For the Open Development: Building an Engaged Community Workshop, December
2009
OSS Watch produces a variety of material related to open source software all of which
is available from the OSS Watch website. We have gathered here a taster selection of
our material exploring the idea of community with the focus on building an open
source community. Note: each of the suggested articles contain plenty of links
for further reading so you can explore even further by following the links at
the end of each briefing note.
-
Avoiding abandon-ware: getting to grips with the
open development method
- Open source is more than a style of licence. The Open Source Initiative's
homepage tells us that "Open source is a development method for software that
harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process."
Paul Anderson of Intelligent Content explores this idea by examining the open
development method.
-
Meritocrats, cluebats and the open
development method: an interview with Justin Erenkrantz
- OSS Watch managed to secure an interview with Justin Erenkrantz, President of
The Apache Software Foundation, whilst he was in the UK attending an OSS Watch
expert workshop. Take a look to find out Justin's thoughts and pragmatic views
on open development and its relationship to open source.
-
How to build an open source
community
- Having an open source licence is not enough to bring users and developers to
your project. You need an active and supportive community too. Matthew Mascord
looks at what makes a successful open source community.
-
Sustainable open source
- Sustainability has never been a more important factor in open source projects
and community is key. Ross Gardler examines some of the models by which an open
source project can become sustainable.
-
EduApps - a case study in
sustainability
- EduApps is a collection of open source and freeware Windows programs that can
be run directly from a USB memory stick. OSS Watch engaged in a detailed
consultation with EduApps as part of our strategic project work and as a result
we have a clear understanding of their attitude to sustainability and open
development. Steve Lee tells the story.
-
A guide to participating in an open source software
community
- Participating in an open source software development community could be intimidating. But it need not be. Stuart Yeates considers some steps you can take to get the most out of your participation.
It is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 England & Wales licence.
OSS Watch is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee.