This October, we look beyond the corporate world and into academia’s own long history with open source.
As colleges and universities begin investing in Academic Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), many discussions start by looking to corporate models from technology companies. While these frameworks provide valuable guidance, they overlook an important reality: higher education has been engaged in open source development for more than twenty-five years, including through the Apereo Foundation, which has spent decades performing many of the functions now associated with Open Source Program Offices.
Save the date.
- 📅 Friday, October 16th
- ⏰ 14:00-15:30 CEST
- 🎙️ Patrick Masson, Executive Director at Apereo Foundation.
- 📜 Apereo and Academics OSPOs: Building on 25 Years of Open Source Practice in Higher Education.
Note: exceptionally, this session starts later than usual — 14:00 CEST instead of our normal 10:30 slot — to better accommodate our US-based speaker, Patrick Masson.
As usual, it is an online event open to all with no registration in a safe environment. Just come and grab a seat. Please connect to our 🌐 BigBlueButton instance on the given date and time. You can import this specific session into your calendar with this 📅 ICS file.
As colleges and universities begin investing in Academic Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), many discussions start by looking to corporate models from technology companies. While these frameworks provide valuable guidance, they overlook an important reality: higher education has been engaged in open source development for more than twenty-five years including the Apereo Foundation which has spent decades performing many of the functions now associated with Open Source Program Offices.
This session will provide the following outcomes:
- Recognize how HigherEd’s and Apereo’s history aligns with the guidelines described in the OSPO Alliance Good Governance Initiative.
- Explain why Academic OSPOs differ fundamentally from corporate OSPOs in mission, governance, incentives, and measures of success.
- Describe a federated model in which Academic OSPOs and other campus departments, as well as nonprofit foundations, project communities, and corporations share responsibilities for governance, sustainability, and community development.
- Identify practical frameworks—including GGI, HEOSAT, and “Sustaining Open Source Software in Higher Education” Guide—that institutions can use to assess and mature their open source capabilities.
The OSPO OnRamp meeting series provides an open, neutral and friendly forum, low-threshold entry point to exchange and learn about the basics of how to set up an Open Source Program Office and get started with open source. More on the dedicated page.