Intro to OpenSource Projects & Communities (Plenary)

Owned by Kevin Cussen (Deactivated)
Last updated: Oct 03, 2015 by Sandy Hawley (Deactivated)
3 min read

Description: What do you think an open source community is? What do we want our open source community to be? 

Leads: Dykki, Darius

To Join Remotely: 

Join the call: https://www.uberconference.com/info3285

Optional dial-in number: 716-293-6106

PIN: 63498

Rapporteur/Notetaker: Sandy Hawley

Notes from Session:

  • OpenLMIS Definition- opesource.org exploring key properties - 10 key criteria
  • GPL and APGL- one is politicized model, stronger statement - different than opensource + proprietary code together; this is not the case with OpenLMIS
  • Some shared purpose, some individual purpose - all depends on collaboration
  • Opensource creates a space for sharing, working together
  • Safety net- code is always there; countries always have it, can keep developing it (less risk for end clients)
  • DHIS2 and OMRS iHRIS - platforms evolved from being risky to more standard - supports local ownership, local innovation,  capacity building
  • We want to reinforce ownership with countries - OS enables this in a way proprietary approaches can't
  • OpenLMIS fills gap in supply chain open source technologies
  • OpenHIE- one example of opportunities for interoperability - key opportunities growing the "community of communities"
    • OpenMRS
    • DHIS2
    • iHRIS
    • ODK
    • OpenHIE
    • MoTech
    • CommCare
    • OpenEllis (labs)
    • OpenSRP (smart registry)
    • IVR, Resource Mapper, Rapidpro
  • Question- how do we bring/leverage the other opensource leaders to guide/collaborate with OpenLMIS for shared benefit?

  • GROUP ACTIVITY
    • What is working well?
      • we are all here 
      • working together
      • VIMS- having specific work projects to facilitate coordination 
      • use cases and deployments forced coordination (VIMS)
      • having real use cases and deployments
      • high level comms- everyone knows what everyone else is doing
      • common code base
      • starting to merge
      • increased interest in community
      • collaboration between diverse partners
      • new ideas coming in
      • community calls

    • What isn't working well?
      • how the community operates? lack of understanding
      • living up to the promise 
      • governance overhead is high, facilitation of getting people together
      • collaboration on architecture - how to evolve core from a technical perspective
      • documentation of implementations, how it has evolved
      • visibility and communication- milestones, learning, implementations
      • not enough country involvement - how do you ensure the voice of the consumer is heard?
      • code management
      • forks/forked code; branching (2 repos!)
      • balancing different stakeholder objectives (MOH vs Community)
      • contribution process
      • communication/duplication of effort
      • risk of unknown, role of follow on GHSC-PSM
      • Funding by donors creates power imbalance


    • What should we aspire to do?
      • having evangelists at different levels- donor, tech, country 
      • become a platform
      • resource/connector but not a gatekeeper
      • effective contribution methodology 
      • public, active repo
      • thriving tech community
      • architecture/product support 1-varied country needs; ease of use; low infrastructure environment
      • OpenLMIS Foundation
      • Country involvement in the community (and next community meeting)
      • Shared agreements on how we work together - code; decision; etc.
      • sustainability
      • everyone working from same code base
      • increased client engagement
      • stronger linkages to OpenHIE Community (resource sharing)
      • having opportunities to work together - be planned w/coordination in mind
      • short-term goals vs. long term goals; articulating inculcating these

Artifacts:

 

OpenLMIS: the global initiative for powerful LMIS software