(Engagement Goal) Support open source communities

Description

This activity is about engaging with institutional representatives of the open source world.

It is achieved through:

• Joining OSS foundations (including the financial cost of membership).
• Supporting, advocating foundations activities.

This activity involves allocating the development and IT teams some time and budget to participate in open source communities.

Opportunity Assessment

Open source communities are at the forefront of the evolution of the open source ecosystem. Engaging with open source communities has several advantages:

• it helps keep informed and up to date,
• it enhances the profile of the organisation,
• membership comes with benefits,
• it provides additional structure and motivation to the open source IT team.

Costs include:

• membership fees,
• personnel time and some travel budget allocated to participate in community activities,
• monitoring of IP commitment.

Progress Assessment

The following verification points demonstrate progress in this Activity:

• The organisation is a signed member of an open source foundation.
• The organisation participates in the governance.
• Software developed by the organisation is submitted to / has been added to the code base of a foundation.
• Membership is acknowledged on the websites of both the organisation and the community.
• Performed cost/benefit assessment of the membership.
• A contact point for the community has been appointed.

Recommendations

• Join a community compatible with your size and resources, i.e., a community that can hear your voice and where you can be a recognized contributor.

Resources

• Check out this useful page from the Linux Foundation on the why and how to join an open source community.