Open Source design - Africa
Ojemeh, Peace
Open Source Community Africa (O.S.C.A) is a movement that promotes and drive the open source culture within and across Africa. We aim to bridge the diversity gap of the open source culture through advocacy because of potential and great energy coming from the continent. This presentation will help put the African ecosystem closer to the existing platforms which will bring more diversity that includes representing the black/African community showcasing how mentorship and training are doing centred around opensource. This presentation will cover the challenges and limitations of design contributions from Africa. What OSCA is doing to bridge the gab. As a designer who has been in the space of contributing to open source and has faced the challenges of how to convince a maintainer why design is as important as code, there has always been this problem which I have personally experienced as one who loves opensource, I got to understand the processes because I was patient enough to learn about the structure to influence it, but not every designer have that mindset to leave their comfort zone. So what I have been able to do as a designer is to influence the open source community Africa to take this challenge as a project as I believe it is something that designers should learn as a process of collaboration.
 I'm a little bit fagged out because I actually attended this event hosted by Google where the Google some of code mentors and students come together just like a hangout last night and I go home really late and then I had to wake up very early to be here right on time so I'm like sorry about the door face. So today I'm going to be talking to you about the open source design movement in Africa by open source community Africa. My name is Piss Ojeime but I have a nickname Perry that I always like a lot of people to call me. I'm a design contributor at Sugar Labs. I'm also leading the design team at open source community Africa. I advocate greatly for accessibility, inclusion and open source specifically open source design. You can find me on Twitter Piss underscore Ojeime. Okay let's kick start. Africa. The first thing I want to say and I want everyone to take home today is that Africa is not a country. I was in France last year and someone walked up to me at the museum and I was like you're from Africa right? Do you know Philip? And I'm like Africa is a huge continent made up of so many people from Nigeria. Who is Philip? We have so many Philips in Nigeria. So like there's always this misconception about Africa and it's been a very small space that leads to a group of people that know each other. So yeah please Africa is not a country. It's actually like a huge continent made up of over one billion people. So it's not possible for me to know Philip. In Africa we have 57 countries with the population of over one billion people. Now out of these 57 countries, this is all talking about how diverse Africa is. I'm going to be using Nigeria as a case study just to drive home how much diversity we have over there in Africa. So Nigeria is where I'm from. In Nigeria we have over 250 ethnic groups and we speak over 500 languages. Is that the rest? And then we have over 2 million people. I think before I first right here we are actually four from Nigeria but we are from different part of Nigeria. I am something the dark guy. We are from the southern part of Nigeria, and that is from the eastern part and the northern part. So we actually speak four different languages. The only language we have in common is English. So yeah, Nigeria is that diverse. And out of this population, we have 60% of this population, almost 60% of this population as youths. Youths just living high school, those getting into the university, just finishing from the university. And then in Nigeria, Nigeria has always been this oil first country where you have to actually study engineering, gas or petroleum to be actually seen as someone who is actually making progress in the society. So if you are at home always on your computer or your phone, my parents just tell me I'm very lazy. See me on my computer. It's like you're wasting your life apparently because you're supposed to be studying engineering and then if you're not studying engineering, you should be studying medicine or law. So outside this field is like, what are you doing with your life? Like you're just wasting yourself. So that's like the whole notion. But then in the last couple of months, a lot of youths have been pushing from the oil first into technology. So most youths right there in Nigeria and Africa are getting to come into technology, learn about tech, learn how to call, learn how to design. And then you find majority of these ones actually from fields that are not related to computer science. I actually just finished from the university. I studied microbiology. And now I'm designing. You find a ton of people like that back there in Nigeria who did not study computer science or are currently now into the world of tech. So the knowledge itself, it's like people are trying to grab it. And then there's to be a time back then where you have this bridge between developers and designers. Designers used to have this very, very, very, very small group. And there we have a lot of developers. But in the last few couple of years and months, the population between the designers and developers are kind of like measured up. People are beginning to appreciate design and beginning to know that actually design is quite important. I wouldn't say even more important than code, but it's like really, really important. So people are actually beginning to actually understand that and they're actually starting to get the whole idea of design. But then we have this problem of people actually know about design and people who actually know that as a designer, you can contribute to open source too. In Africa, we get a lot of people like this. You should take into this with your hands because you're going to see later on in this talk. I'm getting really surprised when you talk about open source designs. The few ones I know about open source feel like it's just for code contributions. So I'm a designer, open source, nah, it's not for me. So they get really surprised when you talk about open source design. And then one thing about Nigeria is most of the techies are very, very willing to learn. So they come, crowd your DMs, on Twitter, tag you, ask you what open source design is, and they all want to try to get into the space and really understand what it is. So what Oscar is trying to do in Africa is increase the awareness of open source, at the same time making it possible to actually tell others that open source is not just about code contributions, but also includes that minority group like designers and documentation. But Nigeria is leading the documentation team back there in Africa. So we actually include everybody. And different ways we actually do that is we host meetups and workshops where we tell people about open source, about open source design and documentation. And then we kind of like link them up to organizations that actually