Geomagnetic Storm Watch issued; Prepare for northern lights over Michigan, southern Midwest

A strong solar flare is likely going to blow enough solar energy into our atmosphere to produce widespread northern lights in the next few days. The NOAA’s…

October 3, 2024 at 12:31PM

via Instapaper

GitOps: Branches, directories, or different repositories for the desired state of environments?

Today, we tackle a common GitOps question: "Should we use branches, directories, or different repositories to store the desired state of different environments?" We'll explore the pros and cons of each approach, focusing on the best practices for maintaining application and environment-specific manifests.

GitOps #DevOpsPractices #ArgoCD #BranchingStrategies

Consider joining the channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/devopstoolkit/join

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▬▬▬▬▬▬ 👋 Contact me 👋 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ➡ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vfarcic ➡ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktorfarcic/

▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🚀 Other Channels 🚀 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🎤 Podcast: https://www.devopsparadox.com/ 💬 Live streams: https://www.youtube.com/c/DevOpsParadox

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6tnnB-t470

Atlanta likely to be covered by haze and chlorine odor from chemical lab fire, officials warn

Haze and a chlorine odor are likely to descend upon Atlanta on Thursday as officials struggle to contain the fallout from a chemical lab fire that ignited Sunday.

Tags:

via Pocket https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/atlanta-likely-covered-haze-chlorine-odor-chemical-lab-fire-officials-rcna173672

October 03, 2024 at 09:34AM

Valkey 8.0 Now GA with Improved Memory Efficiency

Bookmarks Oct 05, 2024 2 min read by Renato Losio InfoQ Staff Editor | Cloud Expert | AWS Data Hero Write for InfoQ Feed your curiosity. Help 550k+ global…

October 3, 2024 at 08:52AM

via Instapaper

Announcing the 2024 Steering Committee Election Results

https://kubernetes.io/blog/2024/10/02/steering-committee-results-2024/

The 2024 Steering Committee Election is now complete. The Kubernetes Steering Committee consists of 7 seats, 3 of which were up for election in 2024. Incoming committee members serve a term of 2 years, and all members are elected by the Kubernetes Community.

This community body is significant since it oversees the governance of the entire Kubernetes project. With that great power comes great responsibility. You can learn more about the steering committee’s role in their charter.

Thank you to everyone who voted in the election; your participation helps support the community’s continued health and success.

Results

Congratulations to the elected committee members whose two year terms begin immediately (listed in alphabetical order by GitHub handle):

Antonio Ojea (@aojea), Google

Benjamin Elder (@BenTheElder), Google

Sascha Grunert (@saschagrunert), Red Hat

They join continuing members:

Stephen Augustus (@justaugustus), Cisco

Paco Xu 徐俊杰 (@pacoxu), DaoCloud

Patrick Ohly (@pohly), Intel

Maciej Szulik (@soltysh), Defense Unicorns

Benjamin Elder is a returning Steering Committee Member.

Big thanks!

Thank you and congratulations on a successful election to this round’s election officers:

Bridget Kromhout (@bridgetkromhout)

Christoph Blecker (@cblecker)

Priyanka Saggu (@Priyankasaggu11929)

Thanks to the Emeritus Steering Committee Members. Your service is appreciated by the community:

Bob Killen (@mrbobbytables)

Nabarun Pal (@palnabarun)

And thank you to all the candidates who came forward to run for election.

Get involved with the Steering Committee

This governing body, like all of Kubernetes, is open to all. You can follow along with Steering Committee meeting notes and weigh in by filing an issue or creating a PR against their repo. They have an open meeting on the first Monday at 8am PT of every month. They can also be contacted at their public mailing list steering@kubernetes.io.

You can see what the Steering Committee meetings are all about by watching past meetings on the YouTube Playlist.

If you want to meet some of the newly elected Steering Committee members, join us for the Steering AMA at the Kubernetes Contributor Summit North America 2024 in Salt Lake City.

