administrator's blog

The Open Source Initiative® (OSI), the premiere organization working globally to champion open source in society through education, infrastructure and collaboration; announced today that Powering Potential has joined the OSI as an Affiliate Member.

Powering Potential provides access to educational resources on solar-powered computers running open source software at schools in rural Tanzania. The technology initiative works to enhance education and stimulate imagination of students in Tanzania while respecting and incorporating values of the local culture.

In December 2015, the OSI was invited by The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to participate in one of a series of round-tables seeking expertise in drafting the “Federal Source Code Policy – Achieving Efficiency, Transparency, and Innovation through Reusable and Open Source Software." This government-wide policy originated from prior work included in the Second Open Government National Action Plan for the US, requiring U.S.

Recently the Sun published an article by Ryan Sabey (@ryansabey), “UNION HACK Jeremy Corbyn’s digital democracy manifesto ‘would let foreign spooks rob UK'”. The post included several criticisms from government officials and pundits challenging the quality and security of open source software, cautioning readers, “sensitive data could be at risk under Labour leader's plans.”

While many agree on the importance of extending resources to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curricula within K12 education, there isn't always alignment on the best tools or techniques to, as the US Department of Education explains, equip students with the “knowledge and skills to solve tough problems, gather and evaluate evidence, and make sense of information,” or schools and districts with the resources and expertise to “improve the delivery

OSI Board alumnus Simon Phipps recently provided some clarification to FastCo.Design around common misunderstandings related to "sourcing". We've seen more and more of these, although most often--like this example--innocent enough. However, these do provide great opportunities to remind the public about what open source actually is, and why it is so valuable.

The Open Source Initiative welcomes unique community of heath care professionals and open source developers collaborating to transform breathing therapy into games.

New affiliate membership highlights diverse communities of interest supporting open source software beyond programmers.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI), the steward of the Open Source Definition (or OSD), is announcing the affiliate membership of SysArmy. SysArmy, a community of system administrators and IT professionals from Argentina, was founded to provide, "support for those who give support."

The OSI is pleased to announce the results of our 2016 Board of Directors elections, and congratulate our two new Board Directors elected by our Affiliate Members, Molly de Blanc & Italo Vignoli, as well as Josh Simmons, who was elected by our Individual Members.

With just a few days to go in our elections, here’s your gentle reminder to vote on who you would most like to see on the board of the OSI. You have until midnight PST on March 14th, 2016 to do so.

Core community in developing and maintaining the Internet's infrastructure adds it's voice, experience and leadership to open source advocacy.