Upstream 2022: What a whirlwind of adventure!

So Upstream happened Tuesday…and wow. What a whirlwind of adventure! We hosted an incredible 40+ speakers over 9 hours, many times with three tracks running simultaneously. 

The day was so action-packed, there was no way to watch all the amazing material without the help of a time-turner. Good news, though, because we have something just as good as a time-turner for you: you can watch all the talks you missed right here, right now. 

Here’s a quick recap. We’ll cover the rest of the talks over the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

First up, if you didn’t check out Tidelift CEO and co-founder Donald Fischer’s morning keynote, you definitely should. Donald explained why software alone is not a miracle cure for open source supply chain issues. You need people, too. Donald shared an optimistic and practical path forward for the open source supply chain that takes into account the people behind the software we use.

Right on the heels of Donald’s talk, Deb Bryant explored a similar topic: there are people behind the open source projects your organization is using to build its applications. What have you done for those awesome people lately? She explored ways you can better value open source contributions inside and outside your organization.

Next up, people had to choose their own adventure, but you, dear reader, do not. You can watch all the talks now if you want, so here’s a sneak peek.

Tidelift co-founder Luis Villa hosted three amazing fireside chats throughout the day. His first guest was Python maintainer Seth Larson, who shared a startling graphic showing all the people behind the open source projects he’s involved with. Who is the ‘we’ behind the most popular Python project anyway?

Luis also sat down with Carmen Biance Bakker to discuss the importance of licensing metadata. He and Carmen discussed why it matters so much.

His final fireside chat was with Amye Scavarda Perrin, of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Luis and Amye discussed the importance of privacy…what privacy do we owe each other?

Other highlights of the day included:

• Josh Simmons hosted a fascinating discussion about what it means to be a good open source citizen, with an all-star panel including Al Gillen of IDC, Alyssa Wright of Bloomberg, Duane O’Brien of Indeed, Rob Underwood of Goldman Sachs, and Deb Nicholson of the Python Software Foundation. This riveting discussion was one of the most viewed talks of the day. Check it out now!
• Tidelift head of solutions architecture Mark Galpin took us on a deep-dive into the state of the software supply chain post-Log4Shell.
• Nancy Gariché of the GitHub Security Lab explained how to take a maintainer-first approach to open source security. This talk is a must-view for anyone working with open source software. Her tips are top-notch. Check it out!
• Tidelift maintainer advocate Lyn Muldrow hosted a panel of awesome maintainers including Brian Douglas of GitHub, John Leider of Vuetify, Reinier Zwitserloot of Project Lombok, prolific npm maintainer Jordan Harband, and Pillow maintainer Alex Clark. This was one of the most popular talks of the day. What’s the state of the union for maintainers today?
• John Mark Walker of Fannie Mae led the midday keynote: What's in it for me? The enlightened self-interest of open source contributions. He explained how contributing to open source communities has the flavor of ice cream, but with the health benefits of eating your veggies. Organizations should want to contribute to open source! It’s better for everyone. You can watch here.
• Finally, Aeva Black of the Azure Office of Microsoft rounded out the day with a truly fascinating discussion about trust in the world of open source. To secure the long tail of open source, so many projects that aren't in the limelight but are in critical systems, we must understand that our projects are more than mere code. They are a relationship built upon trust. Watch the keynote here. 

And there were so many more fascinating discussions! Christine Abernathy talked about exit strategies! Julia Ferraioli shared a social model of open source! Amanda Casari talked documentation, which is so mega important. Tim Klever explained how his team at American Express defined what a “socially responsible contribution” to open source means. You’ll want to watch everything!

The good news is that you can watch everything. Enjoy!