Paradoxes of Openness and Trans Experiences in Open Source Software

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Frluckaj, Hana, Howison, James, Dabbish, Laura, Stevens, Nikki
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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author Frluckaj, Hana
Howison, James
Dabbish, Laura
Stevens, Nikki
author_facet Frluckaj, Hana
Howison, James
Dabbish, Laura
Stevens, Nikki
contents In recent years, concerns have increased over the lack of contributor diversity in open source software (OSS), despite its status as a paragon of open collaboration. OSS is an important form of digital infrastructure and part of a career path for many developers. While there exists a growing body of literature on cisgender women's under-representation in OSS, the experiences of contributors from other marginalized groups are comparatively absent from the literature. Such is the case for trans contributors, a historically influential group in OSS. In this study, we interviewed 21 trans participants to understand and represent their experiences in the OSS literature. From their experiences, we theorize two related paradoxes of openness in OSS: the paradox of openness and display and the paradox of openness and governance. In an increasingly violent world for trans people, we draw on our theorizing to build recommendations for more inclusive and safer OSS projects for contributors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2409_04511
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Paradoxes of Openness and Trans Experiences in Open Source Software
Frluckaj, Hana
Howison, James
Dabbish, Laura
Stevens, Nikki
Human-Computer Interaction
Software Engineering
In recent years, concerns have increased over the lack of contributor diversity in open source software (OSS), despite its status as a paragon of open collaboration. OSS is an important form of digital infrastructure and part of a career path for many developers. While there exists a growing body of literature on cisgender women's under-representation in OSS, the experiences of contributors from other marginalized groups are comparatively absent from the literature. Such is the case for trans contributors, a historically influential group in OSS. In this study, we interviewed 21 trans participants to understand and represent their experiences in the OSS literature. From their experiences, we theorize two related paradoxes of openness in OSS: the paradox of openness and display and the paradox of openness and governance. In an increasingly violent world for trans people, we draw on our theorizing to build recommendations for more inclusive and safer OSS projects for contributors.
title Paradoxes of Openness and Trans Experiences in Open Source Software
topic Human-Computer Interaction
Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.04511