The Power Of Open Source: How WordPress Saved My Life

Open Source is an incredibly powerful concept that can be seen at the heart of progress and advancement in many spheres of life. The idea that people from every corner of the globe can come together to exchange ideas and build products that profoundly affect our lives is as crazy as it is exciting.

I'm fascinated by the fact that people who have never met can come together to form a community that produces software and/or hardware products like CMSs, cars, building equipment, AI appliances and apparel that help to enable whole swaths of people with limited financial, physical or other resources make meaningful contributions and improve their quality of life.

I talk briefly about the concept of Open source and specifically about how WordPress has played a significant part in taking this Nigerian university dropout around the world and exposing him to a community of the most incredible human beings at the forefront of democratizing publishing and why Open Source should be near and dear to your heart.

Transcript

1. The Power of Open Source How WordPress Saved My Life © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 1
2. Who Am I? • Happiness Engineer @ Automattic • #BeardGang Ambassador • University Dropout • Open Source Enthusiast © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 2
3. What is Open Source • The heart of Open Source is Open collaboration • It encompasses FOSS and FOSH. • Can impact any field of human endeavour © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 3
4. Some Cool Open Source Projects © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 4
5. Prusa 3D printers 1 • Pre-assembled or Kit • Blueprints available publicly • Inception style operation 1 https://shop.prusa3d.com/en/17-3d-printers © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 5
6. Mycroft 2 • Open Source AI (think Alexa, Google Home) • Custom • Private 2 https://mycroft.ai © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 6
7. Global Village Construction Set 3 3 https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 7
8. WordPress • Open Source Content Management System • Currently Powers 30% of the Web 4 • 15 years old on May 23rd, 2018 5 • The reason I'm here 5 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPress 4 https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cm-wordpress/all/all © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 8
9. How WordPress Saved My Life • I found this thing called Blogging • Attempting to scratch my own itch led me to WordPress • Following the community opened my eyes to its potential and mine • Helping others built my confidence • It didn't matter that I was "illiterate" • Kept a roof over my family's head • I now get to work with amazing people and travel the world. © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 9
10. A rising tide lifts all boats — John F. Kennedy © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 10
11. Conclusion • Open Source has the power to change lives and ultimately to change the world © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 11
12. ! Thank You Any Questions? © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 12
13. We're Hiring https://automattic.com/work-with-us Feel free to say Hello ! https://twitter.com/luminus " https://luminus.alabi.blog © Luminus Alabi | CMS Africa 2018 13