[@OKau] How can we fund important Open Source projects?

Tue Nov 10 21:04:18 UTC 2015

Steven's question piqued my curiosity about how OKFN projects fund & sustain themselves and the role and extent of volunteer developers in open source projects. I'm interested to find out how many paid staff OKFN has and an estimation of volunteer devs but was not able to find such information in the Annual Report or accounts. Perhaps this is a list of all the paid staff https://okfn.org/about/team/

[https://d22739b8qd5enr.cloudfront.net/media/cache/36/39/36390beccdcc5c1b2e056b455bfd3633.jpg]<https://okfn.org/about/team/>

Open Knowledge: Team
Cecile joined Open Knowledge in 2015 and is coordinating EU-funded projects related to Open Government and Open Science, such as building a financial transparency ...
Read more...<https://okfn.org/about/team/>

Nor was there a breakdown in the accounts PDF image of grants other than a division between 'restricted' and 'unrestricted' grants with no explanation of these terms.

https://d22739b8qd5enr.cloudfront.net/media/cms_page_media/61/OpenKnowledgeSignedYearEndAccountsMay2014.pdf

There's no breakdown of donations either but perhaps this is reported elsewhere.

I'm curious to know whether the issues Steven is experiencing are specific to CKAN or whether they are indicative of the issues faced by all open source projects or whether they are specific to a certain type of open source project? I would suspect that an answer to Steven's question 'How can we fund important Open Source projects?' involves an analysis of this. My understanding (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that CKAN is the original and therefore most mature OKFN project, having been moved through the roadmap to become an independent project- that still relies on OKFN in some ways.

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
________________________________________
 NoFibs.com.au<http://nofibs.com.au> - Open Data Reporter | OpenAus<https://openaus.net.au> - Founder and Developer

________________________________
From: okfn-au <okfn-au-bounces at lists.okfn.org> on behalf of Steven De Costa <steven.decosta at linkdigital.com.au>
Sent: Tuesday, 10 November 2015 7:07 PM
To: Open Knowledge discussion list for Australia.
Subject: Re: [@OKau] How can we fund important Open Source projects?

I don't have that knowledge :)

But, with a new CEO and advertised COO position I suspect OK international is in a process of remapping such stuff.

CKAN is no longer an 'Open Knowledge' project but a CKAN Association assisted open source project that should now be self sustainable. Reality in concept is somewhat different to reality in practice as there are people and groups holding more of the weight than others, one such group being open knowledge International's services practice.

I suspect OK international will have roadmaps for each project that incubate each toward a self sustainable model. Or, if their job is done, retire projects as required. Volunteers and international collaboration are a massive part of all projects from what I've seen. Orchestration of the community to rally around certain projects is likely funded from various sources over time (sponsors, grants, donors, philanthropic organisations, etc).

This is the type of discussion I think would be best had via discuss.okfn.org<http://discuss.okfn.org> :) Then other folks within country and region specific groups or chapters would be able to share their understanding. And the new CEO for OK international can also jump in if more clarity is needed.

Cheers,
Steven

On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, Rosie Williams <BudgetAus at hotmail.com<mailto:BudgetAus at hotmail.com>> wrote:

To what extent do OKN projects rely on volunteer coders to continue?

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
________________________________________
 NoFibs.com.au<http://nofibs.com.au> - Open Data Reporter | OpenAus<https://openaus.net.au> - Founder and Developer

________________________________
From: okfn-au <okfn-au-bounces at lists.okfn.org> on behalf of Steven De Costa <steven.decosta at linkdigital.com.au>
Sent: Tuesday, 10 November 2015 3:22 PM
To: Open Knowledge discussion list for Australia.
Subject: Re: [@OKau] How can we fund important Open Source projects?

Agree with Paul - hackathons wont work for CKAN, but doing a sprint attached to a CKANcon each year will bring people together and help with collaboration through the remainder of the year.

Yep - I've had a look at some of the platform options.

I think I might have an approach that is very different which I'll discuss with the steering group members soon. If they don't think it is too crazy them we might do some experiments.

But as I've said in the original post, we have an existing business plan which is based on a sponsorship model that is setup and ready to go :) Other options are more about providing additional mechanisims to support the project so that we maximise innovation and keep it at the forefront of data management systems. Specifically as a FOSS option.

Cheers,
Steven

STEVEN DE COSTA | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
www.linkdigital.com.au<http://www.linkdigital.com.au/>

[http://www.linkdigital.com.au/email/logo-apn-acp-agp.png]  [https://association.drupal.org/files/Drupal_Association_sup_partner_80.png]  [http://www.linkdigital.com.au/email/ckan_association.jpg]

On 10 November 2015 at 15:06, Paul Walsh <paulywalsh at gmail.com> wrote:
Rosie, CKAN is a large code base with a fairly long commit history. It is not a great candidate for hackathons (complexity, onboarding, not fun).

Steven, are you aware of the various platforms to support open source development like https://gratipay.com/ ?

On 10 Nov 2015, at 1:13 AM, Rosie Williams <BudgetAus at hotmail.com> wrote:

I don't often recommend hackfests but wouldn't that be a way to get stuff done on CKAN?

Rosie Williams BA (Sociology)
________________________________________
 NoFibs.com.au<http://nofibs.com.au/> - Open Data Reporter | OpenAus<https://openaus.net.au/> - Founder and Developer

________________________________
From: okfn-au <okfn-au-bounces at lists.okfn.org> on behalf of Steven De Costa <steven.decosta at linkdigital.com.au>
Sent: Saturday, 7 November 2015 11:41 AM
To: A List for Open Knowledge Networks in Australia.
Subject: [@OKau] How can we fund important Open Source projects?

I wrote this from the perspective of a commercial company owner/operator but am very interested in a more broad perspective from those who value the for-good benefit of open data.
https://discuss.okfn.org/t/a-market-of-donors-beneficiaries-and-contributors-for-ckan-features/1534?u=starl3n
Would you put $5 toward a github pull request every so often and help fund developers around the world in making contributions toward open source projects?
Please note I've raise the potential of running a trial via OK Australia's books if there was interest, so such a thing would be pending approval from our executive Board :)
Cheers,
Steven

STEVEN DE COSTA | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
www.linkdigital.com.au<http://www.linkdigital.com.au/>

[http://www.linkdigital.com.au/email/logo-apn-acp-agp.png]  [https://association.drupal.org/files/Drupal_Association_sup_partner_80.png]  [http://www.linkdigital.com.au/email/ckan_association.jpg]
_______________________________________________
okfn-au mailing list
okfn-au at lists.okfn.org
https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-au
Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-au

_______________________________________________
okfn-au mailing list
okfn-au at lists.okfn.org
https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/okfn-au
Unsubscribe: https://lists.okfn.org/mailman/options/okfn-au

--
STEVEN DE COSTA | EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
www.linkdigital.com.au<http://www.linkdigital.com.au/>

[http://www.linkdigital.com.au/email/logo-apn-acp-agp.png]  [https://association.drupal.org/files/Drupal_Association_sup_partner_80.png]  [http://www.linkdigital.com.au/email/ckan_association.jpg]

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.okfn.org/pipermail/okfn-au/attachments/20151110/4a384292/attachment-0004.html>