Ruth Holloway Candidacy for Board Membership
Tue, 05-Dec-2023 by
Amber Krawczyk
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We would like to present Ruth Holloway as a candidate to join the Board. <p>
The board will vote on Ruth's appointment at the board meeting 15th of December, 2023.<p>
Below are Ruth's responses to the application questions.<p>
# Bio:
I have been a software developer and system administrator for nearly forty years, starting my first paid gig before I was even out of high school, in 1985. I started using Perl in 2002, and it has been my primary programming language ever since, though I do enough JavaScript work that I can unironically call myself a "full-stack" developer these days. I've worked in library automation, web hosting, and for the last five years at Clearbuilt, business process automation. I have recently joined the Dancer Core Team, helping to develop the Dancer2 web framework.
In the last decade, I have delivered both technical and soft skills talks at conferences in the US and Europe, including keynote talks on the importance of empathy in software communities and the software development process.
My husband and I share a tiny RV with our dog, based in a beautiful wooded campground in northeast Georgia, USA. In my free time, I enjoy cooking and and reading.<p>
# Why do you want to be a member of the TPRF Board?<p>
Perl, and the community of people who create and use it, have been a central part of my life for more than a decade, since I attended my first conference in 2012, in Madison. I was welcomed into the community by many people, both members and nonmembers of the board. In the years since, I've seen the community welcome other new people and new ideas as they've turned up. As a board member, I want to continue and encourage that tradition of welcoming new people to the Perl and Raku family of languages, whether they are new to their language of choice, or are coming to the community with experience. I believe that members of the board must continue to encourage that behavior, by exemplifying it to the rest of the community.<p>
The board should, in my opinion, lead through service. Rather than attempting to dictate to or "lead" the wider communities--which is impossible, with our distributed nature--the board should look for opportunities to provide services to the wide variety of subcommunities that make up "the Perl and Raku Community." Here are a couple of examples:<p>
# What existing TPRF initiative(s) are most important to you and why?<p>
Very recently, the board took up the matter of managing funds for larger projects in the Perl ecosystem, taking over management of funds dedicated to Dancer and Dancer2 development. A process was defined for oversight of the funds by the
board and the Dancer team, and donations to support the development of Dancer and Dancer2 are now tax deductible, as a result. I'd like to see this service made available to other large projects in the Perl and Raku spaces.<p>
# What goals would you like to see TPRF pursue in the future?<p>
Go and watch Sawyer X's talk from TPRC 2023 in Toronto, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1H9yKf8BI0. Go on, I'll wait.
Abusive behavior, both in person and online, is unfortunately one of the hallmarks of the wider Perl community, and has been for as long as I have been involved. The most-recent attempt at a response mechanism for problem behavior in the community was, to put it bluntly, an unmitigated disaster. Since that debacle unfolded, we have had no practical mechanism for the board to respond to abusive behavior.<p>
I would like to work with the board to develop a more robust Standards of Conduct document for our community, with clear boundaries to better define when and to whom it applies, how it is enforced, transparency and fairness for all, and specifically holding those with whom we entrust responses (including the board) to an even higher standard.<p>
Once that document and response mechanism are in place, I would like to offer them up as services for the benefit of our disparate subcommunities, to provide uniform, cross-community use of the Standards of Conduct. <p>
This "SoC-as-a-service" model would enhance the board's performance of its mission to support the Perl and Raku languages and communities.
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Comments (5)
I think Ruth would be great as a board member and I agree with her that addressing abuse in the Perl community is vitally important.
I support Ruth being on the board. She will bring an important perspective.
I wholeheartedly support Ruth's bid for TPRF board membership. While she has a number of qualities that make her well suited for this, her dedication to establishing a code of conduct, and having the expertise to see it through, is important for the survival of our community. Ruth is a champion for underrepresented people in our community, and adding her to the board adds much needed perspective and voice in the Perl and Raku spaces.
I have only good thoughts about Ruth and hope to see her contributions to the TPRF soon.
I support, endorse, and recommend Ruth for Board membership. Every direct interaction I have had with her, and every observation-from-afar, predict sound decisions and focused participation from her, given this opportunity.
Her thoughts on providing services to subcommunities dovetail with my own plans. And frankly, her knowledge and willingness to oppose abuse meet a critical need for our community. We need her, and she is ready.
