It's the first Monday of the month again! Time for another community spotlight!
Name: Ciarán Ainsworth
Location: Exeter, United Kingdom
Pronouns: he/him/they/them
Links: Mastodon, Personal Website, Funkwhale Pod
How did you discover Funkwhale?: I was looking for a self-hosted alternative to Spotify and came across the project through a Reddit post. I offered to help rewrite some of the documentation and I’m still here after nearly 10 months!
Have you worked on many open source projects? I've done some small contributions to other projects and have made sure to share any fixes I may come up with while doing work. I like to write small pieces of software such as bots and am always interested in working with server-side software on an operational level.
What got you started with open source? When I was in university I roomed with a computer science student who was massively into free software. His enthusiasm was infectious and pretty soon I was using GNU/Linux full-time and getting interested in using computers for something more than just games. While studying in Hong Kong I took a class in C programming which demonstrated that - while difficult - programming was something that was completely accessible with the right amount of support. I've found the free software community incredibly supportive and welcoming.
What kind of work are you doing in the project?: I try to help out with documentation and wording in-app, as well as contributing minor fixes and small features mostly in Vue. I'm also active in the support channels/forums and try to help out by testing features.
What is your favorite part of the project so far?: I really love the community that has been built up around the application and the friendliness of the people working on it. There is lots of consideration given to users and contributors to make them feel welcomed and listened-to.
What do you do when you aren’t Funkwhaling?: I work in software support, but I’m more interested in movies, mythology, and music. I like to read about Japanese mythology and play guitar/accordion when I’m not at my desk.
Have you found your other interests and skills have impacted how you work with Funkwhale and the greater open source community? I have a lot of experience working with non-technical users and supporting them with getting the best out of a solution, which I think has given me a pretty good insight into some elements of user experience and an empathy with users' journey through an application from documentation to daily use.
Who’s your favorite Funkwhale mascot?: Otto!
Describe your perfect Sunday: A perfect Sunday consists of watching movies (or Star Trek) and playing with my parents’ cat, Dizzy.
Please describe the cat in detail, perhaps also include a photo: Dizzy is a very small ginger farm cat. She's mostly playful, but something more sinister lurks underneath... She enjoys squeezing herself into very small places so that we can't get ahold of her.
Thank you Ciarán, and thank you to all of our Funkwhale friends. If you are part of our community and would like to be in one of our spotlights, let us know!