A Personal Message from an Open Source Contributor

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Dear fellow developers and data scientists,

If everyone reading this gave just the price of a coffee, I could focus fully on open source work for our community. But not everyone can or will contribute, and that’s okay.

For years, I’ve built and maintained open source R packages—cpp11armadillo, capybara, gravity, tabulapdf, pointblank, and more—that many people use daily. Every GitHub issue and email gets a response. This is my way of giving back as my own research benefits from a wide range of R packages and tools developed by others.

I’m a PhD student from Chile currently in Canada. My scholarship payments have been delayed for four months because of an administrative error starting with my name spelled wrong.

I wrote about this one month ago and I’m still in the same situation. Every time I contact Service Canada by phone and email, I get the same “we will provide an answer in 48 hours” message, but nothing changes. Rent and food can’t wait. To get by, I’ve been selling guitar pedals I design and build (inspired by Queen and Dr. Brian May): https://www.instagram.com/maplebooster/.

I want my software and datasets to stay open. Before considering paywalls or commercializing, I’m asking the community for support. If my packages have helped you, please consider a small contribution.

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Despite these challenges, I’m not slowing down. I just updated Open Trade Statistics with 2023 data and a new dashboard. Your support—donations, sharing, feedback, or kind words—means a lot. It keeps me going through code debugging while I hear on the phone “all of our agents are busy, please call later.”

To everyone who’s helped with code, bug reports, or encouragement: thank you. Every bit of support helps keep this work going. The open source world thrives on mutual support—today, I’m asking for yours.

With appreciation and hope,

Pacha

P.S. If you can’t contribute financially, sharing this message with others who might benefit from my work is also a huge help. Open source is about supporting each other.