---
title: "Emma Jane Westby"
url: "/about/emma-jane-westby"
type: bio
date: 2015-06-23
updated: 2023-06-13
---

# Emma Jane Westby

#  Emma Jane Westby 

 Former Education Development Coordinator

 Owen Sound ON

[Emma Jane Westby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Jane_Hogbin) (née Hogbin) is an internationally renowned open source software advocate, technical author, and teacher. In January 2010 she was recognized by The Google Diversity Programme for her efforts in increasing female participation in software development. She is a frequent speaker at open source conferences in Canada, USA, and Europe. In addition to her engaging conference presentations, Emma has also worked as a technical college instructor, has worked on curriculum development for enterprise clients, and successfully run her own business, Design to Theme, which provided widely acclaimed Drupal training and digital workbooks. Emma has been teaching internet technology since 2002. She is the author of [Front End Drupal](https://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0137136692) and [Drupal User's Guide](https://www.amazon.com/Drupal-Users-Guide-Administering-Drupal-Powered/dp/0137041292), a contributor to [Linux Desktop Hacks](https://www.amazon.com/Linux-Desktop-Hacks-Customizing-Optimizing/dp/0596009119), [Drupal's Building Blocks](https://www.amazon.com/Drupals-Building-Blocks-Quickly-Panels/dp/0321591313), and has written articles for [USENIX](https://www.usenix.org/), [Drupal WatchDog](http://www.drupalwatchdog.net/), [Linux Pro Magazine](https://www.linuxpromagazine.com), and [24 Ways](https://24ways.org/).

Emma encourages non-traditional participation in technology through craft and believes that everyone is capable of mastering the tools that surround them. To help engage new ways of participating in technology, she open sourced one of her knitting patterns so that you can make your very own [Drupal Socks](https://emmajane.net/craft/drupal) (as featured in [CRAFTzine](http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2008/08/drupal_knitting_charts.html)).

Emma lives with her husband in Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada, where she has run for office in the Green Party, raises bees, and enjoys sipping on a nice single malt Scotch whiskey.