This post was adapted from one written by the Contributor Comms Subproject. If you want to write stories about the Kubernetes community, learn more about us.

via Kubernetes Blog https://kubernetes.io/

October 02, 2024 at 04:10PM

Blog: Announcing the 2024 Steering Committee Election Results

https://www.kubernetes.dev/blog/2024/10/02/steering-committee-results-2024/

The 2024 Steering Committee Election is now complete. The Kubernetes Steering Committee consists of 7 seats, 3 of which were up for election in 2024. Incoming committee members serve a term of 2 years, and all members are elected by the Kubernetes Community.

This community body is significant since it oversees the governance of the entire Kubernetes project. With that great power comes great responsibility. You can learn more about the steering committee’s role in their charter.

Thank you to everyone who voted in the election; your participation helps support the community’s continued health and success.

Results

Congratulations to the elected committee members whose two year terms begin immediately (listed in alphabetical order by GitHub handle):

Antonio Ojea (@aojea), Google

Benjamin Elder (@BenTheElder), Google

Sascha Grunert (@saschagrunert), Red Hat

They join continuing members:

Stephen Augustus (@justaugustus), Cisco

Paco Xu 徐俊杰 (@pacoxu), DaoCloud

Patrick Ohly (@pohly), Intel

Maciej Szulik (@soltysh), Defense Unicorns

Benjamin Elder is a returning Steering Committee Member.

Big thanks!

Thank you and congratulations on a successful election to this round’s election officers:

Bridget Kromhout (@bridgetkromhout)

Christoph Blecker (@cblecker)

Priyanka Saggu (@Priyankasaggu11929)

Thanks to the Emeritus Steering Committee Members. Your service is appreciated by the community:

Bob Killen (@mrbobbytables)

Nabarun Pal (@palnabarun)

And thank you to all the candidates who came forward to run for election.

Get involved with the Steering Committee

This governing body, like all of Kubernetes, is open to all. You can follow along with Steering Committee meeting notes and weigh in by filing an issue or creating a PR against their repo. They have an open meeting on the first Monday at 8am PT of every month. They can also be contacted at their public mailing list steering@kubernetes.io.

You can see what the Steering Committee meetings are all about by watching past meetings on the YouTube Playlist.

If you want to meet some of the newly elected Steering Committee members, join us for the Steering AMA at the Kubernetes Contributor Summit North America 2024 in Salt Lake City.

This post was adapted from one written by the Contributor Comms Subproject. If you want to write stories about the Kubernetes community, learn more about us.

via Kubernetes Contributors – Contributor Blog https://www.kubernetes.dev/blog/

October 02, 2024 at 04:10PM

Week Ending September 29, 2024

https://lwkd.info/2024/20240930

Developer News

SIG-Storage plans to move VolumeGroupSnapshot to Beta in 1.32. If you are a CSI driver author who has implemented VGS, please reply to Xing Yang.

For US Deaf Awareness Month, read this interview with some Deaf/Hard of Hearing contributors

Release Schedule

Next Deadline: Production Readiness, October 3

PRR questionnaires are due this week. Make sure you have one for your enhancement.

Featured PRs

KEP of the Week

KEP-4815: DRA: Add support for partitionable devices

One of the original use cases of DRA was to dynamically create and allocate partitions of a full GPU device on demand. As DRA evolved into “structured parameters” this ability to dynamically partition devices has been lost. This KEP proposes introducing the ability for “structured parameters” DRA to allocate both full devices and fixed-size partitions of full devices (across multiple dimensions). This is planned to be done by introducing a new type called PartitionableDevice which would have all the same fields as BasicDevice plus two new fields Includes and ConsumesCapacityFrom. With these new fields, the scheduler has everything it needs to support the dynamic allocation of both full devices and their fixed-size partitions.

This KEP is aiming for alpha in the ongoing v1.32 release cycle.

