NISO Virtual Conference Open Source Software Camden Opening Keynote
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This presentation by Beth Camden, University of Pennsylvania, was the opening talk at the NISO Virtual Conference, February 17, on the topic of Using Open Source In Your Institution
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NISO Virtual Conference Open Source Software Camden Opening Keynote
- 1. THE OPEN SOURCE LANDSCAPE Beth Picknally Camden University of Pennsylvania February 2016 Photo source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/small_realm/
- 2. What is Open Source Software? Open-source software is computer software with its source code made available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software
- 3. Open Source ≠ Free Photo sources: https://www.flickr.com/photos/evilsivan/ ; https://www.flickr.com/photos/rofanator/
- 5. Open Source Licenses • Different categories of licenses: • Apache • GNU GPL • MIT • Others… • http://choosealicense.com/
- 6. Open Source Communities • Communities growing around software • Developer communities • Coming together to solve problems • Forming groups as new needs identified • Communities established to create software • Formal governance structures • Membership fees &/or required contributions
- 7. Roles for non-developers • Governance • Analysis • Specifications • Scoping • Testing • Implementation • Documentation • Training • Communications • Participate in community discussions
- 8. Drawbacks & Costs • ‘Hidden’ costs: implementation, administration & support • Developer-centric • Learning curve • Compatibility issues • Orphan software • Time
- 9. Benefits & Strengths • Flexibility, Customizable • Quality, Continuous improvement • Freedom from vendor lock-in • Voice at the table • Try before you buy • Cost • Support options • Community
- 10. Decision-making • Rethinking the RFP • Ask the right questions: • Your requirements • Level of support • Trade-offs • Role of the community • Consider hybrid models • Right sourcing
- 11. More information • https://opensource.com/ • Free/Open Source Software for LIBRARIES https://www.foss4lib.org/ • Open Source Initiative https://opensource.org/ • The Cathedral and the Bazaar http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/cathedral- bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ • Free Software Foundation http://www.fsf.org/
Editor's Notes
- My OS background : Kuali OLE (Open Library Environment) project ; on the Functional Council for 5+ years ; currently serving as chair
- I want to recognize upfront that some of you have a specific philosophy of Open Source software and are passionate about it. I’m trying to be neutral and somewhat general in my approach. So my apologies in advance if I step on any philosophic toes Unpacking this definition -software (although some would apply OS to other things) -source code (programmers can get into the guts; can see how it works) - not true of commercial -license with rights (more about that later) -study, change & distribute (study—how it works; change—what it does; distribute the changes) -to anyone -for any purpose (maybe something not originally intended)
- Open Source is not Free ; or rather it is free like Kittens (not beer) -when you adopt a kitten you agree to take on the responsibility of care & feeding, vet visits, etc. -when you adopt open source, you also need to consider things other than cost (more on this later) We have this vision of the programmer in the basement ; throwing free software out into the wild but OS is much more than that …
- Open source is everywhere: Behind the scenes software like: Linux, Apache, web tools such as: Drupal, Omeka Library management systems: Evergreen, Koha, Kuali OLE Discovery tools: Blacklight, VuFind, Repository tools: Hydra, Fedora, And others VIVO, Metridoc, and many more
- I AM NOT AN EXPERT Apache – allows for some commercial uses ; patents GPL – requirement for sharing all your changes ; license inheritance MIT –”simple and permissive”
- Different flavors of OS communities 1) -Developer-based communities ; coming together to solve problems -Meritocracy – good solutions/ideas are adopted -more free-form ; creating teams as needed to work on projects 2) Library OS projects tend towards more formal governance Examples: -Hydra – 3 way governance (Steering; Partners; Developers) “All developers must have a Contributor License Agreement in place before the Project will accept code from them, and all new code is subject to a peer review process.” -Kate: weekly calls open to anyone (tech heavy) ; partners can join by committing time (developer) to the project -VIVO – Leadership group ; Steering group and Committers Group “Anyone may be nominated as a Committer by anyone else. Typically, nominations are made by existing Committers on the basis of sustained contribution to VIVO that indicates an ability to fulfil Committer responsibilities.” You hear more about those projects later in the day -OLE part of Kuali Foundation ; Partners join with formal MOU and pay annual membership fee ; governance groups are formally defined ; project staff ; informal support of other partners ; lots of sub-teams; open list -moving to more open development (agile team) ; we anticipate that this will lead to governance changes ; -source code now on GitHub with a defined contribution process (must have a CLA)
- 10 ways to contribute to an open source project without writing code https://opensource.com/life/13/10/ten-ways-open-source-projects BPC examples from Kuali OLE: Lead SMEs, Business Analysts; spec writing ; testing Some other communities maybe more developer focused, perhaps fewer paths for involvement “Treating your users as co-developers is your least-hassle route to rapid code improvement and effective debugging.” -The Cathedral and the Bazaar by Eric Steven Raymond
- Switching gears here to spend some time thinking about how you decide that OSS is right for your organization http://entrepreneurhandbook.co.uk/open-source-software/ http://www.cioinsight.com/it-strategy/infrastructure/slideshows/five-pros-and-five-cons-of-open-source-software Hidden costs – may not know in advance all the costs Can be developer-centric (for example not thinking about user interface) open source software can tend to evolve more in line with developers’ wishes than the needs of the end user. Learning curve both of developers and users in an implementation May be compatibility issues with other closed source systems which you are using Will you be stuck with “orphan” software if no one else adopts? Time: community-based development takes time ; perhaps more time to implement
- http://www.pcworld.com/article/209891/10_reasons_open_source_is_good_for_business.html Quality ; Reliability (peer-reviewed ; more secure? With many eyes bugs are found sooner and fixed Cost: You already own the software Support options: vendors and/or the community
- RFP – this direction may lock you into commercial vendors John Robinson (SOAS) "Build, Commission or Buy?“ “Right Sourcing” Open source is not always the right answer need to consider ; institution-based decision
- Also thank my colleagues at Penn and in the OLE project Leave this up while we take questions