Women in Open Source: Liz Rea

by Kalleen Marquise on Mar 10, 2021

This month we are interviewing some wonderful women in the open source community! Here are some excerpts from our interview with Liz Rea of ByWater Solutions.

What led you to open source?

Libraries are idea rich, but technology resource poor; initially cost led me to Open Source - to do the most possible technologically for my libraries spending the least possible amount of money. Open source also shares many values with libraries: sharing, cooperation, openness, and collaboration, to name only a few. I'm automatically drawn to people and projects with these values, so Open Source is a really good fit for me.

What is a favorite project, experience or memory related to open source?

My favourite thing to do is to have an idea, and watch that idea become real through teamwork. Koha is one big pile of this all stuck together - it's tough to pick just one. Koha is my favourite open source project, followed closely by WordPress.

What do you love about open source?

The people, some of my best and longest friends are people I've met through Open Source projects. Several of those fine folks work at ByWater, too!

What is something you are listening to or reading right now?

When I get a chance to relax, I play the weird, backwater, indie adventure games (more well known ones I've played recently are Ary and the Secret of Seasons, and Journey to the Savage Planet). I've been listening to a lot of Pomplamoose (look it up on youtube) because their covers of songs I already love, done better, are amazing.