accept design contributions. Starting up with open source, I said I was at 2017 actually. I said I was with an organization that actually did not appreciate design contributions. So I have to go through really long dialogues to actually propose a design change. And then you get the very technical maintainer saying, it's not important. After a series of months of conversation on why this has to change or why we have to actually have a sprint or something. So like most some of these organizations, open source organizations still aren't really open to designers. So we kind of like try to guide designers from Africa on how to actually start contributing to organizations that actually accept design contributions. And if you want to go into organizations that are kind of like difficult to get into ways to actually go around it and then drop your contributions. So we actually also link them up to open source projects. Currently we have about 15 to 20 designers who are like really willing to actually get into open source and start working on open source projects. We started out open source community Africa in 2018. So it's like barely two years and we've covered over five countries in Africa and over 11 cities. And each of those cities actually hosts different meetups where they talk about open source and body people into open source, open source design documentation and also code. Now this month, I almost said next month, it's actually funny because it's like really close. We're actually hosting the first open source conference in Africa called the open source festival. And we are hosting the first sustained summit also in Africa. So it's like a three days festival where we have the sustained Africa conversation on how to actually sustain open source in Africa since it has come to stay. And then the remaining two days are actually for the conference. So yeah, I don't know, did you remember Abigail from the previous? So Abigail is actually giving a talk on designers can be open source as well. So Abigail this year actually became a Google coding mentor from actually learning about open source and she has made tremendous progress since then. So she's come into the festival to actually tell all the designers about her journey so far and how she's been able to tackle being an open source error in that really minute circle. The goal of OSCAR is actually to onboard as much open source errors. So it is the word designers especially. And then like those just in the minority group getting them to understand that open source is not just about contributing code. It actually goes beyond that if you are a designer we are here for you. You can find us on Twitter. The open source community Africa. You can find a handle there. And this is to get more information about the festival. Festival.oscarafrica.com. Thank you. Questions. Yeah. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, anybody got any questions? One question that's more related to demographics in Africa. In Europe the balance, the gender balance in coder it mostly is bias for the main. Yeah, we still have, we still, okay I have to repeat the question, right? Okay. Sorry. No, sorry. Gender balance in Africa. Oh, gender balance in Africa in technology, right? Yeah, we actually still have this whole gender balance issue. That's why you have communities like Sheikode Africa, Women Tech. Yeah, we have that. That's like a Google program too. So there's still this more male figure than female. So, another thing Oscar is trying to do is bridge it up. And that's why in our festival we actually had like 300 tickets for the festival dedicated to just female technologies. And then we actually give them sponsorships so they can actually come to the event. So yeah, there's still that gender gap in Africa. A very huge one. Anybody else? Anybody else please? Yeah. I've seen the biggest drivers in that change in narrative between having a career as an engineer in Nigeria and having a successful career. I would say the narrative is actually changing because the generation of our parents, they always feel like you have to actually study engineering because the country itself is actually like an oil first country. So if you're not doing engineering, it's like, but then there are a few presidents who have gone into tech and then they've been like really successful. Other people say they're like, okay, if I can do this and be this successful, why not? And then they all like start getting into it. So you mentioned that you were trying to pick the open source project that would accept this kind of solutions. Would you like to name a few that were particularly welcoming? Yeah. So I actually contribute to Sugar Labs. At that time when I say contributing, it was really difficult to actually on both designers, but now it's quite easy because like I've been there and then I just get them in. So open collectives and other organizations that actually accept good design contributions, then on open design website, you can actually see a bunch of design organizations that actually accept design contributions. Anybody else? I've got a question for you. So you study biology. Microbiology. How the hell did you find open source software and design? So I would say I'm from that typical Nigerian home that my parents actually wanted me to study medicine. And then it was like, I had to stay at home for like three years trying to tell them that I have no interest in the health department. I don't study medicine. I had to stay at home for three years. When I, in the end, I've got the whole back and forth. They actually made me to go to the university to study microbiology. But when I got to school, I stayed hanging out with meetups. So one thing very common in Nigeria is that we have these small meetups like Oscar, just on the GGG and the rest of them having like smaller meetups in school talking about technology. So in my first year, I actually stayed attending some of these meetups and then I attended one design sprint when they gave us this persona. Then they gave us a problem until I was to actually draft out a solution. And then it was like really cool. And I stayed attending meetups. I stayed taking courses on Udacity. Everything was kind of like personal. I stayed taking like buying courses. I go to school in the morning at night. I'm like, oh, my computer. I'm trying to learn. And then when I was done with school last month, I was like, dad, I'm done living your life. It's time to take up my tool. So that's actually how I took the shift to technology. And then I knew about sugar labs from something where I met him like the first month I actually said, learning about technology. So he told me about his sugar labs. And then I stayed making these two contributions. And then it just there from there. Yeah. That's kind of a hub for this kind of stuff. Are there any other places in Africa where there's kind of a community? Is there other thing? Are there any other hubs in Africa? Like, how come there's a lot going on in Lagos? I'm just wondering if there are any other hubs in Africa where there's kind of like things are starting to happen in the course. I didn't quite get the