Hong Phuc DANG co-founded FOSSASIA in 2009 to connect the open source community in Asia. Over the past 10 years, FOSSASIA has grown to include thousands of developers through coding programs, hackathons, and events. They have also developed open source apps and hardware like Pocket Science Lab. FOSSASIA sustains itself through diverse income streams and a global community that contributes to projects and each other.

1. The 10 Year Journey
Free and Open Source
Community in Asia
Hong Phuc DANG

2. Co-Founded FOSSASIA (Asia)
Board Director at Open Source
Initiative (America)
InnerSource @Zalando (Europe)
2
Hong Phuc DANG
@hpdang

3. ❏ What + Why FOSSASIA
❏ 3 Cool Apps and Open Source
Hardware
❏ How to Build a Sustainable Community
in Asia and Scale it Up - Our Story
since 2009
❏ Cooperate with Us and Hire us

4. Build a Better World
with Open Technologies

5. labs.fossasia.org
Open Source
Software &
Hardware Product
Development
codeheat.org
Open Education,
Academies and
Coding Programs
events.fossasia.org
Open Source
Events

6. labs.fossasia.org
Open Source
Software &
Hardware Product
Development
codeheat.org
Open Education,
Academies and
Coding Programs
events.fossasia.org
Open Source
Events
Income through SaaS + Hardware Sales + Events + Consulting

8. ➢ Merged Pull Request on average every 15 minutes
➢ 35,000+ developers on mailing lists + social media
➢ 4000 developers registered on our GitHub orgs
➢ Training 2000+ developers through coding programs annually
➢ Dozens of face to face meetings at developer events,
hackathons and workshops throughout Asia
➢ 100+ authors of tech blog articles

10. Pocket Science Lab
Device for Open Science Experiments
A USB Powered Smartphone Extension Open
Hardware

13. Oscilloscope
Power Source

14. Multimeter
Logic Analyzer
Wave Generator

15. Producing Batches in Shenzhen and Berlin

17. Maker workshops with Pocket Science Lab in Singapore
17

18. Open Source Event Management System

19. ❏ Developed Since
February 2015
❏ Why? No good
system for ticketing
+ speaker handling
❏ Unhappy with
proprietary systems
❏ Largest event today
3500 pax

20. ● Ticketing: similar to
Eventbrite
● CfS: Easy process to
register speakers
● Scheduling: Drag and Drop
● Exporting: Ability to move
events
● Website: Automatic site
generator
● Android: Automatic Android
generator
● Additional options: Free
event licenses, CoC
Open Event System: Goals

27. 27VOICE: Star Trek IV 1986 - talk to a computer, it will solve your problem
Open Source Smart Speaker

29. SUSI.AI Android and iOS
SUSI.AI is capable of chat and voice interaction and by using APIs to perform actions such
as music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing
audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, and other real time information.

31. Smart Speaker
https://download.susi.ai

34. SUSI.AI CMS

35. https://susi.ai
Wiki-like Content
Management System
Create skills and private bots!
Simple and Easy to Learn Skill
Markup Language -
“Language of Thought” (LoT)

36. How did we become
a sustainable
organization able to
scale up?
10 Years FOSSASIA
Journey
How did we get
here?

37. 2009
Hong Phuc and Mario Behling found
FOSSASIA with the Goal to Connect
Progressive Community in Asia with Global
FOSS Developers

38. ➢ Hosting GNOME.Asia in Vietnam
➢ Starting development of Linux and web tools 2009

39. 2010
Kickstarting Projects, Mini DebConf and The
FOSSASIA Summit

40. 2010

41. ➢ Understand your community landscape
➢ Promote contributions apart from code
➢ Open source beyond software: designers, writers,
promoters, organizers, fundraisers, mentors etc.
➢ Low entry barrier, friendly environment
➢ People like to travel and meet face to face
Lessons: How to Grow Your Community
2010

42. 2011
Open Design Weeks Asia, More Events,
Attracting More Developers

43. ➢ From developers to designers - Connecting with the
Libre Graphics community through Open Design Weeks
➢ Introducing FOSS tools at designer & art schools
Events are always fun
2011

44. FOSSASIA Summit 2011

45. Lessons: What is Important to Attract Developers
Devs Want to:
➢ Be part of a community
➢ Do exciting projects
➢ Work with a positive brand/org (do cool things, do good)
➢ Get opportunities (recognition, money, travel, jobs)
➢ Work with processes that they like and are accustomed to
(The FOSS/Open Source Way/Git/Issue Trackers)
2011

46. 2012
More Apps and
Our Second Year in GSoC

47. Photos, Images, Pictures - Phimp.me
2012

48. Lessons: Coding Programs
➢ Visibility attracts new developers and code
contributions
➢ Opportunity to connect with projects from
around the world
➢ Need clear guidelines to bring in Asian
contributors into the FOSS ecosystem
(culture barrier)
➢ Students are less committed than mentors
➢ Program ends, contribution ends
2012

