Hi Michael Thanks for your detailed questions. Since we are being candid: it would have been great if these questions had been raised ahead of the survey going live. We reached out to different parts of Debian for this very purpose, advising of the survey's upcoming launch and that we had set up a test site so people could try it out and provide feedback, and Donald N. reposted this message to Project.
The reason I mention this is that now the survey is live and people have started answering, I am unsure to what extent we can safely modify it without compromising it. In any case I am not doing this alone so will share with the research team, we will assess if anything should / can be changed and respond later. cheers Mathieu ________________________________ From: Michael Lustfield <mich...@lustfield.net> Sent: Friday, November 17, 2023 6:12 To: Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.on...@anu.edu.au> Cc: debian-project@lists.debian.org <debian-project@lists.debian.org> Subject: Re: Fresh thread - 2023 Debian Project survey: Sustainability [You don't often get email from mich...@lustfield.net. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentification ] > From: Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.on...@anu.edu.au> > [...] > https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdcpc.limesurvey.net%2F382488%3Flang%3Den&data=05%7C01%7Cmathieu.oneil%40anu.edu.au%7Cdb0f319a97ce4828168b08dbe6d7ef13%7Ce37d725cab5c46249ae5f0533e486437%7C0%7C0%7C638357587328421913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=iN1CtbHV7adJOyuT3fC6cZwZ8Zk1ZoMBivFpR20WV%2Bk%3D&reserved=0<https://dcpc.limesurvey.net/382488?lang=en> I'm sure there is sincere interest/effort behind this, so it's probably worth sharing candid/open concerns/perceptions for a few of these questions. > What is the name of the firm(s)/organisation(s) you work for? (1) If you prefer to maintain anonymity, it would be helpful to phrase the question in a way that ensures anonymous responses. Keep in mind that individuals working in larger companies may feel comfortable sharing their information, while those in smaller companies may choose to disregard this question to maintain their anonymity. Considering privacy concerns, it is possible that participants who value their privacy may choose not to continue with the survey. Have you considered the potential impact on data accuracy if some respondents choose not to answer? Is there a risk of skewing the results towards participants who are willing to share their information? It's important to avoid unintentional bias, similar to certain US political polls that adopt questionable tactics. In the future, consider checkboxes for industry type; avoid self-identification responses unless relevant to the survey. > Do you think the risk posed by predatory practices such as free-riding > (entities benefiting from code development without contributing anything in > return) to Debian's long-term sustainability is: (2) When considering the risk presented by predatory practices, such as free-riding, to Debian's long-term sustainability, it is important to ensure a clear understanding of the term "free-riding" and its implications. This question seems to provide a specific definition of free-riding and uses it as an example of predatory practices. However, it may inadvertently imply that free-riding is inherently detrimental to Debian. It is crucial to remember that the question ultimately addresses the impact of predatory practices as a whole. You may want to clarify if you believe every company utilizing open source software is considered free-riding unless they contribute financially to every volunteer or project involved. It is worth considering the potential implication that end users are viewed as predators due to their use of FOSS in their devices. > Do you think the risk posed by predatory practices such as appropriation to > FOSS's long-term sustainability is: (2b) This is literally the first time I have heard of FOSS being implicated with appropriation. I didn't even find anything that was in the same ballpark after about a minute of search queries. I even asked AI and it struggled--are you describing the act of a company repackaging an open source project as a custom solution? Such as a company providing a "Managed IDS" which is really just Snort with a tiny handful of their custom rules? or a company like Tailscale offering solutions for wireguard? > State/public support models to support volunteer work (e.g. granting of > social rights to long-term contributors) need to be developed and implemented. (3) Is this question seriously asking if it's the responsibility of government to provide funding for volunteer-driven open source development? I hope I'm misunderstanding that ... the implications are suited for a college-level socioeconomics course. > State/public models which provide financial support to everyone (e.g. > Universal Basic Incomes or UBI) need to be developed and implemented. (4) ... wait, are we still even talking about FOSS Sustainability? > If an entity was shown by such a public campaign to be engaging in predatory > practices such as free riding and/or appropriation, would that impact your > willingness to work for them? (5) This question seems to have a predetermined answer in mind, as it includes a specific definition that could be used to manipulate the results. It is similar to how politicians sometimes use tactics to distort poll outcomes to support their own agenda. There are countless recent examples, but the DHMO Study (dhmo.org) is close enough, and much more entertaining to consider. > How would you rate the proposal to prevent entities which engage in > unsustainable environmental practices from using Debian, for example with a > new "green open source licence"? (6a) license* (6b) DFSG > To what extent are you concerned about the environmental impact of FOSS? (7) What you are looking to measure or compare? FOSS usage is vast, including crypto mining, aerospace, pacemakers, cell phones, etc. How do compare FOSS impact against closed (and other hybrid) source models? > Section E: Demographics (8) You really stressed anonymous, yeah? It doesn't matter if those fields are optional; if you present it as anonymous, then don't ask for PII. On Thu, 16 Nov 2023 10:38:06 +0000 Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.on...