Securing the Next Grant: Early Insights on Aligning FOSS and Funders
UD2.218A | Day 1 | 15:00 - 15:30 | Speakers: Georg Link, Johan Linåker, Kevin Lumbard
Abstract
The open source funding landscape is changing. Funders struggle to effectively measure and communicate the impact of their programs beyond case-by-case stories. This disconnect threatens the long-term sustainability of funding and thus the sustainability of FOSS. We spent the last year talking with FOSS funding organizations and grant recipients to understand their approach to grant funding, impact reporting, and FOSS sustainability. We also sought to understand the disconnect between the needs of FOSS projects and what funders can provide.
In this talk, we share early insights from our interviews. We will share current funder challenges, like differentiating between reactive vs. proactive impact reporting and translating technical outcomes into policy-maker language. Interestingly, we’re are hosting a workshop here at FOSDEM with FOSS funders to co-design on a shared Funding Impact Taxonomy and Measurement Guidelines co-designed. We will share with the audience the the latest learnings and offer a space for further discussion. We may not bring any solutions but we will advance the dialog, so that funders and FOSS projects can better understand each other.
Speakers
Georg Link is an Open Source Strategist. Georg’s mission is to help open source projects, communities, and companies become more professional in their use of metrics and analytics. Georg cofounded the Linux Foundation CHAOSS Project to advance analytics and metrics for open source project health. Georg has 20 years of experience as an active contributor to several open source projects and has presented on open source topics at 50+ conferences. As the Director of Sales at Bitergia, Georg helps organizations and communities obtain professional metrics and analytics to solve their business needs effectively and efficiently. In his spare time, Georg enjoys reading fiction and scuba diving.
Software Engineering researcher supporting industry and public sector in growing interoperability, open innovation and strategic autonomy through the use of open technologies.
Kevin Lumbard is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Creighton University. Kevin’s PhD is in Information Technology and Human Centered Computing. His work focuses on the sociotechnical aspects of design, which assumes both social and technical factors influence the design, functionality, and usage of technology. He is a former web developer and a certified project manager. Kevin’s research explores open source software development, corporate engagement with open source communities, and the health of open source communities. He uses engaged field work and trace data analysis to research open source software communities and the changing nature of technology work. Kevin’s work has been published in ISJ, CSCW, CAIS, HICSS, IDETC, IEEE Computer, and SoHeal. Kevin is a charter member and board member of the Linux Foundation’s Community Health Analytics OSS Project (CHAOSS) https://chaoss.community/.
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