Impactful Open Source Richard Littauer

Guests:


Ken Udas


Georg Link


Notes:


Hello and welcome to Impactful Open Source, the podcast where we talk about using open source code to make an impact on the world at large, in particular through cities, universities, or governments. Today, I have two special guests, Ken Udas, who is the Program Officer at Open Source Technology Management Program at Brandeis University, where he has been founding a new course on open source, and Georg Link, one of the teachers there and the Director of Sales at Bitergia and Founder of the CHAOSS Project. We will learn all about the program at Brandeis University and how it works and the how the courses were designed into three areas. Also, we find out how Brandeis fits into the open source ecosystem in the next five to ten years and the flexible model they are using to help. Download this episode now to find out more!


[00:01:25] Ken tells us about the program at Brandeis University and how it works.


[00:03:55] Richard asks Ken to clarify about his motivations. Since open source program offices are run by one or two people, there’s not many in the world and it’s a problem, so what he’s trying to solve is figuring out how do we get more people to run these offices, and he’s not trying to get more people making open source software.


[00:06:54] Ken and Georg share with us the hands-on stuff they are teaching the students, about the mentors they have, and how they designed the courses in three areas: Community, Production, and Business.


[00:12:05] Richard asks Georg if all of the resources are open source, if it’s all viewable anywhere, and if he can see the presentation mock-ups.


[00:13:25] Richard wonders what’s the level of open source that Ken and Georg work with. Georg tells us about the experts that he’s pulled in when he designed the community. We also learn how many students they have.


[00:17:16] Ken tells us how he thinks Brandeis will fit into the open source ecosystem in the next five to ten years. He explains a model that they put together to be flexible.


[00:23:25] Georg mentions one of the cool things he’s noticed just from the first few courses is the importance of connecting the learners with open source ecosystem.


[00:25:01] Richard wants to know how they realized that there’s nobody to do this work, and how did they have the idea to have a university course.


[00:29:36] Find out where you can learn more about the program and where you can find Ken and Georg on the internet.


Links:



Ken Udas- Latent Pattern Transmission
Ken Udas Twitter
Georg Link Website
Georg Link Twitter
CHAOSS
CHAOSScast podcast
Bitergia
Brandeis -Open Source Technology Management
OSI (Open Source Initiative)
Special Guests: Georg Link and Ken Udas.

Guest

Philippe Bareille


Show Notes

Hello and welcome to Impactful Open Source, the podcast where we talk about starting with source code and ending with societal change. Today, my special guest is Philippe Bareille, who works for the city of Paris as a Technical Project Manager. We learn all about the Lutece Project, how many people work on the project and in general for the city, what it does for the citizens in Paris, how the governance works, and how are they collaborating internationally using open source with Johns Hopkins University and the city of Budapest. As a city, Paris has an obligation to provide services effectively to its citizens - here, we talk about how it is using open source to do that effectively. Download this episode now to find out more!



[00:01:00] Philippe introduces himself and he talks about how big his department is and what he does there.
[00:02:07] We learn all about the Lutece Project from Philippe, and he tells us that they've open sourced the entire CMS.
[00:05:13] Find out what Lutece does for the citizens.
[00:10:28] Richard wonders how Philippe makes sure the maintenance doesn’t cost too much and if he collaborates with other cities and other people on this platform. Philippe also talks about how the governance works and how Budapest is collaborating with them.
[00:14:02] Since Budapest is in Hungary, Richard is curious as to what language the docs are written in and if Philippe is working with any cities in English speaking countries. Philippe does mention they are currently working with Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
[00:16:10] Philippe tells us a success story with Lutece.
[00:18:25] Richard is curious to know how Philippe keeps the project from running into bureaucratic roadblocks and how does he get the coders to set their roadmaps and align with the bureaucrat’s roadmap for what needs to go on because it sounds like it would be difficult.
[00:21:26] Philippe tells us how many people he has working in the immediate project, how many people in general for the city, and how many contributors are on the program, which is on GitHub.
[00:22:40] Richard asks Philippe is he’s ever hired anyone who’s just contributed to the project to keep working on the project because they’ve just done a good job, even if it’s not necessarily in Paris.
[00:26:09] Find out here where you can get involved, where to learn more about Lutece, and more about Philippe, who is also a photographer for rock bands.


Links


Philippe Bareille Twitter
Philippe Bareille Instagram
Philippe Bareille Flickr
Lutece Project
Lutece Core
Lutece (Open Source Management Framework)-GitHub


Credits


Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Philippe Bareille.