question. So Samsung is actually a name of a person. That's something there. I don't know if that's where you are actually asking. I think you were actually asking about like, there's like hubs. Yeah, obviously there's another place where there's a lot happening where you're thinking, which is actually in Lagos. Yeah, I think, I think, yeah, yeah, I think Lagos is the biggest because of, it's the biggest city in Africa. The population is so huge and it's because of Nigeria influence with the continent. So you get more sense for a lot of organizations like Google, Microsoft, you know, all the Silicon Valley companies coming to like, top offices. But in terms of like communities, I know for sure that there's big in Nairobi, Kenya, there's one in Egypt, there's one in South Africa. South Africa. I think the one that goes to the real estate. I would say like a lot of countries, but the fact that they also in Nigeria, they seem to be the always most up for this country. It's just like there are like a lot of people with a lot of interest in technology. Anybody else got any questions? So we have like another four minutes before the changeover. We can finish now or if people want to keep discussing things up to you. Okay. Do you have any collaboration with others? Yeah, outside Nigeria. Yeah, we actually have, let's go to the map. So we have a chapter. We actually call them chapters. We have a chapter in Sierra Leone. This is Nigeria. We have another one in Kenya. We have in Ethiopia too. So like the goal of OSCAR is actually to get out to so many African countries as possible just to start up. So once someone reach out to us from each of this country, we just kind of like on both them and then take a couple meetups. Yeah, I think we have smaller communities in school because of school chapters. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure if that's like an answer to your question. Okay, by inclusion, actually inclusion in design, like those with disabilities and the rest of them, yeah. Not like general. Then on a more general level, balancing the gender between male and female, basically. Okay, so my organization, Sugar Labs, we actually have this tech-top environment for kids where we actually take inclusion and accessibility very seriously. We think about kids with color blindness, those that have like mostly impairment seen. So when creating our components, our design component, we'll make sure that we actually have components that actually suits this particular set of people. Yeah. Just a follow-up question to that. So how do you ensure that, how do you test for that, or how do you make sure that it is accessible for people with disabilities? Okay, so we come up with like certain options and then there are people who actually go and do the actual testing. So in Nigeria, we actually don't have so many people actually using the tech-top in Nigeria. We have only very few schools. So we go to those schools, actually see actual students use it and how they react to it, then get the data, try to reform. Do you have connections with the OpenStreetMap community? The what? I know the OpenStreetMap community in Africa is quite a lot. Well, yeah, I saw someone from there, I think it was yesterday, I actually just heard about it yesterday for the first time. Yeah, we got talking yesterday. Okay, maybe one more question or just coming to... Okay, one more question maybe. How do you address the lack of infrastructure? Oh, yeah, when you come to power, it's actually like a big problem, very big problem in Nigeria. I'll use myself as a case study. So I used to stay around school when I was in school and then we had power issues. So I have to go to several hubs, a bit far from school, so actually get my computer charged and in the middle of the night it goes off. And then I start looking for a neighbor that has a gen. They have to charge my system before I actually got a gen. So in Nigeria, the part where I stay, you actually have to have a support system for power. And then we have really expensive internet, you get to spend like $1,150 on internet monthly just to make sure that you are always online. So it's like the internet consumption is crazy expensive and power too is not. But then there are some areas that actually have good power supply. So if I get out to that, I would say, so do this, power is actually, I wouldn't say a general African problem, which is kind of for some reason still pretty much some part of Nigeria. And if you want to stay in a place where you receive 3-4 hours fast or pay you, you should be ready to start paying like, you know, start paying for a partner that is expensive as in Francisco. Or if you want to like have a system like 3-4 hours internet or create Mvps, you pay a lot. So the point is to try to leave a very comfortable lifestyle with internet and power in so far as the country in Nigeria, you really need to be... Unboxed. Okay, so that's the last question because we need to do our changeover. Thank you very much. Peace for the ages. Thank you. I just wanted to rephrase or remind you guys that Africa is like country, please.
 I'm a little bit fagged out because I actually attended this event hosted by Google where  the Google some of code mentors and students come together just like a hangout last night  and I go home really late and then I had to wake up very early to be here right on time  so I'm like sorry about the door face.  So today I'm going to be talking to you about the open source design movement in Africa  by open source community Africa.  My name is Piss Ojeime but I have a nickname Perry that I always like a lot of people to  call me.  I'm a design contributor at Sugar Labs.  I'm also leading the design team at open source community Africa.  I advocate greatly for accessibility, inclusion and open source specifically open source design.  You can find me on Twitter Piss underscore Ojeime.  Okay let's kick start.  Africa.  The first thing I want to say and I want everyone to take home today is that Africa is not a  country.  I was in France last year and someone walked up to me at the museum and I was like you're  from Africa right?  Do you know Philip?  And I'm like Africa is a huge continent made up of so many people from Nigeria.  Who is Philip?  We have so many Philips in Nigeria.  So like there's always this misconception about Africa and it's been a very small space  that leads to a group of people that know each other.  So yeah please Africa is not a country.  It's actually like a huge continent made up of over one billion people.  So it's not possible for me to know Philip.  In Africa we have 57 countries with the population of over one billion people.  Now out of these 57 countries, this is all talking about how diverse Africa is.  I'm going to be using Nigeria as a case study just to drive home how much diversity we have  over there in Africa.  So Nigeria is where I'm from.  In Nigeria we have over 250 ethnic groups and we speak over 500 languages.  Is that the rest?  And then we have over 2 million people.  I think before I first right here we are actually four from Nigeria but we are from different  part of Nigeria.  