Building eduCommons Sustainability Through Social Sourcing

Creating community around open source software

Tom CaswellProject ManagerOCW Consortium

Photo by dirac3000

The Hewlett Funding Is Over…Now What??

Creating community around open source software

Tom CaswellProject ManagerOCW Consortium

Photo by dirac3000

History of eduCommons

• Started in 2004 at Utah State University• Hewlett funded project• Used by 50+ institutions

      worldwide

eduCommons Today

Critical transition point:• Funding• Development• Stewardship

Risks

Product stagnates

No support No new features

Community splintersPhoto by maxymedia

Opportunities and Challenges

Opportunities:• Leverage existing user base• Collaboratively fund development• Broader open source community

Challenges:Find a way forward that ensures the well being of the project now and in the future. 

Photo by Sunfrog1

What is social sourcing?

A project organizing approach that gets

diverse stakeholders to participate in creating

a sustainable community.

Photo by Wade from Oklohoma

What is barn raising?

A project organizing approach that gets

diverse stakeholders to participate in creating

a sustainable community.

Photo by Wade from Oklohoma

Principles of Social Sourcing

• Distribute the burden• Diverse perspectives enrich

the final product• Focus on creating value for

users• Give everyone a voice

Photo by km6xo

Social Sourcing Process

o Study the market (benchmark)o Put together a compelling plano Recruit the right peopleo Engage a wide base in refining requirementso Ask for moneyo Celebrate successeso Sustain it: fun, organization, motivationo Regroup, review, and restart...

Social Sourcing eduCommons

Goal:

Grow and sustain a vibrant, healthy community that shares in stewarding the product.

Distributed Leadership

• Development• Quality Control• Requirements

gathering• Planning process• Marketing• Support and

commercial services

Photo by on1stsite

Organized, Open Framework

• Information• Governance• Communication

tools• Feedback tools

Photo by Jeremy Brooks

Photo by foxypar4

Enabling Social Sourcing

Work with ifPeople • Collaboration Consulting• Code Review• Testing

Photo by yogi

eduCommons

Shift to community participation: • New educommons.com portal • Development wiki: how to contribute • Encouraging community contributions

o Feature Developmento Testingo Translations

Future Directions

Photo by quas

OCWC oversight and stewardship

Additional recruiting• Community sponsors• Developers• Testers• Translators

What role you want to play?

Get Involved!

Let us know your interests!        info@educommons.com

Get the product!    educommons.com

Facebook Group:     Search "educommons"Photo by ecstaticist

Questions?

Contact info:eduCommons info@educommons.com  Tom Caswellcaswell.tom@gmail.com

Photo by Tch0la :)