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Nominee for 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election

Manuel Kaufmann

  • Previous Board Service: New board member
  • Employer: Read the Docs
  • Other Affiliations: Argentina en Python, Python Spain, Python Argentina
  • Nominee Statement:

      Who am I?

      Hi! My name is Manuel Kaufmann, but most people call me "humitos". I'm from Argentina and I've been living in Spain for the last two years. I define myself just as a software engineer but passionate and with plenty of experience in the community. My biggest contribution to the CPython source code was testing a patch for configparser module that another person wrote and saying there was a missing if. At least it's something :-)

      However, I've been related to the global Python community in many other different ways than coding. I'm confident my experience in Latin America communities and being involved as the first PSF Latin America Python Ambassador in 2016-2017 would be useful to bring a different perspective to the Board. The role of PSF Latin America Python Ambassador was created from my own grassroot initiative, “Argentina en Python” and it’s a clear example of how we can diversify the PSF’s outreach based on the particular needs of the different communities. It’ll mention more on this point on my goals.

      I enjoy helping people to create their own local community and help them thrive. I have experience doing this in several Latin American countries (Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, and Chile), participating in the process in person, via video conferences and plenty of email coordination.

      I'm nominating myself for a seat in the PSF Board of Directors to help the PSF and the people in the Python community in a new way. It would be an honour to represent you and your community. Thank you for considering voting for me.

      Relevant Experience

      • Founder of "Argentina en Python" project (2014-nowadays)
      • Organizer of ~70 different Python events ~8 different countries (talks, courses, workshops, PyDays, hackathons, sprints, etc). I lost track of the amount of people that attended all these events :) --3000 attendees, as a roughly estimation (2015-2018)
      • Organizer of ~30 Django Girls Workshop in ~6 different countries (2015-2018)
      • Organizer of a "Track Teen" inside SciPy Latin America 2015 (~50 high school students)
      • Mentor and/or speaker in all the events I organized
      • Co-Organizer of PyCamp Spain (2020)
      • PSF fellow member (3 years)
      • Former PSF Latin America Python Ambassador (2016-2017)
      • Member of Python Argentina community (14 years)
      • Member of Python Argentina Association (2 years)
      • Member of Python Spain Association (1 year)
      • Co-founder of Python Paraguay in 2015 (~900 members currently)
      • Co-founder of Python Ecuador in 2016 (~400 members currently)
      • Keynoter in PyCon Latam 2019 (~250 attendees)
      • Keynoter in PyCon Japan 2018 (~900 attendees)
      • Keynoter in PyCon Brazil 2017 (~1000 attendees)
      • Keynoter in PyCon Spain 2016 (~600 attendees)
      • Co-coordinator of translation of Python's official documentation to Spanish. 2020.
      • Editor and revisor of the Spanish translation of "Turtle's confusion" book by Barry Newell. 2012.
      • Coordinator of the translation of Django Book 0.96 to Spanish. 2008.

      Personal Goals as PSF Board Director

      As a member of the Board of Directors I’d make the following goals my top priority. They all align with my core values as a member of the Python community and with the work I’ve been leading both for the “Argentina en Python” project and as a PSF Latin America Python Ambassador.

      Diversity and inclusiveness

      I’ve been working for a long time on helping under-represented communities grow but there is still a lot of path to walk.It’s of utmost importance to put our energy and ingenuity on creating more diverse communities all around the world.

      I still have a lot to learn. I acknowledge my privilege. I’m a blond-white-man which shields me for how reality is for many people. However, I want to work together with other members of the board in this direction by learning from them and by sharing my experience on Django Girls and PyLadies.

      There is also D&I in terms of access to opportunities and resources, which is something that sometimes can go unnoticed, especially if we have minimal representation from developing countries. I mention more about this in my “Outreach and Education Programs” goal.

      Bi-directional communication: PSF-Python community

      Help the PSF raise awareness of its work on community events, talking about what the PSF does and its mission, why it’s important and why you should participate. I’ve attended many PyCons around the world and it’s common to find people who do not even know that the PSF exists. I’ve delivered a talk called “What is the Python Software Foundation?” (with special guests: Lorena Mesa and Naomi Ceder) at PyCon Colombia 2018 to share with the audience the mission, vision and work the PSF does. I’d like to raise awareness of the PSF to a new unprecedented level in our communities.

      Besides, I’d like to be a nexus between Python communities around the world and the PSF itself by helping them to raise their opinions and ideas back to the PSF, guiding them to request a Grant Proposal or become a member or be part of a Working Group.

