Working in Public
by Nadia Asparouhova · first published 2020
24mentions
14recommended by
20HN commenters
2020–2026first – last mentioned
70% recommend30% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Observational look at open source culture and maintainer effort, drawing on real project data over popular narratives. Covers project types and economic models with examples; suits anyone curious about OSS.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Would you consider reading the excellent book "Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software" by Nadia Eghbal? The data behind what "Open Source" projects look like differs from the popular culture narratives and assumptions about what they…
on “Our recent server issues” ↗…open-source advocates would make usable products with features on par with commercial products, people would adopt them. There's a chicken-egg problem here. People interested in these issues should read Working in Public by Eghbal, which is about open source culture and sociology. I just finished it.
on “Why Software Should Be Free (2002)” ↗…a podcast[1] talking about her book Work in Public[2] and loved it, is that the work and writing you're referencing? If not, are there other pieces you'd recommend? [1]: https://a16z.com/2020/08/01/working-in-public-communities-op... [2]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578675862/
on “Dhcpcd Will Need a New Maintainer” ↗…made small badges that projects can add to their READMEs to indicate, to a rough approximation, what "type" of project they are[0]. The project types are described in a really interesting book called Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software[1] by Nadia Eghbal. [0]: https://project-types.github.io/ [1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578675862/
on “Ask HN: Show me your half baked project” ↗Tons! Here are a few casual reads I enjoyed: * Masters of Doom * Where Wizards Stay Up Late * Working in Public
on “Ask HN: Are there any software engineering books you can read casually?” ↗Author of Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software, which is a badass book covering what open source really is in a surpassing depth & reality & context. Very not a fan of youtube videos but giving…
on “Nadia Asparouhova – Tech Elites, Democracy, Open Source, & Philanthropy” ↗For anyone interested in this (and certainly for OP) I highly highly recommend the book Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software by Nadia Eghbal. When I was raising my profile on my open source farming robot, this book really helped me understand the types of projects one might…
on “What they don't tell you about maintaining an open source project” ↗I would love to see more talk from companies about how to foster meaningful contribution instead of focusing on measurable contribution. I recently read "Working in Public" which was great, I recommend it. One interesting observation that was made: The perceived pipeline of user => casual contributor => active contributor => maintainer...is a lie. In the book they argue…
on “DigitalOcean's Hacktoberfest Is Hurting Open Source” ↗I never really realized how much effort goes into open source or the community dynamics that power it until I read that Working In Public book by Nadia Eghbal. Really shines a great light on the dynamics and effort required to keep alot of these projects going.
on “GitHub Source Code Leak” ↗…highly recommended ！ As a non developer/engineer , Nadia has a very different view for open source. Just like her last paper "Roads and Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure"[0], "Working in Public" is great work again. [0] https://www.fordfoundation.org/work/learning/research-report...
on “Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software” ↗Books I would recommend: Marketing for Developers by Justin Jackson Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares This Is Marketing by Seth Godin Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software by Nadia Eghbal
on “Build, and They’ll Come” ↗Nadia's book, Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software, which is mentioned in the article, inspired me to become a GitHub sponsor. Nothing big, just $10 per month to one of my favorite open source developers.…
on “The Few, the Tired, the Open Source Coders” ↗The book Working in Public has a good section about funding models for open source.
on “Ask HN: Favorite strategy to monetize open source?” ↗The book Working In Public is a good resource for learning more about how open source developers fund their work through sponsors, consulting, etc.
on “Ask HN: Any programmers making a living off of GitHub Sponsors and/or Patreon?” ↗Read the book Working In Public. A big chunk of that book is diving into the various economic models for OSS, covering pros and cons through real world examples.
on “Ask HN: What is the economics/business behind building an open source software?” ↗