Other Merges

Deleted UDP endpoint detection is fixed

Allow to filter pods using labels on barrierOp in scheduler_perf and while collecting metrics

Moved InMemoryResponseWriter into own package

Warning about the disablement of internal cloud providers, when setting a value other than external for the --cloud-provider flag

Fixed: expected-actual rule from the testifylint in linter in k8s.io/apimachinery & k8s.io/kubernetes

Allow to set sleepOp duration using parameter

Local reference to hcs structs in windows cri stats test

Dual-stack Services or Services with IPs can be created using the beta MultiCIDRServiceAllocator feature

Test added: covers cronjob-scheduled-timestamp

Bookmark event: new annotation kubernetes.io/initial-events-list-blueprint added and send all items in watchCache store

Test added: unintended changes to dynamic client response handling

Fixed: nil-compare rule and error-nil rules from testifylint in k8s.io/kubernetes

DRA Scheduler: improved queue hint unit test & fixed queuing hint support

Checks added: whether the peer URL for the added etcd member already exists

Improvement: Node QueueHint in the NodeResource Fit plugin

Filtered informers tests added for CRD field selectors

Command line flags --healthz-port and --metrics-port removed

Reimplementation of merge functionality from mergo

Support added: nondeterministic encode for the CBOR serializer

Node Shutdown Controller: attempt to wait for CSI drivers to complete volume teardown

Promotions

Custom Resource Field Selectors to GA

RetryGenerateName to GA

Deprecated

Remove GA feature gate ComponentSLIs

Removed unneeded permissions for volume controllers

Version Updates

cri-tools to v1.31.1

Subprojects and Dependency Updates

grpc v1.66.2 added support for Python 3.13

cloud-provider-openstack v1.31.1 allow Cinder CSI node service to run without OpenStack credentials

kubespray v2.24.3 possibility to fix nodePort of ingress-nginx service with property

cri-o v1.31.0 removed crio config --migrate-defaults command

containerd v1.7.22 cumulative stats can’t decrease

kops v1.30.1 fix conversion for instance-selector flags

via Last Week in Kubernetes Development https://lwkd.info/

September 30, 2024 at 06:00PM

October 2, 2024 at 04:24PM

via Instapaper

Redis Users Want a Change

October 2, 2024 at 04:23PM

via Instapaper

saoudrizwan/claude-dev: Autonomous coding agent right in your IDE, capable of creating/editing files, executing commands, and more with your permission every step of the way.

Claude Dev Thanks to Claude 3.5 Sonnet's agentic coding capabilities Claude Dev can handle complex software development tasks step-by-step. With tools that let…

October 2, 2024 at 09:49AM

via Instapaper

AI coding assistants do not boost productivity or prevent burnout, study finds

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. In a nutshell: Developers were supposed to be among the…

October 2, 2024 at 09:28AM

via Instapaper

AWS at KubeCon SLC 2024

AWS at KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2024 Nov 12-15 | Salt Lake City, Utah Meet us at Booth F1 Join us at KubeCon Salt Lake City at Booth F1, where you…

October 1, 2024 at 04:23PM

via Instapaper

(54) Valkey: Posts | LinkedIn

0 notifications total…

October 1, 2024 at 04:13PM

via Instapaper

SSH

SSH Table of contents We’ve integrated liboqs into forks of OpenSSH and libssh to provide prototype post-quantum and hybrid key exchange in the SSH protocol.…

October 1, 2024 at 03:52PM

via Instapaper

Photos of devastation caused by Helene’s floodwaters in North Carolina

After battering Florida as a Category 4 hurricane Thursday, Helene dumped historic rainfall on Georgia, the Carolinas and other states, spurring flash flooding and leaving scores of people confirmed dead, with others still missing.