I am something the dark guy.  We are from the southern part of Nigeria, and that is from the eastern part and the  northern part.  So we actually speak four different languages.  The only language we have in common is English.  So yeah, Nigeria is that diverse.  And out of this population, we have 60% of this population, almost 60% of this population  as youths.  Youths just living high school, those getting into the university, just finishing from the  university.  And then in Nigeria, Nigeria has always been this oil first country where you have to actually  study engineering, gas or petroleum to be actually seen as someone who is actually making  progress in the society.  So if you are at home always on your computer or your phone, my parents just tell me I'm  very lazy.  See me on my computer.  It's like you're wasting your life apparently because you're supposed to be studying engineering  and then if you're not studying engineering, you should be studying medicine or law.  So outside this field is like, what are you doing with your life?  Like you're just wasting yourself.  So that's like the whole notion.  But then in the last couple of months, a lot of youths have been pushing from the oil  first into technology.  So most youths right there in Nigeria and Africa are getting to come into technology, learn  about tech, learn how to call, learn how to design.  And then you find majority of these ones actually from fields that are not related to computer  science.  I actually just finished from the university.  I studied microbiology.  And now I'm designing.  You find a ton of people like that back there in Nigeria who did not study computer science  or are currently now into the world of tech.  So the knowledge itself, it's like people are trying to grab it.  And then there's to be a time back then where you have this bridge between developers and  designers.  Designers used to have this very, very, very, very small group.  And there we have a lot of developers.  But in the last few couple of years and months, the population between the designers and developers  are kind of like measured up.  People are beginning to appreciate design and beginning to know that actually design  is quite important.  I wouldn't say even more important than code, but it's like really, really important.  So people are actually beginning to actually understand that and they're actually starting  to get the whole idea of design.  But then we have this problem of people actually know about design and people who actually  know that as a designer, you can contribute to open source too.  In Africa, we get a lot of people like this.  You should take into this with your hands because you're going to see later on in this  talk.  I'm getting really surprised when you talk about open source designs.  The few ones I know about open source feel like it's just for code contributions.  So I'm a designer, open source, nah, it's not for me.  So they get really surprised when you talk about open source design.  And then one thing about Nigeria is most of the techies are very, very willing to learn.  So they come, crowd your DMs, on Twitter, tag you, ask you what open source design is,  and they all want to try to get into the space and really understand what it is.  So what Oscar is trying to do in Africa is increase the awareness of open source, at  the same time making it possible to actually tell others that open source is not just about  code contributions, but also includes that minority group like designers and documentation.  But Nigeria is leading the documentation team back there in Africa.  So we actually include everybody.  And different ways we actually do that is we host meetups and workshops where we tell  people about open source, about open source design and documentation.  And then we kind of like link them up to organizations that actually accept design contributions.  Starting up with open source, I said I was at 2017 actually.  I said I was with an organization that actually did not appreciate design contributions.  So I have to go through really long dialogues to actually propose a design change.  And then you get the very technical maintainer saying, it's not important.  After a series of months of conversation on why this has to change or why we have to actually  have a sprint or something.  So like most some of these organizations, open source organizations still aren't really  open to designers.  So we kind of like try to guide designers from Africa on how to actually start contributing  to organizations that actually accept design contributions.  And if you want to go into organizations that are kind of like difficult to get into ways  to actually go around it and then drop your contributions.  So we actually also link them up to open source projects.  Currently we have about 15 to 20 designers who are like really willing to actually get  into open source and start working on open source projects.  We started out open source community Africa in 2018.  So it's like barely two years and we've covered over five countries in Africa and over 11  cities.  And each of those cities actually hosts different meetups where they talk about open source  and body people into open source, open source design documentation and also code.  Now this month, I almost said next month, it's actually funny because it's like really  close.  We're actually hosting the first open source conference in Africa called the open source  festival.  And we are hosting the first sustained summit also in Africa.  So it's like a three days festival where we have the sustained Africa conversation on  how to actually sustain open source in Africa since it has come to stay.  And then the remaining two days are actually for the conference.  So yeah, I don't know, did you remember Abigail from the previous?  So Abigail is actually giving a talk on designers can be open source as well.  So Abigail this year actually became a Google coding mentor from actually learning about  open source and she has made tremendous progress since then.  So she's come into the festival to actually tell all the designers about her journey so  far and how she's been able to tackle being an open source error in that really minute  circle.  The goal of OSCAR is actually to onboard as much open source errors.  So it is the word designers especially.  And then like those just in the minority group getting them to understand that open source  is not just about contributing code.  It actually goes beyond that if you are a designer we are here for you.  You can find us on Twitter.  The open source community Africa.  You can find a handle there.  And this is to get more information about the festival.  Festival.oscarafrica.com.  Thank you.  Questions.  Yeah.  Okay.  Oh, okay.  Okay.  Okay.  Okay.  Okay.  So, anybody got any questions?  One question that's more related to demographics in Africa.  In Europe the balance, the gender balance in coder it mostly is bias for the main.  Yeah, we still have, we still, okay I have to repeat the question, right?  Okay.  Sorry.  No, sorry.  Gender balance in Africa.  Oh, gender balance in Africa in technology, right?  