      Furthermore, helping communities to grow also means giving them visibility. As an example, a lot of things have been happening in Latin America in the last few years, with vibrant and active communities emerging. Nevertheless, it has proven challenging to communicate them back to the PSF or the global Python community itself. I believe this is a natural result of the lack of voices representing these communities on PSF itself and I’d like to work on shading light on their valuable and unique experiences through the PSF’s voice.

      Outreach and education programs

      I’ve been teaching Python at different levels since 2015, focusing mostly on introductory courses and full-day workshops. I always try to empower people to give the first step towards programming because I think it’s a powerful tool. To lower down the initial barriers, I think we need to make resources available in different languages. As Spanish is my native language, I’ve created my own materials in Spanish, coordinate or help on the translation of books, and now I’m co-coordinating the translation of the official Python documentation.

      I’m familiar with the structural inequalities of opportunities and resources the emerging countries have and this needs special consideration from the PSF. I want to bring Python to places where there is no internet access and to rural areas with extremely limited access to technology. I want to help to decentralize the knowledge from big cities. Small cities should have the same quality of technology events than big cities --they should not have to travel for this.

  • Nomination Statements:
    • Nomination by: Facundo Batista

      I nominate Manuel for the 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election because I think he can add a lot of value to the PSF board.

      He has a huge experience in the Argentina community and also with his Argentina en Python project organizing events and helping to build communities in more than 8 countries in Latin America. Living now in Barcelona he is part of the community there, one of the main supporters of the official Spanish translation of the Python Documentation and events like PyCamp.es. He was also the first Python Ambassador of the Python Software Foundation.

      This is also a really good time to incorporate people from others regions on the PSF board improving the diversity in a organization that was ruled in general for people from Europe and the US.

      Finally if you understand Spanish, please ignore my words and watch this video. I think it's impossible to transcript here what Manuel did in our community but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who get (all) choked up when re-watch it. I think the PSF has a really good opportunity to have someone whit his enormous passion, commitment and energy to develop our community in a crucial position.

    • Nomination by: Nicolás Demarchi

      I nominate Manuel for the 2019 Python Software Foundation Board Election because I think he can add a lot of value to the PSF board. He has a huge experience in the Argentina community and also with his "Argentina en Python"[0] project organizing events and helping to build communities in more than 8 countries in Latin America. Living now in Barcelona he is part of the community there, one of the main supporters of the official Spanish translation of the Python Documentation and events like PyCamp.es He was also the first Python Ambassador of the Python Software Foundation. This is also a really good time to incorporate people from others regions on the PSF board improving the diversity in a organization that was ruled in general for people from Europe and the US. Finally if you understand Spanish, please ignore my words and watch this video[1]. I think it's impossible to transcript here what Manuel did in our community but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who get (all) choked up when re-watch it. I think the PSF has a really good opportunity to have someone whit his enormous passion, commitment and energy to develop our community in a crucial position.

      [0] https://argentinaenpython.com/en/ [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0500NDu2tA

    • Nomination by: Juan Luis Cano Rodríguez

      I nominate Manuel Kaufmann (Humitos) for the 2020 Python Software Foundation Board Election because of his extensive experience with the oldest and biggest Spanish speaking Python community (Python Argentina), his extraordinary contributions to the creation of Python communities all around Latin America (more than 50 events in 100 cities over 8 countries, with a reach of more than 1500 people, sometimes from rural areas with very limited access to technology), his tenacious commitment with open source (spreading the word about OpenStreetMap, more than 40 repositories on GitHub), his defense of free and accessible events everywhere (PyCon Argentina is free of charge every single year), his pioneering efforts as Python Ambassador of the Python Software Foundation, his broad experience keynoting at PyCons all around the world (Spain, Brazil, Japan, Mexico), his role in helping kickstart the first PyCon Latin America (to be celebrated in August 2019), his stewardship for the Spanish translation of the CPython docs, and finally his enormous heart and his ability to inspire us all wherever he is.

    • Nomination by: Leandro Enrique Colombo Viña

      He is one of the most commited guys on promoting Python, language and community values, along Latin America. He is the head of "Argentina en Python":

      a personal and communitary project that promotes the usage of Python as a programming language to solve daily issues for common users and also to develop powerful and complex softwares in an easy way, encouraging the collaborative learning and the Software Libre philosophy.

      He is the one promoting spanish translation of Python Tutorial, a DjangoGirls organizer, member of Python Argentina NGO and PyCampES (Spanish version of PyCamp) organizer.