The Emerging Impact of Open Source Program Offices (Open to All)

Most would probably agree; open source software has long played an integral role on campuses supporting administrative computing, research, teaching and learning, and even student projects. While campuses are veracious open source adopters, multiple contemporary enterprise applications--valued globally--have origins in universities, highlighting campuses are also enthusiastic open source developers. These solutions include the Apache HTTP server, Drupal CMS, Eclipse IDE, FreeBSD OS, GNU/Linux OS, Moodle LMS, MySQL database, Python programming language, Jupyter Notebooks, QGIS, R programming language, Sakai LMS, and many more. One might even argue free and open source software emerged from higher education.

While many may consider open source software "old news," sparked by industry trends, generous funding from the Sloan Foundation, and recent legislative developments, a new phenomenon--The Open Source Program Office--has appeared on campuses. Carnegie Mellon, George Washington, Johns Hopkins, Madison College & UW–Madison, Rochester Institute of Technology, Saint Louis University, Syracuse, UC Santa Cruz, and the University of Vermont now have OSPOS, with more on the way.

This session, sponsored by EDUCAUSE's Openness Community Group, will introduce the concept, share significant drivers, and present the potential value of OSPOs.