Yeah, we actually still have this whole gender balance issue.  That's why you have communities like Sheikode Africa, Women Tech.  Yeah, we have that.  That's like a Google program too.  So there's still this more male figure than female.  So, another thing Oscar is trying to do is bridge it up.  And that's why in our festival we actually had like 300 tickets for the festival dedicated to just female technologies.  And then we actually give them sponsorships so they can actually come to the event.  So yeah, there's still that gender gap in Africa.  A very huge one.  Anybody else?  Anybody else please?  Yeah.  I've seen the biggest drivers in that change in narrative between having a career as an engineer in Nigeria and having a successful career.  I would say the narrative is actually changing because the generation of our parents, they always feel like you have to actually study engineering because the country itself is actually like an oil first country.  So if you're not doing engineering, it's like, but then there are a few presidents who have gone into tech and then they've been like really successful.  Other people say they're like, okay, if I can do this and be this successful, why not?  And then they all like start getting into it.  So you mentioned that you were trying to pick the open source project that would accept this kind of solutions.  Would you like to name a few that were particularly welcoming?  Yeah.  So I actually contribute to Sugar Labs.  At that time when I say contributing, it was really difficult to actually on both designers, but now it's quite easy because like I've been there and then I just get them in.  So open collectives and other organizations that actually accept good design contributions, then on open design website, you can actually see a bunch of design organizations that actually accept design contributions.  Anybody else?  I've got a question for you.  So you study biology.  Microbiology.  How the hell did you find open source software and design?  So I would say I'm from that typical Nigerian home that my parents actually wanted me to study medicine.  And then it was like, I had to stay at home for like three years trying to tell them that I have no interest in the health department.  I don't study medicine. I had to stay at home for three years.  When I, in the end, I've got the whole back and forth.  They actually made me to go to the university to study microbiology.  But when I got to school, I stayed hanging out with meetups.  So one thing very common in Nigeria is that we have these small meetups like Oscar, just on the GGG and the rest of them having like smaller meetups in school talking about technology.  So in my first year, I actually stayed attending some of these meetups and then I attended one design sprint when they gave us this persona.  Then they gave us a problem until I was to actually draft out a solution.  And then it was like really cool.  And I stayed attending meetups.  I stayed taking courses on Udacity.  Everything was kind of like personal.  I stayed taking like buying courses.  I go to school in the morning at night.  I'm like, oh, my computer. I'm trying to learn.  And then when I was done with school last month, I was like, dad, I'm done living your life.  It's time to take up my tool.  So that's actually how I took the shift to technology.  And then I knew about sugar labs from something where I met him like the first month I actually said, learning about technology.  So he told me about his sugar labs.  And then I stayed making these two contributions.  And then it just there from there.  Yeah.  That's kind of a hub for this kind of stuff.  Are there any other places in Africa where there's kind of a community?  Is there other thing?  Are there any other hubs in Africa?  Like, how come there's a lot going on in Lagos?  I'm just wondering if there are any other hubs in Africa where there's kind of like things are starting to happen in the course.  I didn't quite get the question.  So Samsung is actually a name of a person.  That's something there.  I don't know if that's where you are actually asking.  I think you were actually asking about like, there's like hubs.  Yeah, obviously there's another place where there's a lot happening where you're thinking,  which is actually in Lagos.  Yeah, I think, I think, yeah, yeah, I think Lagos is the biggest because of, it's the biggest city in Africa.  The population is so huge and it's because of Nigeria influence with the continent.  So you get more sense for a lot of organizations like Google, Microsoft, you know,  all the Silicon Valley companies coming to like, top offices.  But in terms of like communities, I know for sure that there's big in Nairobi, Kenya, there's one in Egypt,  there's one in South Africa.  South Africa.  I think the one that goes to the real estate.  I would say like a lot of countries, but the fact that they also in Nigeria,  they seem to be the always most up for this country.  It's just like there are like a lot of people with a lot of interest in technology.  Anybody else got any questions?  So we have like another four minutes before the changeover.  We can finish now or if people want to keep discussing things up to you.  Okay.  Do you have any collaboration with others?  Yeah, outside Nigeria.  Yeah, we actually have, let's go to the map.  So we have a chapter.  We actually call them chapters.  We have a chapter in Sierra Leone.  This is Nigeria.  We have another one in Kenya.  We have in Ethiopia too.  So like the goal of OSCAR is actually to get out to so many African countries as possible just to start up.  So once someone reach out to us from each of this country,  we just kind of like on both them and then take a couple meetups.  Yeah, I think we have smaller communities in school because of school chapters.  Yeah, I don't know.  I don't know. I'm not sure if that's like an answer to your question.  Okay, by inclusion, actually inclusion in design, like those with disabilities and the rest of them, yeah.  Not like general.  Then on a more general level, balancing the gender between male and female, basically.  Okay, so my organization, Sugar Labs, we actually have this tech-top environment for kids  where we actually take inclusion and accessibility very seriously.  We think about kids with color blindness, those that have like mostly impairment seen.  So when creating our components, our design component,  we'll make sure that we actually have components that actually suits this particular set of people.  Yeah.  Just a follow-up question to that. So how do you ensure that, how do you test for that, or how do you make sure that it is accessible for people with disabilities?  Okay, so we come up with like certain options and then there are people who actually go and do the actual testing.  So in Nigeria, we actually don't have so many people actually using the tech-top in Nigeria.  We have only very few schools.  So we go to those schools, actually see actual students use it and how they react to it, then get the data, try to reform.  Do you have connections with the OpenStreetMap community?  The what?  I know the OpenStreetMap community in Africa is quite a lot.  