Donna Benjamin is an Australian

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

community contributor, commentator and advocate. Recognised for her leadership and advocacy in the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement, Benjamin has contributed to the development of open source communities in Australia and internationally. Benjamin was the lead organiser of the volunteer run

linux.conf.au linux.conf.au (often abbreviated as lca or LCA) is Australasia's regional Linux and open source conference. It is a roaming conference, held in a different Australian or New Zealand city every year, coordinated by Linux Australia and organised ...

conference in Melbourne in 2008. She regularly ran the Community Leadership Summit X at LCA (clsXlca), a workshop focussing on community development in open source projects, as well as community summits at DrupalCon. In 2011 she organised a

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...

campaign called ''Digitise The Dawn'', which successfully raised funds to digitise The Dawn, an early feminist journal published in Australia between 1888 and 1905. She has held a range of leadership roles in the open source community, such as: * Product owner and maintainer, Open Practice Library (2021 - Present) * Director, Open Australia Foundation (2016–2018) * Board Member, The Drupal Association (2012–2018) * Advisory Board Member, The Ada Initiative, (2011–2012) * President, Linux Users of Victoria (2008–2010) * Director, Open Source Industry Australia (2006–2008) * Education Spokesperson, Open Source Victoria (2005–2010) * Media Contact, AussieChix / OWOOT, the Australian chapter of

Linuxchix LinuxChix is a women-oriented Linux community. It was formed to provide both technical and social support for women Linux users, although men are encouraged to contribute. Members of the community are referred to as "a Linux chick" (singular) and "L ...

(2007-2014)

Recognition

In 2012 she received the

Rusty Wrench Linux Australia is the national, Australian Free and Open Source Software Community organisation. It was founded in 1997 and formally incorporated in New South Wales as a non-profit organisation in 1999. Linux Australia aims to represent Australia ...

Award from

Linux Australia Linux Australia is the national, Australian Free and Open Source Software Community organisation. It was founded in 1997 and formally incorporated in New South Wales as a non-profit organisation in 1999. Linux Australia aims to represent Australia ...

in recognition of her contributions. In 2022 she was awarded the People’s Choice Award for Community Management from OpenSource.com

Career

Donna Benjamin is the Executive Director of a micro-business called Creative Contingencies, which specialises in facilitation, research, web services, and event management. Since 2019, she has served as Senior Engagement Lead at Red Hat’s Open Innovation Labs, where she helps organisations adopt open source and agile practices. Prior to this, she worked at Catalyst IT as a project lead, and business analyst.

References

External links

Donna Benjamin's blog

Creative Contingencies

Digitise the Dawn campaign site

LinkedIn profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Donna Linux people Living people Year of birth missing (living people)