This week, we are excited to launch the 2020 ASF Community Survey, with which we will gather scientific data that allows us to understand our community better, both in its demographic composition, and also in collaboration styles and preferences. We want to find areas where we can continue to do great work and others where we need to provide more support so that our projects can keep growing healthy and diverse. This joint effort was long overdue: our last survey of this kind was implemented in 2016 [1], which means that all the information we currently have about our communities is outdated.

For this new version of the survey, we have hired Bitergia to design it, a company expert in analysing open source communities and other types of software development teams. They have experience in this type of surveys and research in open source communities. Among other studies, their previous work includes an analysis in gender diversity in technical contributions for OpenStack [2]. The 2020 ASF Community Survey is the first part of a two-stage research. The second part consists of interviews with people who have contributed to the ASF, in order to assess their experience. We'll share more on this second part of the project soon.

This survey and research are part of the ASF efforts to build a more equitable, inclusive and diverse community. They are run by the Vice Presidency of Diversity and Inclusion, a team formed last May. We'll share a broader update about this group in January.

If you have an apache.org email address you will receive an email by Thursday, Dec 5 at 3PM PST, with a link to the survey. Please take 15 minutes to complete it. If you didn't receive the email or you do not have an apache.org email address, please use this link to complete the survey:

https://communitysurvey.limequery.org/454363

We are looking to hear from everyone in our community: from users and contributors, to committers and PMCs. Everyone's voice matters.

Find more information about the 2020 ASF Community Survey on its page on Confluence [3], including the privacy policy governing this initiative. If you are part of our community, either as a user, contributor, or both, your participation is paramount to the success of this project! Please consider filling out the survey, and share this blog on social media, send it to your fellow Apache contributors. As individuals form the Apache community, your opinion matters: we need to hear your voice.

Links

[1] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/COMDEV/ASF+Committer+Diversity+Survey+-+2016
[2] https://blog.bitergia.com/tag/openstack/
[3] https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/EDI/Launch+Plan+-+The+2020+ASF+Community+Survey

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