoke on panels with many of my open source heroes
- 👩💻 Explored open source consulting: Mentored startups in the Fintech for Impact cohort and advised on various open source mentorship programs
- 🏠 Completed a main floor renovation in our home
Letting the Movement Take Over
This year was a season of stepping back and trusting the leaders and structures I’ve spent years investing in. It’s both humbling and encouraging to see the Open Leaders community and MozFest working groups have a far greater impact than I could have on my own.
I wanted to take a moment to celebrate some of the wins in the Open Leaders network! By no means are these my accomplishments, but I think it’s important to celebrate when leaders step down and empower others — especially in open source.
Some of these programs graduated from Open Leaders X (OLˣ) in 2019/20. Others were mentors in OLˣ or took principles from Mozilla Open Leaders to continue offering mentorship and training for leaders in the internet health movement.
Openscapes Champions
Open data science mentorship program for science teams (website)
- Ran 6 cohorts in 2021, working with over 40 science teams. Cohorts were sponsored by groups like Code for Science and Society and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
- Awarded a 3-year grant from NASA
Open Life Science
A mentoring & training program for Open Science ambassadors (website, twitter)
- Ran 2 cohorts (OLS-3 and OLS-4) in 2021, mentoring 100 participants with 63 projects.
- Awarded Wellcome Trust Open Research Fund 2021, a £ 99,999 grant to fund a programme coordinator and researcher, and pay for the overhead cost for the next four cohorts.
- 📣 Applications are open for their 5th cohort, OLS-5
Open Hardware Makers
A mentorship program for your open hardware project (website, curriculum, twitter)
- Received a grant from Mozilla to adapt the open leadership curriculum for open hardware projects via community consultation
- Currently launching the next cohort with students at the University of Bath. Keep an eye out for an open call for the next online cohort to test the new curriculum!
PREreview Open Reviewers
Training and mentoring program and workshop that empowers early-career researchers to contribute to scholarly peer review (website)
- Ran a pilot program sponsored by the Mozilla Foundation and eLife
- Working with Open Research Funders Group (ORFG) and Health Research Alliance (HRA) to develop Open Grant Reviewers, a mentoring and training program for grant reviewers founded on principles of equity, openness, and social justice.
Open Post Academics
Empowering people with a PhD to bring their knowledge and expertise to the world (website)
- Ran a series of ongoing workshops to meet community needs during the pandemic
- Received a grant from Code for Science and Society to run a workshop on interdisciplinary discussions and a produce the Open Problem Workshop Toolkit
MozFest Working Groups
In another example of letting the movement take over, the Building Trustworthy AI Working Group I piloted concluded at MozFest 2021 and enabled over 250 AI builders to collaborate on 6 trustworthy AI projects. Since then, Chad and Temi iterated on this model and are convening AI builders and civil society actors in two working groups collaborating on 15 Trustworthy AI projects. Get involved!
Open Source, Open Science, and Trustworthy AI
I’m thankful for nearby family and a good sleeper that gave me space to continue doing the kind of work I’m most interested in during parental leave.
Consulting
I continued consulting as an open source expert. This gave me a chance to explore open source in new environments — like mentoring five companies building open source fintech solutions for the Philippine market with Fintech for Impact.
I was also able to use my experience building open source mentorship programs to advise on the UNICEF Philippines Office Digital Public Goods Accelerator and the UNICEF Innovation Fund’s Open Source Mentorship Programme.
Service
I served as a reviewer for the Diversity & Inclusion grant program for Chan Zuckerberg Essential Open Source Software for Science which supports open source software projects that are essential to biomedical research. I also joined the advisory board for NeuroWebLab.
Writing
I was a contributing author to Mozilla’s Creating Trustworthy AI whitepaper. I contributed to the Civic Science Stories digital zine, to be released in 2022. I co-authored a chapter in the MozFest Book which received a Bronze Lamp Award for Design from the Dutch Creativity Awards.
I wrote 3 blog posts (including this one). My favourite post documented my thoughts on building open source community using the Mountain of Engagement framework:
Organizing and Speaking
Having a newborn during a pandemic had similar advantages to being pregnant during a pandemic: I was able to continue attending and speaking at conferences without traveling! I organized 1 contribute-a-thon, spoke on 4 panels and 2 interviews. I continued to speak on open source, community building, and trustworthy AI.
One of my favourite events was An Open Leadership Chat with Abby Cabunoc Mayes & Chad Sansing hosted by Openscapes. We discussed the history and methodologies of Mozilla Open Leaders and heard from many of the new open leadership programs carrying on the mantle.
See a full list of event recordings and summaries at the end of this post.
Life
Jordan and I celebrated 6 years of marriage and welcomed our first child into the world in February 2021. We attended 3 weddings (2 in-person, 1 virtual) and no funerals. In our local community, we continue to serve with Grace Toronto. We lived with my parents during a main floor renovation on our house. We moved back home (with a 2 month old!) in April 2021.
Looking to 2022
I’m incredibly grateful for this past year and the time I’ve had to bond with E on parental leave. We’re currently going through daycare virtual tours and nanny interviews as we plan for my return to work full time.
In 2022, I’m looking forward to diving back into this work and having the time to explore how I can best shape the world for the next generation.
As always, feel free to reach out to me on Twitter (@abbycabs) or by email (abbycabs [at] gmail [dot] org). Happy new year 🌟
Appendix: Full List of Events
Dutch & Frisian Common Voice Contribute-a-thon
Organizer & Emcee (Opening event)
On my last day before mat leave, I emceed the opening ceremony featuring Josh Meyer (Common Voice Fellow) on Speech Technologies and the Role of Community Activation and Nanda Piersma (Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences). We partnered with Common Voice and two universities in the Netherlands to improve Dutch and Frisian languages in Common Voice.
Prototypes: From Ideas to Communities
Panelist, Open Tech Fund Solidarity Summit
I joined Adriana Groh (Prototype Fund) and Tara Tarakiyee (Open Tech Fund) to discuss prototyping for human rights technology. This event was not recorded.
Dialogues & Debates: Open Source & the Pandemic
Moderator, Mozilla Festival 2021
Open-source technology and principles have been a potent force in slowing the spread of a deadly virus. I moderated this panel at MozFest 2021 featuring: Dr. Melissa Haendel, Director of Translational Data Science, Oregon State University; Ricardo Ruiz Freire, Supervisory Board Member, Global Innovation Gathering; Dr. Netha Hussain, medical doctor, researcher, and 10-year Wikipedia volunteer.
Dan Katz interview with Abigail Cabunoc Mayes
Interview, 2021 Collegeville Workshop on Scientific Software
Dan Katz interviews Abigail (Abby) Cabunoc Mayes. They discuss bringing volunteers into teams and advancing them to leaders.
MozFest Book “Meet the Authors” Event
Panelist, MozFest
I joined an impressive selection of authors of the MozFest Book in a panel hosted by Stephanie Wright (Mozilla). We discussed MozFest, the MozFest Book, and our thoughts on the future of the festival and the internet. Agenda. This call was not recorded.
The Future of Open Source
Panelist, UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy
This panel series explores the current debate around ethics and open source licensing. I joined Mitch Stoltz (EFF), Enrique Piracés (Center for Human Rights Science), and moderator Charity Ryerson (Corporate Accountability Lab). This panel introduces the international open-source movement, as well as the ethical questions which permeate the current debate.
An Open Leadership Chat with Abby Cabunoc Mayes & Chad Sansing
Interview, Openscapes community call
We discussed the history and methodologies of Mozilla Open Leaders and heard from many of the new open leadership programs, carrying on the mantle. Recording (also embedded above).