Tags:

via Pocket https://www.washingtonpost.com/photography/2024/09/30/helene-photos-nc-flood/

October 01, 2024 at 10:45AM

Y Combinator is being criticized after it backed an AI startup that admits it basically cloned another AI startup | TechCrunch

Startups 5:13 PM PDT • September 30, 2024 Image Credits: Pedro Fiúza/NurPhoto / Getty Images A Y Combinator startup named PearAI launched with an X post thread…

October 1, 2024 at 10:37AM

via Instapaper

Kubernetes is simple: it's just Linux, with Eric Jalal

https://kube.fm/kubernetes-just-linux-eric

Eric Jalal, an independent consultant and Kubernetes developer, explains how Kubernetes is fundamentally built on familiar Linux features. He discusses why understanding Linux is crucial for working with Kubernetes and how this knowledge can simplify your approach to cloud-native technologies.

You will learn:

Why Eric considers Kubernetes to be "just Linux" and how it wraps existing Linux technologies.

The importance of understanding Linux fundamentals (file systems, networking, storage).

How Kubernetes provides a standard and consistent interface for managing Linux-based infrastructure.

Why learning Linux deeply can make Kubernetes adoption an incremental step rather than a giant leap

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Learnk8s — get started on your Kubernetes journey through comprehensive online, in-person or remote training.

More info

Find all the links and info for this episode here: https://kube.fm/kubernetes-just-linux-eric

Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more.

via KubeFM https://kube.fm

October 01, 2024 at 06:00AM

Massive Verizon outage — live updates and what to do with iPhone in SOS

Some Verizon customers are waking up this morning to their phones in SOS mode due to an outage. Service tracker Downdetector is showing a huge spike starting at 10:00 a.m. ET, with many customers saying on X and Threads that they’re having issues placing phone calls.

Tags:

via Pocket https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/live/massive-verizon-outage-live-updates-and-what-to-do-with-iphone-in-sos

September 30, 2024 at 03:29PM

The Future of Shells with Nushell! Shell + Data + Programming Language

Discover the power of Nushell! 🌟 Learn how to set up and use this innovative shell that combines the best of traditional shells with a fully-typed scripting language. We'll explore:

• Setting up Nushell and Docker
• Running commands in Zshell and Nushell
• Filtering and sorting data with ease
• Using structured data for efficient data manipulation
• Auto-complete and error detection features
• Running external commands like kubectl
• Writing and executing Nushell scripts

Nushell #CommandLine #DataScripting #TechGuide

Consider joining the channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/devopstoolkit/join

▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🔗 Additional Info 🔗 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ➡ Transcript and commands: https://devopstoolkit.live/terminal/discover-the-future-of-shells-with-nushell 🔗 Nushell: https://www.nushell.sh

▬▬▬▬▬▬ 💰 Sponsorships 💰 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ If you are interested in sponsoring this channel, please visit https://devopstoolkit.live/sponsor for more information. Alternatively, feel free to contact me over Twitter or LinkedIn (see below).

▬▬▬▬▬▬ 👋 Contact me 👋 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ➡ Twitter: https://twitter.com/vfarcic ➡ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viktorfarcic/

▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🚀 Other Channels 🚀 ▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🎤 Podcast: https://www.devopsparadox.com/ 💬 Live streams: https://www.youtube.com/c/DevOpsParadox

▬▬▬▬▬▬ ⏱ Timecodes ⏱ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ 00:00 Introduction to Nushell 00:59 Pretty Outputs with Nushell 02:22 Mend Renovate (sponsor) 03:22 Sructured Data In Nushell 11:43 Nushell Auto-Complete, Error Detection 14:00 Nushell Language 16:44 Nushell External Commands 18:27 Nushell Works Everywhere 20:10 Nushell Pros and Cons

via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoX_S6d-XU4

The Duckbill Guide to AWS Reserved Instances

When you’re looking to lower your AWS bill, you’re likely to come across AWS Reserved Instances (“RIs”). We’re sharing the must-know facts and insights about…

September 30, 2024 at 10:48AM

via Instapaper

The Duckbill Guide to AWS Savings Plans

When you’re trying to cut costs on your AWS bill, you’re likely to come across AWS Savings Plans (“SPs”). We’re sharing what we’ve learned about Savings Plans…

September 30, 2024 at 10:48AM

via Instapaper

Spotlight on CNCF Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Working Group (DHHWG)

https://kubernetes.io/blog/2024/09/30/cncf-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-working-group-spotlight/

In recognition of Deaf Awareness Month and the importance of inclusivity in the tech community, we are spotlighting Catherine Paganini, facilitator and one of the founding members of CNCF Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Working Group (DHHWG). In this interview, Sandeep Kanabar, a deaf member of the DHHWG and part of the Kubernetes SIG ContribEx Communications team, sits down with Catherine to explore the impact of the DHHWG on cloud native projects like Kubernetes.

