Hi Julian, Thank you for the clarification on the history of the Arrow name. I’ve heard it suggested that were ASF to change its name Arrow would lose its problematic associations, and the details you’ve added I think bolster this point. I hope that this situation would encourage this community and individuals in it to push for changing the foundation’s brand to remove any connotations of mascotry. Until then intentionally or otherwise it’s still mascotry.
Walter On Sat, Jul 9, 2022 at 10:31 PM Julian Hyde <[email protected]> wrote: > Walter, > > I am very sympathetic to your concerns about the Apache brand but your > email contains an untrue statement that needs to be corrected. > > You say that "Arrow’s project name is an unfortunate example of ASF’s > stereotyping", but stereotyping implies intent: that the people who > named the Arrow project intended to make some connection with Native > American culture. I was one of the people involved in the creation of > the project, and I assure you that those connections never crossed > anyone's mind. > > The Arrow project was spun out of another project called Drill, itself > named after a Google project called Dremel, so tools were the metaphor > we had in mind. Arrow's initial code was based upon a component of > Drill called 'Value vectors' and the mathematical symbol of a vector > is an arrow. > > One piece of evidence from that period is the name search [1]. If you > read the case, you will see that no one considered how juxtaposing > 'Arrow' with 'Apache' would create new connotations. > > Julian > > [1] https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/PODLINGNAMESEARCH-92 > > On Sat, Jul 9, 2022 at 9:56 PM Walter Cameron > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Hello, > > > > As some may know there have been discussions recently about the > > appropriateness of the name and branding of the Apache Software > Foundation. > > To help educate our communities I’ve collaborated on a statement > describing > > some of the repercussions of the branding and a call to change. > > > > You can read it in full here: > > https://endasfmascotry.com > > > > Arrow’s project name is an unfortunate example of ASF’s stereotyping and > is > > mentioned as such in the statement. My hope is that people in the > community > > here, many of whom are committers and members of ASF, can use their > > influence to encourage the ASF board and other leadership to develop a > new > > brand. Let’s work together to build a future where technology can be > > inclusive of everyone. > > > > Gunalchéesh, > > Walter Cameron >