Guest

Stephen Jacobs


Show Notes

My guest today is Stephen Jacobs, a Professor in the School of Interactive Games and Media at Rochester and the Director of Open@RIT. Find out what Open@RIT is and how Stephen got into his open source journey. We also learn how Stephen Jacobs started an Open Source Program Office at RIT, the grant that was given to him by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and more about the Critical Digital Infrastructure Program.


[00:01:00] Stephen tells us what Open@RIT is and how he got into open source.


[00:03:44] We learn about Stephen’s involvement in One Laptop per Child and how he got his students involved.


[00:07:38] Stephen tells the story of how he went to the VP of Research at RIT and told him he wanted to start an Open Source Program Office.


[00:09:45] Richard is curious to know from Stephen the scale of Open@RIT.


[00:12:04] Stephen explains how an OSPO (Open Source Program Office) works on a day to day basis.


[00:18:23] We find out about the students at RIT and how they own their own IP. Also, what projects are happening at RIT right now and what collaborations does Stephen have already that he thinks will blossom under this.


[00:23:56] Richard wonders if Stephen thinks it’s an advantage for him being a non-research based professor and if this particular placement has helped him along with this.


[00:28:49] Stephen tells us all about the grant given to him by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and he explains all about the Critical Digital Infrastructure Program with the Ford Foundation and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.


[00:36:08] Find out where you can find Stephen on the internet and learn more about Open@RIT.


Links


Stephen Jacobs-RIT
sj@magic.rit.edu (email)
One Laptop per Child
Rochester Institute of Technology
Ford Foundation-Critical Digital Infrastructure Research
OSPO ++
Open@RIT
Election Day Hackathon at RIT


Credits


Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Stephen Jacobs.

Guest

Sayeed Choudhury


Show Notes

Today, my guest is Sayeed Choudhury, who works at Johns Hopkins University and lives in Baltimore. He tells us the interesting work he’s done with his open source program office at Johns Hopkins. He also talks about the four pillars of academia, and all the work that Johns Hopkins has done in helping with COVID - one being the COVID Map, which started as a research project and has become a worldwide resource. Also, we learn how Johns Hopkins is helping the St. Francis Neighborhood Center in Baltimore.


[00:00:51] Sayeed’s been doing some interesting work on setting up the OSPO at Johns Hopkins, so he tells us what that is and how he’s done it.


[00:03:50] Richard wonders if the law was made yet regarding uses of open source, and Sayeed explains there is a whole broad category of open access and open scholarship which the conversation has focused around articles.


[00:09:25] Sayeed talks about how OSPO fits into the four pillars used to measure university impact.


[00:13:58] We learn that Johns Hopkins University has done a tremendous amount in helping with COVID. Sayeed explains further about the group he led that supported the COVID Map and something they are piloting with the city of Paris, France, to help out the St. Francis Neighborhood Center in West Baltimore.


[00:17:55] Richard wonders how Sayeed incentivized the university to work on live tests, and how that worked.


[00:21:42] Sayeed talks about a group of students at Hopkins focused on open source that did research on homeless shelters and more specific questions that need to be asked before placing them in a shelter.


[00:23:38] Sayeed talked about how Lutece is being used for homeless shelters.


[00:24:51] Richard asks Sayeed what else can OSPOs do for the city at large and is there anything you can do besides collaborate with local places like St. Francis, or are there ways of getting citizens more connected with the university. Sayeed mentions something that they just recently launched with the hospital.


[00:31:47] One of the classic problems in open source is how to incentivize maintainers in the long haul. Sayeed gives us his feedback.


[00:35:24] Sayeed tells us about the COVID Map and where it’s used. This is a great example of research is having tremendous impact and a great example of how openness can be an important dimension in it.


[00:39:56] Sayeed tells us where you can follow Johns Hopkins University open source program office, where you can follow him on the internet, and where you can get plugged in and learn more.


Links


Sayeed Choudhury Twitter
JOSS (Journal of Open Source Software)
[Library Lutece Unit Testing-GitHub](https://github.com/lutece-platform
lutece-test-library-lutece-unit-testing)
St. Francis Neighborhood Center
COVID-19 Map-Johns Hopkins University
ESRI
Baltimore Washington Open Source
People’s Homesteading Group-Baltimore, MD


Credits


Produced by Richard Littauer
Edited by Paul M. Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Show notes by DeAnn Bahr at Peachtree Sound
Special Guest: Sayeed Choudhury.

Here, I cover what I am planning with this podcast: how I want to talk about open source that has gone through institutions, governments, cities, OSPOs, NGOs, universities, and everything in between to make a difference in the world.