Sandeep’s journey is a testament to the power of inclusion. Through his involvement in the DHHWG, he connected with members of the Kubernetes community who encouraged him to join SIG ContribEx - the group responsible for sustaining the Kubernetes contributor experience. In an ecosystem where open-source projects are actively seeking contributors and maintainers, this story highlights how important it is to create pathways for underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, to contribute their unique perspectives and skills.

In this interview, we delve into Catherine’s journey, the challenges and triumphs of establishing the DHHWG, and the vision for a more inclusive future in cloud native. We invite Kubernetes contributors, maintainers, and community members to reflect on the significance of empathy, advocacy, and community in fostering a truly inclusive environment for all, and to think about how they can support efforts to increase diversity and accessibility within their own projects.

Introduction

Sandeep Kanabar (SK): Hello Catherine, could you please introduce yourself, share your professional background, and explain your connection to the Kubernetes ecosystem?

Catherine Paganini (CP): I'm the Head of Marketing at Buoyant, the creator of Linkerd, the CNCF-graduated service mesh, and 5th CNCF project. Four years ago, I started contributing to open source. The initial motivation was to make cloud native concepts more accessible to newbies and non-technical people. Without a technical background, it was hard for me to understand what Kubernetes, containers, service meshes, etc. mean. All content was targeted at engineers already familiar with foundational concepts. Clearly, I couldn't be the only one struggling with wrapping my head around cloud native.

My first contribution was the CNCF Landscape Guide, which I co-authored with my former colleague Jason Morgan. Next, we started the CNCF Glossary, which explains cloud native concepts in simple terms. Today, the glossary has been (partially) localised into 14 languages!

Currently, I'm the co-chair of the TAG Contributor Strategy and the Facilitator of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Working Group (DHHWG) and Blind and Visually Impaired WG (BVIWG), which is still in formation. I'm also working on a new Linux Foundation (LF) initiative called ABIDE (Accessibility and Belonging through Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity), so stay tuned to learn more about it!

Motivation and early milestones

SK: That's inspiring! Building on your passion for accessibility, what motivated you to facilitate the creation of the DHHWG? Was there a speecifc moment or experience that sparked this initiative?

CP: Last year at KubeCon Amsterdam, I learned about a great initiative by Jay Tihema that creates pathways for Maori youth into cloud native and open source. While telling my CODA (children of deaf adults) high school friend about it, I thought it'd be great to create something similar for deaf folks. A few months later, I posted about it in a LinkedIn post that the CNCF shared. Deaf people started to reach out, wanting to participate. And the rest is history.

SK: Speaking of history, since its launch, how has the DHHWG evolved? Could you highlight some of the key milestones or achievements the group has reached recently?

CP: Our WG is about a year old. It started with a few deaf engineers and me brainstorming how to make KubeCon more accessible. We published an initial draft of Best practices for an inclusive conference and shared it with the LF events team. KubeCon Chicago was two months later, and we had a couple of deaf attendees. It was the first KubeCon accessible to deaf signers. Destiny, one of our co-chairs, even participated in a keynote panel. It was incredible how quickly everything happened!

DHHWG members at KubeCon Chicago

The team has grown since then, and we've been able to do much more. With a kiosk in the project pavilion, an open space discussion, a sign language crash course, and a few media interviews, KubeCon Paris had a stronger advocacy and outreach focus. Check out this video of our team in Paris to get a glimpse of all the different KubeCon activities — it was such a great event! The team also launched the first CNCF Community Group in sign language, Deaf in Cloud Native, a glossary team that creates sign language videos for each technical term to help standardize technical signs across the globe. It's crazy to think that it all happened within one year!

