Dr Foster holds a PhD, did her dissertation about the Linux kernel, and has had a respectably long career in technology with a focus on open source and governance. The topic is literally straight in her professional wheelhouse.
It signals the group of people she belongs to which allows me to make a good prediction of her world view. Similar to how after seeing "Since the beginning of history, Foster began, those in power have tended to use it against those who were weaker.", I already knew the type of person who was giving the talk and seeing a picture of her did not surprise me in the least.
>holds a PhD, did her dissertation about the Linux kernel
But it's not about Linix's scheduler, nor it's network stack. It's not technical at all. "Understanding Collaboration in Fluid Organizations, a Proximity Approach" is about looking at collaboration for the development of Linux.
>Why is open source longevity and viability not on-topic for LWN discussion?
Because LWN should focus on the Linux kernel and not about "evil companies" running other projects changing their licenses.
FOSS beyond Linux itself is still explicitly on-topic by the site's own self-description.
But we all know what this was about anyway. Good luck to you out there.