@anu.edu.au> wrote: > Hi all > > Responding here to avoid more "thread hijacking" > > Exactly as in the 2016 edition, the survey has a combination of quantitative > questions (which will enable the analysis of the community's evolution) and > qualitative questions (which enable people to express their opinions about > different issues, if they choose to). Am I missing something? > > cheers > Mathieu > > From: Michael Lustfield <mich...@lustfield.net> > Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2023 2:17 > To: Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.on...@anu.edu.au> > Cc: debian-project@lists.debian.org <debian-project@lists.debian.org> > Subject: Re: 2023 Debian Project survey: Sustainability now open! > > > I'm sure it wasn't the intention, but the questions presented in that > survey feel more like they are phishing for specific > people/information than curious about regular activities. It includes > a number of open-ended questions with three text boxes for each, > expecting the user to provide identifiable information. The wording > also feels like there's a specific point that someone is trying to > make, especially when it gets to "predatory practices." > > There is no chance you will get "useful" data (worth studying) from > this survey, especially not with those questions. You could just as > well be asking, "do you agree that predatory practices are bad? by the > way, this includes being an end user." > > ________________________________ > From: Mathieu O'Neil <mathieu.on...@anu.edu.au> > Sent: Thursday, November 16, 2023 10:28 > To: debian-project@lists.debian.org <debian-project@lists.debian.org> > Subject: Fresh thread - 2023 Debian Project survey: Sustainability > > Hi all > > It was brought to my attention (thanks Gard) that by posting the announcement > as a response to an email on EU regulation this polluted that other thread. I > had assumed that changing the title of the email would create a new thread. > Apologies for that, it was an honest mistake. So - as requested - reposting > the announcement below. I am aware someone has already commented about the > survey, will respond in due course. > > cheers > Mathieu > > =-=-= > > The 2023 Debian Project survey: Sustainability is now open! > https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdcpc.limesurvey.net%2F382488%3Flang%3Den&data=05%7C01%7Cmathieu.oneil%40anu.edu.au%7Cdb0f319a97ce4828168b08dbe6d7ef13%7Ce37d725cab5c46249ae5f0533e486437%7C0%7C0%7C638357587328421913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=iN1CtbHV7adJOyuT3fC6cZwZ8Zk1ZoMBivFpR20WV%2Bk%3D&reserved=0<https://dcpc.limesurvey.net/382488?lang=en> > > Thanks again to all the participants in the 2016 Debian Project survey. An > astounding 1,479 people responded to this first edition. The 2016 survey > results are available in an open-access report published in 2021: 2016 Debian > Project survey: Work and volunteers, available > here:https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapo.org.au%2Fnode%2F315293&data=05%7C01%7Cmathieu.oneil%40anu.edu.au%7Cdb0f319a97ce4828168b08dbe6d7ef13%7Ce37d725cab5c46249ae5f0533e486437%7C0%7C0%7C638357587328421913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=DipspzeSwWtsllvtS5m2oSA6j%2Frv%2F5jGlo2QIksqpUE%3D&reserved=0 > > We (researchers Mathieu O’Neil, Sebastien Broca, Xiaolan Cai, Angela Daly, > Molly de Blanc, Cecilia Rikap, Sebastien Shulz and Stefano Zacchiroli) are > following up with a new survey, for three reasons. > > 1-We want to track the project’s evolution since 2016: what has changed, what > remains the same when it comes to roles, contributor characteristics and the > presence of paid work in the project. > > 2-We want to focus on the economic sustainability of Debian and FOSS, in the > context of threats to openness posed by new mechanisms such as Software as a > Service and potential threats to sustainability such as ‘free riding’. What > should happen so that FOSS projects continue to be maintained appropriately? > > 3-We are interested to find out what the community thinks about the > environmental impacts of FOSS development, and possible ways to reduce these > impacts. > > We want to hear from as many Debian contributors as possible—whether you've > submitted a bug report, attended a DebConf, reviewed translations, maintained > packages, participated in Debian teams, or are a Debian Developer. Completing > the survey should take 10-20 minutes, depending on your current involvement > with the project. > > About the survey: > > • We are using LimeSurvey, an online survey platform developed with free and > open source code. > > • Survey responses are anonymous, IP and HTTP information are not logged, and > all questions are optional. As it is still likely possible to determine who a > respondent is based on their answers, results will only be distributed in > aggregate form, in a way that does not allow de-anonymisation. > > • The results of the survey will be analyzed as part of ongoing research work > by the organizers. A report discussing the results will be published under a > DFSG-free license and distributed to the Debian community as soon as it's > ready. > > • The raw, disaggregated answers will not be distributed and will be kept > under the responsibility of the organizers. > We hope you will fill out the Debian Contributor Survey. > > The deadline for participation is: December 15, 2023. > You can find the survey here: > https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdcpc.limesurvey.net%2F382488%3Flang%3Den&data=05%7C01%7Cmathieu.oneil%40anu.edu.au%7Cdb0f319a97ce4828168b08dbe6d7ef13%7Ce37d725cab5c46249ae5f0533e486437%7C0%7C0%7C638357587328421913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=iN1CtbHV7adJOyuT3fC6cZwZ8Zk1ZoMBivFpR20WV%2Bk%3D&reserved=0<https://dcpc.limesurvey.net/382488?lang=en> > > If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via email at: > Mathieu O’Neil mathieu.on...@canberra.edu.au -- Michael Lustfield
