“In this day and age where technology is being used a little bit maliciously, or misused, I saw an opportunity to actually be able to use technology to help society.” - Jara Rodriguez
Public Inventor Jara Rodriguez is a graduate from a TU Dublin software engineering masters degree program, and is a new member of the GOSQAS and GDT projects. Inspired by his capstone project, where he monitored dark patterns on X, he has developed a passion for creating software that will support its users and solve problems.
While looking for new opportunities after his graduation in March, 2025, Rodriguez came across Public Invention. He connected with its mission to help society through innovation and technology, and reached out in the hopes of joining an open-source project.
“I actually found out [about Public Invention] via a LinkedIn post that was mentioning that they're trying to create software for society,” Rodriguez said. “In this day and age where technology is being used a little bit maliciously, or misused, I saw an opportunity to actually be able to use technology to help society.”
Rodriguez has quickly become an invaluable member of the GOSQAS team as they continue to develop GDT, new functionalities, and the website. His expertise in ethical technology, built from his time working on a software extension that would monitor X for dark patterns, supported his contributions in this area and his motivations as an inventor.
Academic Studies: Dark patterns on X
Rodriguez’s capstone project about dark patterns on X first opened his eyes to the need for more ethical technologies. With a team of fellow graduate students, Rodriguez studied social media tactics that pushed users to engage with content, or perform some other action, that they would not otherwise choose. These dark patterns were pervasive, including infinite scrolling, the automatic playing of videos, and popup notifications. These tactics promoted the mindless consumption of content, rather than allowing the user to freely choose each video or post.
“For my capstone project in my master's, I did a project which was an extension to be able to detect dark patterns on Twitter [X],” Rodriguez said. “That really opened my eyes to how insidious software can be made, especially with current Twitter.”
Rodriguez focused on detecting a more obscure dark pattern, however. The extension he developed monitored the promotion of emotionally manipulative language that would make the user feel as though they had to respond.
“The main dark pattern that we were focused on was [where X] essentially tried to feed you posts that would cause you to engage. So, with the elections, things like that, [they were] trying to get you heated,” Rodriguez said. “We had an AI hooked up to try to conduct sentiment analysis on posts to determine if the language was provocative, essentially, and trying to get you to react and interact.”
GOSQAS Contributions and Team Dynamic
With this background, Rodriguez graduated with a desire to work on software that would counteract these examples of misuse and promote human flourishing. Thus, when he discovered GOSQAS, he connected with its goal to promote quality assurance for open-source, and independently created hardware devices. He noted that it would allow for a wider scope of uses in the future, however.
“I'm working on GOSQAS, which is an open-source provenance tracker and essentially tracks the history of [an object],” Rodriguez said. “Currently, we've been focusing on medical devices, but I think we're going to be opening it up for anybody to use it, for the most part. It tracks the history of the item and the quality, quantity, things like that. If an object gets misplaced or missing or defective or damaged, you can post updates.”
The GOSQAS team has been building new aspects of the website, and recently launched an API to test that users could access their records without going directly through the interface each time. Additionally, Rodriguez’s team has been working on a notification system that will alert users when applicable.
“Right now, we're making a notification system so that people can actually get notifications regarding updates to records,” Rodriguez said. “You don't have to constantly check the link to that record to see if somebody reported a damaged item. They can just get notified via email directly and maintain it that way.”
Rodriguez also highlighted the importance of the GOSQAS team and mentors, including Robert Read, Victoria Jaqua, Christina Cole, and Vincent Steffens. Collaboration is one of open-source engineering’s largest advantages over other kinds of development efforts, and the GOSQAS team highlights this dynamic in practice.
“It’s been nice speaking with Robert [and] Victoria,” Rodriguez said. “Vincent is basically the technical lead for all of GOSQAS right now and speaking to him is always insightful. He always has something to talk about, and I can always talk to him about any new tech developments or software innovations that are going on. Just bouncing ideas off him is always great.”
The GOSQAS team continues to grow and develop their technologies, as well as create new partnerships with other open-source organizations such as Distributed Medical Device Manufacturing (DMDM). The GDT and their website have tracked tourniquets in Ukraine, Sudan, and beyond, and will continue to reach further users and support their needs.
Internet and Software Technology: A Powerful Tool and the Need for Ethics
“That is what got me interested in Public Invention...Just trying to improve society through open-source software [after] seeing how pervasive technology is in our life.” - Jara Rodriguez
Thus, through working on GOSQAS, Rodriguez has promoted technology that connects with his values and aims to be used for good. He has also connected with a diverse team and set of mentors, and learned how best to put his academic skills into practice. This latter benefit helped him develop his confidence as a talented software engineer and innovator.
“[GOSQAS has] helped me in regards to actually knowing how software development teams outside of college work,” Rodriguez said. “I guess I didn't realize that until I actually got here, and I'm like, ‘Okay, I can actually do this. I know this.’”
Most of all, however, it is the values of Public Invention and the open-source movement in general which Rodriguez has connected with and continues to pursue. His experience studying dark patterns on social media, and his passion for software, have both supported the formation of these values and the skillsets to promote them.
“That is what got me interested in Public Invention,” Rodriguez said. “Just trying to improve society through open-source software [after] seeing how pervasive technology is in our life.”
Like GOSQAS, there are many open-source engineering projects which seek to promote technology that benefits the users above all, and which run counter to manipulative tactics like X’s dark patterns. Volunteers like Rodriguez make this mission possible, and continue to develop projects for the good of those around them. Their education, passion, and inner mission all support Public Invention’s goals to invent in the public, for the Public, and for the greater good.