Learning who Solid is

Solid Community Survey

Introduction

In June 2021, the Solid Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Team (DEIT) launched the first official Solid Community Survey.

As the Solid community continues to grow, we want to be able to include and support people of all backgrounds, industries, and identities.

What were our goals?

Through the survey, we wanted to learn about the members who comprise the community, discover issues people might be facing within the community, and how to make the community stronger, more welcoming, and ultimately, larger.

Research Plan

See the research plan here

June
10-25

Dates

131

Participants

Results

What country do you currently reside in?

Question 1

  1. 28%

    United States

  2. 13%

    Belgium

  3. 12%

    United Kingdom

What languages do you speak or read?

Question 2

Everyone selected English (the survey was only was offered in English).

66%

of the respondents speak or read more than one language

Other languages spoken by members of the community:

  • Italian: 4 respondents
  • Mandarin: 4 respondents
  • Portuguese: 4 respondents
  • Danish: 3 respondents
  • Russian: 3 respondents
  • Arabic: 2 respondents
  • Japanese: 2 respondents
  • Norwegian: 2 respondents
  • Swedish: 2 respondents
  • Malay: 1 respondent
  • Bengali: 1 respondent
  • Catalan: 1 respondent
  • Czech: 1 respondent
  • Greek: 1 respondent
  • Hindi: 1 respondent
  • Estonian: 1 respondent

What categories best describe you?

Question 3

5 participants identified as more than one category

How do you describe your gender identity?

Question 4

What is your age?

Question 5

What is the highest level of education you have completed?

Question 6

How would you describe yourself?

Question 7

  1. Developer (full stack)

    41 responses

  2. Entrepreneur

    30 responses

  3. Developer (back end)

    24 responses

  4. Consultant

    23 responses

What industry or field are you identity?

Question 8

Tech, IT, and Software were the most common responses.

Do you use any accessibility tools while using a computer or smartphone?

Question 9

82% of respondents don’t use accessibility tools.

Of those who do, the most common responses were:

Have you ever written code?

Question 10

How many years has it been since you first started writing code?

Question 11

How did you learn about Solid?

Question 12

What is your interest in Solid?

Question 13

  • Allow the world to store data safely and under their control

  • Solid is a precondition to the world I want me and my kids to live in

  • Empowering users and communities to take control of their lives.

  • ❝It inspires what the world can become

  • I strongly believe it has the possibility to change the web, and by extension the world for the better.

  • It’s the future of data sharing

  • As a technology for socio-technical transformation

How would you rate your understanding of Solid?

Question 14

How do currently you participate in the Solid community?

Question 15

How comfortable are you contributing to GitHub repositories?

Question 16

Of the people who contribute to the GitHub repositories, most people feel comfortable doing so.

How comfortable are you participating in the forums?

Question 17

Of the people who participate in the forums, most people feel neutral doing so.

How comfortable are you participating in the Gitter chats?

Question 18

Of the people who participate in the Gitter chats, most people feel neutral doing so.

How comfortable are you participating in live (virtual) Solid events?

Question 19

Of the people who participate in live Solid events, most people feel neutral doing so.

If you haven’t attended live (virtual) Solid events, what barriers prevent you from attending?

Question 20

How would you prefer to learn about news, updates and opportunities to participate in the community?

Question 21

How much do you feel you belong in the Solid community?

Question 22

What makes you feel like you don’t belong?

Question 23

The responses can be categorized into three topics:

  1. I don’t understand enough

    22%
    1. I feel intimidated by the perceived 'high entry bar'
    2. Most of the topics are too technical
    3. Most of the acronyms are unknown to me

  2. I don’t know how to participate

    11%
    1. Difficulties to contribute as a designer
    2. I need to have friends in there
    3. I am not really sure how to get more involved

  3. I don’t currently participate

    52%
    1. I haven't engaged enough
    2. Having the time to contribute would make me feel like I "belong" more
    3. I haven't really done anything - though I plan to contribute in the future

What would make you feel more comfortable in this community?

Question 24

  1. More support for beginners

    38%
    1. More community led tutorials, example apps
    2. Would be great to have more opportunities to help me learn more
    3. Spaces specific for beginners

  2. Increase diversity in the community

    10%
    1. Finding others who share my interests and values
    2. I would like to see more diversity among the community leaders
    3. To see people who look like me, around my age and with my experience

  3. Need more time to participate

    13%
    1. Having time to start learning how to code with Solid
    2. Contribute some more. Having a buddy is very helpful
    3. I'd really like to have more time to become more familiar with spec and the tooling

What changes would you like to see in this community

Question 25

  1. Expand Solid adoption

    20%
    1. I am eager to see Solid broadly adopted by serious software projects
    2. Solid becomes mainstream
    3. Anything that makes it grow

  2. More technical support

    16%
    1. More interplay with other technologies
    2. Include Python libraries for interacting with Solid
    3. Better TypeScript + Shape support

  3. Better opportunities to contribute

    10%
    1. I'd like to see more activity, hackathons, etc. to drive adoption.
    2. A larger variety of ways to be involved
    3. Enabling more open conversations

Any other comments?

Question 26