dalziel OSS

Community and Open Source Activity in Higher Education James DalzielProfessor of Learning Technology Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE)Macquarie University james@melcoe.mq.edu.auwww.melcoe.mq.edu.auChief Investigator,Australian Service for Knowledge of Open Source Software (ASK-OSS)www.ask-oss.mq.edu.auPresentation for Sakai Partners Open Seminar, March 23rd, 2006, University of Melbourne,: 

Community and Open Source Activity in Higher Education James Dalziel Professor of Learning Technology Macquarie E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE) Macquarie University james@melcoe.mq.edu.au www.melcoe.mq.edu.au Chief Investigator, Australian Service for Knowledge of Open Source Software (ASK-OSS) www.ask-oss.mq.edu.au Presentation for Sakai Partners Open Seminar, March 23rd, 2006, University of Melbourne,

Overview: 

Overview About community source and open source software (OSS) Adoption of open source in higher education Introducing ASK-OSS Current OSS issues in higher education

About open source software: 

About open source software What is open source software? Formal definition provided by the Open Source Institute Formal accreditation of licenses - 'OSI Certified' 'Community source' is a name given to several Mellon-funded education sector open source projects, focus on a particular development and partnership model, but using an OSI license Typical elements of open source licenses Attribution Publicly available source code (typically without charge) Disclaimer of all liability/warranty Freedom to view, use, change and redistribute source code Some licenses require redistribution under same license

About open source software: 

About open source software A related term is 'free software' (free as in freedom) Similar, but not the same definition, as open source Free software includes a focus on the ethics of sharing; open source tends to focus more on pragmatics of adoption Sometimes collectively described as 'Free and Open Source Software' (FOSS) While the license is central to defining open source, there are other important dimensions, such as: Open development processes Open source business models/sustainability of open source Open source culture (meritocracy, open robust debate, etc)

About open source software: 

About open source software Open source software/free software has its origins deeply rooted in higher education/research Key role of universities and researchers in the earliest developments of software and the internet (MIT, Berkeley) More recently, both Linux and Apache (and many other projects) and OSS licenses have university/research related origins Today, some areas of higher education are open source, others are mostly closed, and others are changing Mainly open: E-Research software (eg Grid), various infrastructure Mainly closed: Finance/HR, Student Information, Desktops Changing: Learning Management Systems (LMS), Browsers

Examples of OSS in HE: 

Examples of OSS in HE Desktop Limited operating system and office productivity adoption (but growing number of trials) Growing browser adoption since Firefox release Limited collaboration (email, calendar, etc) Various niche applications (eg, encryption)

Examples of OSS in HE: 

Examples of OSS in HE Infrastructure Apache web server dominant Linux operating system widely adopted MySQL and PostgresSQL becoming common databases for small-medium scale use Tomcat, JBoss, Zope and other similar systems becoming common for application platforms Perl/PHP/Python programming languages Various open source utilities common (Eclipse IDE, Squid proxy cache, CAS/Libproxy/etc for single sign on, OpenLDAP for directory, Federated Identity and Access using Shibboleth, etc)

Examples of OSS in HE: 

Examples of OSS in HE Core education applications Learning Management Systems: Moodle, Sakai, .LRN, ATutor, etc Portal: uPortal Content Management Systems: Plone, Joomla, Lon-capa Community systems: OpenACS/.LRN, Drupal Content authoring: Reload, eXe Repositories: DSpace, Fedora, EPrints Learning Design: LAMS, Coppercore Others: Blogs, Wikis, etc

Examples of OSS in HE: 

Examples of OSS in HE Summary: Desktop – limited OSS impact, some trials Infrastructure – significant OSS adoption, dominant in some areas OSS Educational applications – mixed Limited in some areas (Finance/HR, Student Information Systems, Library) Changing in other areas (LMS, CMS, Portal) Already dominant in some (Repositories, Learning Design)

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ASK-OSS: Overview: 

ASK-OSS: Overview DEST-funded project in the MERRI round of SII www.ask-oss.mq.edu.au Provides a national focal point for OSS assistance for E-Research Advice, management, governance and dissemination Modelled on the successful 'OSS Watch' JISC Service at Oxford (also a partner for ASK-OSS) Complementary to, but different from, open content initiatives such as Creative Commons Software focus

ASK-OSS: Priorities: 

ASK-OSS: Priorities ASK-OSS provides unbiased, pragmatic advice/guidance to researchers on: selection of appropriate OSS for research choosing appropriate OSS licenses management/governance for OSS development (potentially) a national service for storage and community development of OSS (using GForge) NB: Does not provide formal legal advice

ASK-OSS: Partners: 

ASK-OSS: Partners Lead: Macquarie University (MELCOE) Experience with OSS from LAMS, MAMS, etc Open Source Law Specialist legal firm in OSS issues Open Source Industry Association (OSIA) Australia’s industry body for OSS OSS Watch (Oxford, on behalf of JISC, UK) UK Advisory Service for OSS

Some OSS Issues in HE: 

Some OSS Issues in HE Business models and sustainability Eg, 'Can I restrict my OSS to non-commercial use only? No – breaches 'no restriction on fields of endeavour' (clause 6) of the Open Source Definition (OSI) 'Which license should I choose for my new project?' Depends on your values, community and goals Eg, GPL is most widely used, but consider its 'reciprocity' clause 'What is community source? Is it the same as open source?' For Sakai, OSPI – yes; the difference is the development model 'My CIO won’t consider OSS because there is no support' Most OSS projects have active web support communities As an OSS system becomes widely adopted, commercial services arise to provide paid support contracts similar to commercial support Red Hat Linux, MySQL Network, Moodle Partners, LAMS International, etc