Well, yeah, I saw someone from there, I think it was yesterday, I actually just heard about it yesterday for the first time.  Yeah, we got talking yesterday.  Okay, maybe one more question or just coming to...  Okay, one more question maybe.  How do you address the lack of infrastructure?  Oh, yeah, when you come to power, it's actually like a big problem, very big problem in Nigeria.  I'll use myself as a case study.  So I used to stay around school when I was in school and then we had power issues.  So I have to go to several hubs, a bit far from school, so actually get my computer charged and in the middle of the night it goes off.  And then I start looking for a neighbor that has a gen.  They have to charge my system before I actually got a gen.  So in Nigeria, the part where I stay, you actually have to have a support system for power.  And then we have really expensive internet, you get to spend like $1,150 on internet monthly just to make sure that you are always online.  So it's like the internet consumption is crazy expensive and power too is not.  But then there are some areas that actually have good power supply.  So if I get out to that, I would say, so do this, power is actually, I wouldn't say a general African problem,  which is kind of for some reason still pretty much some part of Nigeria.  And if you want to stay in a place where you receive 3-4 hours fast or pay you,  you should be ready to start paying like, you know, start paying for a partner that is expensive as in Francisco.  Or if you want to like have a system like 3-4 hours internet or create Mvps, you pay a lot.  So the point is to try to leave a very comfortable lifestyle with internet and power in so far as the country in Nigeria, you really need to be...  Unboxed.  Okay, so that's the last question because we need to do our changeover.  Thank you very much. Peace for the ages.  Thank you.  I just wanted to rephrase or remind you guys that Africa is like country, please.
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I'm a little bit fagged out because I actually attended this event hosted by Google where the Google some of code mentors and students come together just like a hangout last night and I go home really late and then I had to wake up very early to be here right on time so I'm like sorry about the door face. So today I'm going to be talking to you about the open source design movement in Africa by open source community Africa. My name is Piss Ojeime but I have a nickname Perry that I always like a lot of people to call me. I'm a design contributor at Sugar Labs. I'm also leading the design team at open source community Africa. I advocate greatly for accessibility, inclusion and open source specifically open source design. You can find me on Twitter Piss underscore Ojeime. Okay let's kick start. Africa. The first thing I want to say and I want everyone to take home today is that Africa is not a country. I was in France last year and someone walked up to me at the museum and I was like you're from Africa right? Do you know Philip? And I'm like Africa is a huge continent made up of so many people from Nigeria. Who is Philip? We have so many Philips in Nigeria. So like there's always this misconception about Africa and it's been a very small space that leads to a group of people that know each other. So yeah please Africa is not a country. It's actually like a huge continent made up of over one billion people. So it's not possible for me to know Philip. In Africa we have 57 countries with the population of over one billion people. Now out of these 57 countries, this is all talking about how diverse Africa is. I'm going to be using Nigeria as a case study just to drive home how much diversity we have over there in Africa. So Nigeria is where I'm from. In Nigeria we have over 250 ethnic groups and we speak over 500 languages. Is that the rest? And then we have over 2 million people. I think before I first right here we are actually four from Nigeria but we are from different part of Nigeria. I am something the dark guy. We are from the southern part of Nigeria, and that is from the eastern part and the northern part. So we actually speak four different languages. The only language we have in common is English. So yeah, Nigeria is that diverse. And out of this population, we have 60% of this population, almost 60% of this population as youths. Youths just living high school, those getting into the university, just finishing from the university. And then in Nigeria, Nigeria has always been this oil first country where you have to actually study engineering, gas or petroleum to be actually seen as someone who is actually making progress in the society. So if you are at home always on your computer or your phone, my parents just tell me I'm very lazy. See me on my computer. It's like you're wasting your life apparently because you're supposed to be studying engineering and then if you're not studying engineering, you should be studying medicine or law. So outside this field is like, what are you doing with your life? Like you're just wasting yourself. So that's like the whole notion. But then in the last couple of months, a lot of youths have been pushing from the oil first into technology. So most youths right there in Nigeria and Africa are getting to come into technology, learn about tech, learn how to call, learn how to design. And then you find majority of these ones actually from fields that are not related to computer science. I actually just finished from the university. I studied microbiology. And now I'm designing. You find a ton of people like that back there in Nigeria who did not study computer science or are currently now into the world of tech. So the knowledge itself, it's like people are trying to grab it. And then there's to be a time back then where you have this bridge between developers and designers. Designers used to have this very, very, very, very small group. And there we have a lot of developers. But in the last few couple of years and months, the population between the designers and developers are kind of like measured up. People are beginning to appreciate design and beginning to know that actually design is quite important. I wouldn't say even more important than code, but it's like really, really important. So people are actually beginning to actually understand that and they're actually starting to get the whole idea of design. But then we have this problem of people actually know about design and people who actually know that as a designer, you can contribute to open source too. In Africa, we get a lot of people like this. You should take into this with your hands because you're going to see later on in this talk. I'm getting really surprised when you talk about open source designs. The few ones I know about open source feel like it's just for code contributions. So I'm a designer, open source, nah, it's not for me. So they get really surprised when you talk about open source design. And then one thing about Nigeria is most of the techies are very, very willing to learn. So they come, crowd your DMs, on Twitter, tag you, ask you what open source