Overcoming challenges and addressing misconceptions

SK: That's remarkable progress in just a year! Building such momentum must have come with its challenges. What barriers have you encountered in facilitating the DHHWG, and how did you and the group work to overcome them?

CP: The support from the community, LF, and CNCF has been incredible. The fact that we achieved so much is proof of it. The challenges are more in helping some team members overcome their fear of contributing. Most are new to open source, and it can be intimidating to put your work out there for everyone to see. The fear of being criticized in public is real; however, as they will hopefully realize over time, our community is incredibly supportive. Instead of criticizing, people tend to help improve the work, leading to better outcomes.

SK: Are there any misconceptions about the deaf and hard-of-hearing community in tech that you'd like to address?

CP: Deaf and hard of hearing individuals are very diverse — there is no one-size-fits-all. Some deaf people are oral (speak), others sign, while some lip read or prefer captions. It generally depends on how people grew up. While some people come from deaf families and sign language is their native language, others were born into hearing families who may or may not have learned how to sign. Some deaf people grew up surrounded by hearing people, while others grew up deeply embedded in Deaf culture. Hard-of-hearing individuals, on the other hand, typically can communicate well with hearing peers one-on-one in quiet settings, but loud environments or conversations with multiple people can make it hard to follow the conversation. Most rely heavily on captions. Each background and experience will shape their communication style and preferences. In short, what works for one person, doesn't necessarily work for others. So never assume and always ask about accessibility needs and preferences.

Impact and the role of allies

SK: Can you share some key impacts/outcomes of the conference best practices document?

CP: Here are the two most important ones: Captions should be on the monitor, not in an app. That's especially important during technical talks with live demos. Deaf and hard of hearing attendees will miss important information switching between captions on their phone and code on the screen.

Interpreters are most valuable during networking, not in talks (with captions). Most people come to conferences for the hallway track. That is no different for deaf attendees. If they can't network, they are missing out on key professional connections, affecting their career prospects.

SK: In your view, how crucial is the role of allies within the DHHWG, and what contributions have they made to the group’s success?

CP: Deaf and hard of hearing individuals are a minority and can only do so much. Allies are the key to any diversity and inclusion initiative. As a majority, allies can help spread the word and educate their peers, playing a key role in scaling advocacy efforts. They also have the power to demand change. It's easy for companies to ignore minorities, but if the majority demands that their employers be accessible, environmentally conscious, and good citizens, they will ultimately be pushed to adapt to new societal values.

Expanding DEI efforts and future vision

SK: The importance of allies in driving change is clear. Beyond the DHHWG, are you involved in any other DEI groups or initiatives within the tech community?

CP: As mentioned above, I'm working on an initiative called ABIDE, which is still work in progress. I don't want to share too much about it yet, but what I can say is that the DHHWG will be part of it and that we just started a Blind and Visually Impaired WG (BVIWG). ABIDE will start by focusing on accessibility, so if anyone reading this has an idea for another WG, please reach out to me via the CNCF Slack @Catherine Paganini.

SK: What does the future hold for the DHHWG? Can you share details about any ongoing or upcoming initiatives?

CP: I think we've been very successful in terms of visibility and awareness so far. We can't stop, though. Awareness work is ongoing, and most people in our community haven't heard about us or met anyone on our team yet, so a lot of work still lies ahead.