49. 2013
Fostering Open Source in Education and
Moving to Hosted Infrastructure

50. Lessons: Infrastructure
➢ Setting up infrastructure is not as hard and resource
intensive as maintaining it
➢ We want to focus on development, events and sharing
not on running infrastructure
➢ It is a compromise as not everything is Open
Tech/FOSS (e.g. GitHub)
2013

51. Open Tech Workshops in Schools across Vietnam
2013

52. ➢ Cooperating with development organizations
and companies on educational programs
➢ Discovering a new pool of young talents -
future contributors
○ Computer literacy among young students
○ English ability
2013

53. 2014
FOSSASIA Summit in Cambodia and Start of
First Open Hardware Project

54. FOSSASIA Summit Phnom Penh 2014

55. 2014 FOSSASIA Summit Phnom Penh

57. Lessons: Hardware Production
➢ Longer development cycles compared to software
➢ High investment, high risk
➢ Self-funded model
➢ Bill of materials
➢ Chinese speaking staff
➢ ‘Remanufactured’ offer
➢ Faulty parts
➢ Manufacturer’s availability schedule
2014

58. 2015
FOSSASIA Summit in Singapore and Starting
Development of Event Management Tools

59. FOSSASIA Summit in Singapore
2015

60. OpenTechSummit Europe - Berlin
2015

61. 2016
Launching CodeHeat Online Coding Contest
and Science Hack Days in Asia

62. 2016

63. India: Codeheat Coding Contest Outreach Events
2016

64. Lessons: Developer Retention & Scale
➢ Be part of a developer community
➢ Clear expectations
➢ FOSSASIA contribution guidelines
➢ Minimum 2 maintainers, peer
reviewers
➢ Delegate tasks, assign project leads
➢ Promote mentor roles and support
long-term devs
2016

65. Science Hack Workshop, Belgaum India
2016

66. Science Hack Day Singapore: Do-It-Yourself
Workshops with Open Hardware Laser Cutters
2016

67. 2017
Development of FOSSASIA Best Practices

68. Scaling up with Best Practices
https://blog.fossasia.org/open-source-developer-guide-and-best-practices-at-fossasia/
➢ Match one issue with one pull request (PR)
➢ Break a big issue into multiple small issues
➢ Provide test systems and screenshots
➢ Only change what you state in the PR
➢ Help each other, review each others PRs
➢ Test first before making a PR
➢ Document while coding
➢ Earn Write Access
➢ Avoid private chat and collaborate with community

69. 2018
Connecting more Closely with Our
Community in India, China and Around the
World

70. Sep 30 - Oct 3, 2018 Jugaad Fest
Hyderabad, India

71. Jugaad Fest India
2018

72. FOSSASIA Hackathons with UNESCO in
Vietnam and Singapore
2018

73. Nov 30 - Dec 2, 2018 Open Tech Summit Shenzhen

74. Dec 27 - 30, 2018 Chaos Computer Congress,
Leipzig, Germany

75. 2019
10th Anniversary and a New
Beginning

76. 2019

77. VoiceRepublic.com
Releasing Voice Republic as Open Source after acquiring it together
with OpnTec Germany. Co-developing it under FOSSASIA umbrella.
2019

78. FOSSASIA Academy
Providing Singapore Government Certified Courses
2019

79. FOSSASIA Academy: Self-guided Learning of
Open Technologies and Code in Asia
2019

80. Summary: How did FOSSASIA become a
sustainable organization able to scale up?
✓ Developing best practices and a friendly and open
multilingual, multi-ethnic community culture
✓ Constantly attracting new talents through coding programs
and events
✓ Promoting mentor roles, providing resources + supporting
established developers (swag, travel, conferences, hiring)
✓ Growing different income streams to pay for all that
✓ Running a lean organization and infrastructure with a small
awesome team
✓ Partnering with enterprises and projects

81. Call for Action
Let’s team up!

82. ➢ Eventyay.com Eventbrite
➢ Distribution Partner for Pocket Science Lab
➢ Co-organize and sponsor coding programs,
contests, hackathons, events
➢ Hire us and invite us to collaborate on a
project
➢ Partner with FOSSASIA Academy
➢ Join our upcoming events:
events.fossasia.org

83. Personal Attitude in Open Collaboration
Humble Flexible Passionate

84. Sources: https://coconuts.co/hongkong/news/protesters-return-to-scene-of-admiralty-chaos-for-commiseration-clean-up/
https://www.boredpanda.com/hong-kong-extradition-bill-peaceful-protesters/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic
84

85. India: Jugaad Fest Series (Delhi, Hyderabad), Oct.
Bangkok: OpenTechSummit Thailand, Oct. 1-2
Ho Chi Minh: OpenTechSummit Vietnam. Oct, 11-12
Shenzhen: OpenTechSummit China, Nov, 21-23
Singapore: FOSSASIA Summit, March 19-22, 2020
Berlin: OpenTechSummit Europe, May 31, 2020
Twitter, Github, FB, Linkedin: @fossasia @hpdang