Sophia Vargas
Co-Host of CHAOSScast
Sophia Vargas is a Program Manager in Google’s Open Source Programs Office, supporting multiple research efforts that span internal systems analysis, project health, contributor experience, and open source economics. Prior to Google, Sophia was an analyst at Forrester, covering data center, infrastructure and cloud strategy. Sophia holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Williams College
Sophia Vargas has hosted 13 Episodes.
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Episode 80: Counting Potatoes vs. Computational Mysticism - Using CHAOSS for Research
28 February 2024 | 52 mins 59 secs
In this episode, host Georg Link is joined by Daniel, Anita, Sophia, and Sean, to discuss their research experiences with CHAOSS metrics and software for open source community health analysis. They dive into various topics, such as collecting and interpreting data from different perspectives, considerations regarding privacy and ethics, and the importance of collaboration between academics and industry professionals. They also highlight some significant projects and studies where CHAOSS metrics and software were employed, and their hopes and concerns for the future direction of research in the field. Furthermore, they discuss the necessity of bridging the gap between academia and industry and touch on the importance of linguistics and cultural context when examining data.
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Episode 73: Reflections on the LF OSS Maintainer Report
2 November 2023 | 41 mins 25 secs
In today’s episode, the conversation dives deep into the Linux Foundation Research Open Source Maintainers Report. Georg, Alyssa, Dawn, Sophia, and Anita engage in a thoughtful discussion about the report's methodology, findings, and implications for open source projects. They explore topics such as the challenges of obtaining a representative sample in open source research, the bias toward technical contributors, and the importance of considering the long-term engagement lifecycle of contributors. Additionally, they touch upon the report's best practices, including documentation and diversity, and how these practices can be connected across different categories. Download this episode now to learn more!
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Episode 72: Open Source Software Viability and Project Selection
19 October 2023 | 32 mins 38 secs
In this episode, our host, Matt Germonprez, is joined by Dawn Foster from the CHAOSS Community, Sophia Vargas from Google, and Gary White from Verizon. Today, they dive into the crucial topic of assessing the viability of open source projects for adoption within organizations. The discussion covers the intricacies of evaluating project viability, the challenges of project failure, and the necessity of continuous assessments. The panelists provide valuable insights on mitigating risks, leveraging metrics, and the importance of active engagement within open source communities. This episode offers a wealth of knowledge and practical advice for navigating the world of open source software. Download this episode now to hear more!
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Episode 69: Community Insights with Hedan Zeng [Part 2 of 2]
11 November 2022 | 41 mins 1 sec
Welcome back to Part Two to a conversation we had with our amazing guest, Hedan Zeng, who’s the Director of Product Management at Common Room. In Part One, we spoke to Hedan about the development of Common Room, the history of Hedan’s personal journey in community, and what Common Room’s real philosophies around community health have been. Today, we brought her back so we can talk more about our metrics.
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Episode 68: Community Insights with Hedan Zeng [Part 1 of 2]
4 November 2022 | 38 mins 4 secs
We are super excited to have joining us as our guest, Hedan Zeng, Director of Product Management at Common Room, the intelligent community growth platform for today’s fastest-growing companies. Today, we’ll learn all about Common Room and how they think about metrics. We’ll also find out about the metrics they use, and Common Room’s theory and approach to design, from data to user interface.
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Episode 57: The Ins and Outs of Large Scale Research
22 April 2022 | 35 mins 11 secs
Today, we are excited to have as our guest, Hilary Carter, who is the Vice President of Research at the Linux Foundation where she leads the creation of decision-useful insights into the open source technologies and standards underpinning much of the digital infrastructure on which the global economy depends.
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Episode 55: GSOC 2021: "Risky" Business
25 March 2022 | 40 mins 16 secs
On today’s episode, we have joining us as our guest, Dhruv Sachdev, who’s an undergraduate Computer Engineering student at Mumbai University and was a Google Summer of Code 2021 student for CHAOSS. Dhruv is here to talk about his path to open source and the project he did with the Google Summer of Code 2021.
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Episode 53: Gathering Open Source Usage Data with Avi Press
25 February 2022 | 34 mins 51 secs
Today, we are super excited to have as our guest, Avi Press, Founder and CEO of Scarf. Avi tells us all about Scarf, Scarf Gateway, the tools that compliment it, and details how Scarf is helping open source software developers use data effectively. Also, Avi shares something he was surprised about early on with usage of open source projects.
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Episode 50: Recognizing all Kinds of Labor in Open Source Ecosystems with Amanda, Katie, and John
14 January 2022 | 45 mins 54 secs
Today, we have three amazing guests with us, Amanda Casari, Katie McLaughlin, and John Meluso. Amanda is a Developer Relations Engineer and researcher at Google at the Open Source Programs Office, Katie is a Developer Relations Engineer at Google, and John is the OCEAN Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Vermont. They are with us to talk about Project OCEAN (Open-Source Complex Ecosystems And Networks), how it came to be, where it is now, and what they hope to accomplish going forward. We also learn more about what they see as an open source ecosystem, and they go in depth about contributions and taxonomy.
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Episode 41: Forecasting Sustainability with Vladimir Filkov and Likang Yin
13 August 2021 | 49 mins 22 secs
Today, we are super excited to have as our guests, Vladimir Filkov and Likang Yin. Vladimir is a Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Davis, as well as a Data Scientist and a Software Engineer. Likang is a third year PhD student at UC-Davis working with Professor Vladimir Filkov. They are joining us to talk about their research into forecasting sustainability of open source communities. Also, we learn about the challenges they faced, how they overcame them, how they are expanding their research to engage the community more, and what their goal is.
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Episode 34: Anniversary Episode with Georg, Dawn, Matt, Sophia, Elizabeth
7 May 2021 | 35 mins 47 secs
Hello and welcome to this episode of CHAOSScast. Today’s episode is our Anniversary Episode because the podcast launched one year ago! We will discuss how the podcast and the CHAOSS project has evolved. We learn why Georg wanted to start this podcast and the project, and the goals he had along with the success of the podcast in the last year. We find out from the panelists the episode that was most interesting to them, the impact the podcast has had on the community as a whole, where they see the CHAOSS Project evolving and heading from where they’ve come in the last four years. Also, Dawn and Matt talk about how CHAOSS is working on doing translations for Chinese and Spanish. Download this episode to find out much more! Don’t forget to subscribe for free to this podcast or on your favorite podcast App and share this podcast with your friends and colleagues.
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Episode 33: Managing Portfolios of OSS Projects with Emil Wåreus
23 April 2021 | 43 mins 18 secs
Hello and welcome to this episode of CHAOSScast. Our special guest today is Emil Wåreus, Co-Founder and the Head of Data Science at Debricked, a small start-up in Sweden, that provides state-of-the-art tools for license, vulnerability, and open source software management. Our discussion focuses on measuring open source and understanding the value that can bring to the different companies and industries. We will learn what Emil does, how his journey started in open source, and how it has evolved over time. Also, he tells us about a graph model of all open source he is developing. Download this episode to find out much more! Don’t forget to subscribe for free to this podcast and share this podcast with your friends and colleagues.