DHHWG members at KubeCon Paris

The next step is to refocus on advocacy. The same thing we did with the conference best practices but for other areas. The goal is to help educate the community about what real accessibility looks like, how projects can be more accessible, and why employers should seriously consider deaf candidates while providing them with the tools they need to conduct successful interviews and employee onboarding. We need to capture all that in documents, publish it, and then get the word out. That last part is certainly the most challenging,

Blog: Spotlight on CNCF Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Working Group (DHHWG)

https://www.kubernetes.dev/blog/2024/09/30/cncf-deaf-and-hard-of-hearing-working-group-spotlight/

In recognition of Deaf Awareness Month and the importance of inclusivity in the tech community, we are spotlighting Catherine Paganini, facilitator and one of the founding members of CNCF Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Working Group (DHHWG). In this interview, Sandeep Kanabar, a deaf member of the DHHWG and part of the Kubernetes SIG ContribEx Communications team, sits down with Catherine to explore the impact of the DHHWG on cloud native projects like Kubernetes.

Sandeep’s journey is a testament to the power of inclusion. Through his involvement in the DHHWG, he connected with members of the Kubernetes community who encouraged him to join SIG ContribEx - the group responsible for sustaining the Kubernetes contributor experience. In an ecosystem where open-source projects are actively seeking contributors and maintainers, this story highlights how important it is to create pathways for underrepresented groups, including those with disabilities, to contribute their unique perspectives and skills.

In this interview, we delve into Catherine’s journey, the challenges and triumphs of establishing the DHHWG, and the vision for a more inclusive future in cloud native. We invite Kubernetes contributors, maintainers, and community members to reflect on the significance of empathy, advocacy, and community in fostering a truly inclusive environment for all, and to think about how they can support efforts to increase diversity and accessibility within their own projects.

Introduction

Sandeep Kanabar (SK): Hello Catherine, could you please introduce yourself, share your professional background, and explain your connection to the Kubernetes ecosystem?

Catherine Paganini (CP): I’m the Head of Marketing at Buoyant, the creator of Linkerd, the CNCF-graduated service mesh, and 5th CNCF project. Four years ago, I started contributing to open source. The initial motivation was to make cloud native concepts more accessible to newbies and non-technical people. Without a technical background, it was hard for me to understand what Kubernetes, containers, service meshes, etc. mean. All content was targeted at engineers already familiar with foundational concepts. Clearly, I couldn’t be the only one struggling with wrapping my head around cloud native.

My first contribution was the CNCF Landscape Guide, which I co-authored with my former colleague Jason Morgan. Next, we started the CNCF Glossary, which explains cloud native concepts in simple terms. Today, the glossary has been (partially) localised into 14 languages!

Currently, I’m the co-chair of the TAG Contributor Strategy and the Facilitator of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Working Group (DHHWG) and Blind and Visually Impaired WG (BVIWG), which is still in formation. I’m also working on a new Linux Foundation (LF) initiative called ABIDE (Accessibility and Belonging through Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity), so stay tuned to learn more about it!

Motivation and early milestones

SK: That’s inspiring! Building on your passion for accessibility, what motivated you to facilitate the creation of the DHHWG? Was there a speecifc moment or experience that sparked this initiative?

CP: Last year at KubeCon Amsterdam, I learned about a great initiative by Jay Tihema that creates pathways for Maori youth into cloud native and open source. While telling my CODA (children of deaf adults) high school friend about it, I thought it’d be great to create something similar for deaf folks. A few months later, I posted about it in a LinkedIn post that the CNCF shared. Deaf people started to reach out, wanting to participate. And the rest is history.

SK: Speaking of history, since its launch, how has the DHHWG evolved? Could you highlight some of the key milestones or achievements the group has reached recently?

CP: Our WG is about a year old. It started with a few deaf engineers and me brainstorming how to make KubeCon more accessible. We published an initial draft of Best practices for an inclusive conference and shared it with the LF events team. KubeCon Chicago was two months later, and we had a couple of deaf attendees. It was the first KubeCon accessible to deaf signers. Destiny, one of our co-chairs, even participated in a keynote panel. It was incredible how quickly everything happened!

DHHWG members at KubeCon Chicago

The team has grown since then, and we’ve been able to do much more. With a kiosk in the project pavilion, an open space discussion, a sign language crash course, and a few media interviews, KubeCon Paris had a stronger advocacy and outreach focus. Check out this video of our team in Paris to get a glimpse of all the different KubeCon activities — it was such a great event! The team also launched the first CNCF Community Group in sign language, Deaf in Cloud Native, a glossary team that creates sign language videos for each technical term to help standardize technical signs across the globe. It’s crazy to think that it all happened within one year!

