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Emma Irwin

Can we start measuring the conversion-rate from paid to unpaid contributor?

Sustainability is a systemic issue, and this is another symptom. Things that made me happy this week! * We have three AI Alignment metrics that folks are starting to work on. * My most popular Mastodon post is about a watermelon and how to properly protect it (people are passionate); I also

One year layoff-aversary: on finding community, creativity and wellbeing again

One year ago next week along with 6K others, I was laid off by Microsoft. I am really proud of the work I did to help the company advance its understanding and capabilities in open source - I believe we were successful getting to the moment where our work became

A Mirror That Talks Back

Centering open communities in the AI feedback loop Things that made me happy this week - My tulips are in full bloom! They are my favourite flower and every fall I plant a ton of bulbs hoping for the best (photo at end of post for subscribers). - Starting to

After the Pull Request: Four Proposed Areas of Work for Open Community Representation

Things that made me happy this week: * Creative Commons paused before charging forward. Their update on CC Signals - it made me happy to see their response to community push-back, and taking time, rather than rushing to something. * A focus for my future. I have decided to find a way

How Can Open Communities Shape Representation in a Model?

💡A new section I will add to my newsletters - good things happening! Duane O'Brien named Executive Director of the OSI. I am very encouraged by this news - Duane is an experienced expert, but also one of the most sincere, authentic people I have had the pleasure

Attribution vs. Preference Signaling: A Question for the Commons

Our AI Alignment in Open Source Working Group came across Stefano Maffulli's paper on Preference Signaling and wanted to learn more about whether this term, which cuts across a growing group of initiatives, might give people reason to feel more optimistic about the future of the commons. I

Moving to subscription model

Thank you to my subscribers and readers. I genuinely appreciate your trust and support. Also thank you to those, who made their way to my GitHub Sponsors - it means a lot to feel my work mattered to you. I am increasingly conscious that writing and building for the commons

Aha Moment - The difference between attribution and preference Signalling

Attribution and preference signaling Alignment misalignement

Digital Sovereignty in Canada: Why Education Is the Place to Start

This post is based on a presentation I gave at our Open Source Practitioner Call in March 2026 and related collaborations with educators and students. Like conversations around AI, I find that everyone uses this term (digital sovereignty) to mean different things (and in many cases this is due to

After Open Source - An Optimistic Prediction

In this moment, AI is being built for developers, by developers, and marketed back to developers. This hyper-focus on developer productivity, cheap tokens, and the corporate race to win these audiences has had an unsurprising side effect: human spaces and communities have been flooded with uninvited noise, cognitive drain, and

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