design is, and they all want to try to get into the space and really understand what it is. So what Oscar is trying to do in Africa is increase the awareness of open source, at the same time making it possible to actually tell others that open source is not just about code contributions, but also includes that minority group like designers and documentation. But Nigeria is leading the documentation team back there in Africa. So we actually include everybody. And different ways we actually do that is we host meetups and workshops where we tell people about open source, about open source design and documentation. And then we kind of like link them up to organizations that actually accept design contributions. Starting up with open source, I said I was at 2017 actually. I said I was with an organization that actually did not appreciate design contributions. So I have to go through really long dialogues to actually propose a design change. And then you get the very technical maintainer saying, it's not important. After a series of months of conversation on why this has to change or why we have to actually have a sprint or something. So like most some of these organizations, open source organizations still aren't really open to designers. So we kind of like try to guide designers from Africa on how to actually start contributing to organizations that actually accept design contributions. And if you want to go into organizations that are kind of like difficult to get into ways to actually go around it and then drop your contributions. So we actually also link them up to open source projects. Currently we have about 15 to 20 designers who are like really willing to actually get into open source and start working on open source projects. We started out open source community Africa in 2018. So it's like barely two years and we've covered over five countries in Africa and over 11 cities. And each of those cities actually hosts different meetups where they talk about open source and body people into open source, open source design documentation and also code. Now this month, I almost said next month, it's actually funny because it's like really close. We're actually hosting the first open source conference in Africa called the open source festival. And we are hosting the first sustained summit also in Africa. So it's like a three days festival where we have the sustained Africa conversation on how to actually sustain open source in Africa since it has come to stay. And then the remaining two days are actually for the conference. So yeah, I don't know, did you remember Abigail from the previous? So Abigail is actually giving a talk on designers can be open source as well. So Abigail this year actually became a Google coding mentor from actually learning about open source and she has made tremendous progress since then. So she's come into the festival to actually tell all the designers about her journey so far and how she's been able to tackle being an open source error in that really minute circle. The goal of OSCAR is actually to onboard as much open source errors. So it is the word designers especially. And then like those just in the minority group getting them to understand that open source is not just about contributing code. It actually goes beyond that if you are a designer we are here for you. You can find us on Twitter. The open source community Africa. You can find a handle there. And this is to get more information about the festival. Festival.oscarafrica.com. Thank you. Questions. Yeah. Okay. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, anybody got any questions? One question that's more related to demographics in Africa. In Europe the balance, the gender balance in coder it mostly is bias for the main. Yeah, we still have, we still, okay I have to repeat the question, right? Okay. Sorry. No, sorry. Gender balance in Africa. Oh, gender balance in Africa in technology, right? Yeah, we actually still have this whole gender balance issue. That's why you have communities like Sheikode Africa, Women Tech. Yeah, we have that. That's like a Google program too. So there's still this more male figure than female. So, another thing Oscar is trying to do is bridge it up. And that's why in our festival we actually had like 300 tickets for the festival dedicated to just female technologies. And then we actually give them sponsorships so they can actually come to the event. So yeah, there's still that gender gap in Africa. A very huge one. Anybody else? Anybody else please? Yeah. I've seen the biggest drivers in that change in narrative between having a career as an engineer in Nigeria and having a successful career. I would say the narrative is actually changing because the generation of our parents, they always feel like you have to actually study engineering because the country itself is actually like an oil first country. So if you're not doing engineering, it's like, but then there are a few presidents who have gone into tech and then they've been like really successful. Other people say they're like, okay, if I can do this and be this successful, why not? And then they all like start getting into it. So you mentioned that you were trying to pick the open source project that would accept this kind of solutions. Would you like to name a few that were particularly welcoming? Yeah. So I actually contribute to Sugar Labs. At that time when I say contributing, it was really difficult to actually on both designers, but now it's quite easy because like I've been there and then I just get them in. So open collectives and other organizations that actually accept good design contributions, then on open design website, you can actually see a bunch of design organizations that actually accept design contributions. Anybody else? I've got a question for you. So you study biology. Microbiology. How the hell did you find open source software and design? So I would say I'm from that typical Nigerian home that my parents actually wanted me to study medicine. And then it was like, I had to stay at home for like three years trying to tell them that I have no interest in the health department. I don't study medicine. I had to stay at home for three years. When I, in the end, I've got the whole back and forth. They actually made me to go to the university to study microbiology. But when I got to school, I stayed hanging out with meetups. So one thing very common in Nigeria is that we have these small meetups like Oscar, just on the GGG and the rest of them having like smaller meetups in school talking about technology. So in my first year, I actually stayed attending some of these meetups and then I attended one design sprint when they gave us this persona. Then they gave us a problem until I was to actually draft out a solution. And then it was like really cool. And I stayed attending meetups. I stayed taking courses on Udacity. Everything was kind of like personal. I stayed taking like buying courses. I go to school in the morning at night. I'm like, oh, my computer. I'm trying to learn. And then when I was done with school last month, I was like, dad, I'm done living your life. It's time to take up