Overcoming challenges and addressing misconceptions

SK: That’s remarkable progress in just a year! Building such momentum must have come with its challenges. What barriers have you encountered in facilitating the DHHWG, and how did you and the group work to overcome them?

CP: The support from the community, LF, and CNCF has been incredible. The fact that we achieved so much is proof of it. The challenges are more in helping some team members overcome their fear of contributing. Most are new to open source, and it can be intimidating to put your work out there for everyone to see. The fear of being criticized in public is real; however, as they will hopefully realize over time, our community is incredibly supportive. Instead of criticizing, people tend to help improve the work, leading to better outcomes.

SK: Are there any misconceptions about the deaf and hard-of-hearing community in tech that you’d like to address?

CP: Deaf and hard of hearing individuals are very diverse — there is no one-size-fits-all. Some deaf people are oral (speak), others sign, while some lip read or prefer captions. It generally depends on how people grew up. While some people come from deaf families and sign language is their native language, others were born into hearing families who may or may not have learned how to sign. Some deaf people grew up surrounded by hearing people, while others grew up deeply embedded in Deaf culture. Hard-of-hearing individuals, on the other hand, typically can communicate well with hearing peers one-on-one in quiet settings, but loud environments or conversations with multiple people can make it hard to follow the conversation. Most rely heavily on captions. Each background and experience will shape their communication style and preferences. In short, what works for one person, doesn’t necessarily work for others. So never assume and always ask about accessibility needs and preferences.

Impact and the role of allies

SK: Can you share some key impacts/outcomes of the conference best practices document?

CP: Here are the two most important ones: Captions should be on the monitor, not in an app. That’s especially important during technical talks with live demos. Deaf and hard of hearing attendees will miss important information switching between captions on their phone and code on the screen.

Interpreters are most valuable during networking, not in talks (with captions). Most people come to conferences for the hallway track. That is no different for deaf attendees. If they can’t network, they are missing out on key professional connections, affecting their career prospects.

SK: In your view, how crucial is the role of allies within the DHHWG, and what contributions have they made to the group’s success?

CP: Deaf and hard of hearing individuals are a minority and can only do so much. Allies are the key to any diversity and inclusion initiative. As a majority, allies can help spread the word and educate their peers, playing a key role in scaling advocacy efforts. They also have the power to demand change. It’s easy for companies to ignore minorities, but if the majority demands that their employers be accessible, environmentally conscious, and good citizens, they will ultimately be pushed to adapt to new societal values.

Expanding DEI efforts and future vision

SK: The importance of allies in driving change is clear. Beyond the DHHWG, are you involved in any other DEI groups or initiatives within the tech community?

CP: As mentioned above, I’m working on an initiative called ABIDE, which is still work in progress. I don’t want to share too much about it yet, but what I can say is that the DHHWG will be part of it and that we just started a Blind and Visually Impaired WG (BVIWG). ABIDE will start by focusing on accessibility, so if anyone reading this has an idea for another WG, please reach out to me via the CNCF Slack @Catherine Paganini.

SK: What does the future hold for the DHHWG? Can you share details about any ongoing or upcoming initiatives?

CP: I think we’ve been very successful in terms of visibility and awareness so far. We can’t stop, though. Awareness work is ongoing, and most people in our community haven’t heard about us or met anyone on our team yet, so a lot of work still lies ahead.

DHHWG members at KubeCon Paris

The next step is to refocus on advocacy. The same thing we did with the conference best practices but for other areas. The goal is to help educate the community about what real accessibility looks like, how projects can be more accessible, and why employers should seriously consider deaf candidates while providing them with the tools they need to conduct successful interviews and employee onboarding. We need to capture all that in documents, publish it, and then get the word out. That last part is certainly the most ch