my tool. So that's actually how I took the shift to technology. And then I knew about sugar labs from something where I met him like the first month I actually said, learning about technology. So he told me about his sugar labs. And then I stayed making these two contributions. And then it just there from there. Yeah. That's kind of a hub for this kind of stuff. Are there any other places in Africa where there's kind of a community? Is there other thing? Are there any other hubs in Africa? Like, how come there's a lot going on in Lagos? I'm just wondering if there are any other hubs in Africa where there's kind of like things are starting to happen in the course. I didn't quite get the question. So Samsung is actually a name of a person. That's something there. I don't know if that's where you are actually asking. I think you were actually asking about like, there's like hubs. Yeah, obviously there's another place where there's a lot happening where you're thinking, which is actually in Lagos. Yeah, I think, I think, yeah, yeah, I think Lagos is the biggest because of, it's the biggest city in Africa. The population is so huge and it's because of Nigeria influence with the continent. So you get more sense for a lot of organizations like Google, Microsoft, you know, all the Silicon Valley companies coming to like, top offices. But in terms of like communities, I know for sure that there's big in Nairobi, Kenya, there's one in Egypt, there's one in South Africa. South Africa. I think the one that goes to the real estate. I would say like a lot of countries, but the fact that they also in Nigeria, they seem to be the always most up for this country. It's just like there are like a lot of people with a lot of interest in technology. Anybody else got any questions? So we have like another four minutes before the changeover. We can finish now or if people want to keep discussing things up to you. Okay. Do you have any collaboration with others? Yeah, outside Nigeria. Yeah, we actually have, let's go to the map. So we have a chapter. We actually call them chapters. We have a chapter in Sierra Leone. This is Nigeria. We have another one in Kenya. We have in Ethiopia too. So like the goal of OSCAR is actually to get out to so many African countries as possible just to start up. So once someone reach out to us from each of this country, we just kind of like on both them and then take a couple meetups. Yeah, I think we have smaller communities in school because of school chapters. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I'm not sure if that's like an answer to your question. Okay, by inclusion, actually inclusion in design, like those with disabilities and the rest of them, yeah. Not like general. Then on a more general level, balancing the gender between male and female, basically. Okay, so my organization, Sugar Labs, we actually have this tech-top environment for kids where we actually take inclusion and accessibility very seriously. We think about kids with color blindness, those that have like mostly impairment seen. So when creating our components, our design component, we'll make sure that we actually have components that actually suits this particular set of people. Yeah. Just a follow-up question to that. So how do you ensure that, how do you test for that, or how do you make sure that it is accessible for people with disabilities? Okay, so we come up with like certain options and then there are people who actually go and do the actual testing. So in Nigeria, we actually don't have so many people actually using the tech-top in Nigeria. We have only very few schools. So we go to those schools, actually see actual students use it and how they react to it, then get the data, try to reform. Do you have connections with the OpenStreetMap community? The what? I know the OpenStreetMap community in Africa is quite a lot. Well, yeah, I saw someone from there, I think it was yesterday, I actually just heard about it yesterday for the first time. Yeah, we got talking yesterday. Okay, maybe one more question or just coming to... Okay, one more question maybe. How do you address the lack of infrastructure? Oh, yeah, when you come to power, it's actually like a big problem, very big problem in Nigeria. I'll use myself as a case study. So I used to stay around school when I was in school and then we had power issues. So I have to go to several hubs, a bit far from school, so actually get my computer charged and in the middle of the night it goes off. And then I start looking for a neighbor that has a gen. They have to charge my system before I actually got a gen. So in Nigeria, the part where I stay, you actually have to have a support system for power. And then we have really expensive internet, you get to spend like $1,150 on internet monthly just to make sure that you are always online. So it's like the internet consumption is crazy expensive and power too is not. But then there are some areas that actually have good power supply. So if I get out to that, I would say, so do this, power is actually, I wouldn't say a general African problem, which is kind of for some reason still pretty much some part of Nigeria. And if you want to stay in a place where you receive 3-4 hours fast or pay you, you should be ready to start paying like, you know, start paying for a partner that is expensive as in Francisco. Or if you want to like have a system like 3-4 hours internet or create Mvps, you pay a lot. So the point is to try to leave a very comfortable lifestyle with internet and power in so far as the country in Nigeria, you really need to be... Unboxed. Okay, so that's the last question because we need to do our changeover. Thank you very much. Peace for the ages. Thank you. I just wanted to rephrase or remind you guys that Africa is like country, please.
talking to you about the open source design movement in Africa by open source community just to drive home how much diversity we have of Nigeria. I am something the dark guy. We are university, just finishing from the university. And then in Nigeria, Nigeria has always been this learn about tech, learn how to call, learn how to there we have a lot of developers. But in the know that actually design is quite important. I wouldn't say even more important than code, but idea of design. But then we have this problem of actually know that as a designer, you can a lot of people like this. You should take into into the space and really understand what it is. So what Oscar is trying to do in Africa is contributions, but also includes that minority not appreciate design contributions. So I have to designers from Africa on how to actually start contributing to organizations that actually actually also link them up to open source been able to tackle being an open source error in them to understand that open source is not just trying to do is bridge it up. And that's why in university to study microbiology. But when I got is so huge and it's because of Nigeria influence there are people who actually go and do the or just coming to... Okay, one more question study. So I used to stay around school when I was is actually, I wouldn't say a general African