topic to solicit: Legal Issues in Developing Open Source Systems for Libraries

[Jodi Schneider]

The topic of LITA's opensource interest group meeting got changed. The original topic, Legal Issues in Developing Open Source Systems for Libraries, is a good one. Do you know who we could solicit on that topic? Or want to get some more info from Chris Strauber?

-Jodi

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From: Chris Strauber [mailto:cstr...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2008 1:20 PM
To: lita-ope...@ala.org; lit...@ala.org
Subject: [lita-l] Open source program change

Our planned speaker for Monday's Legal Issues in Developing Open Source Systems for Libraries (10:30-12:00, Hyatt Regency Orange County, Ballroom A) had to cancel at the last minute. However, Walt Scacchi of UC-Irvine's Institute for Software Research has kindly volunteered to cover the topic of successful open-source software projects from a slightly different perspective.

Talk topic: "Understanding Free/Open Source Software Licenses, Project Forms, and Project Governance Options"

Abstract: Free/open source software (FOSS) is becoming a widespread and evermore common approach to the development, deployment, and use of complex software systems. Businesses, government agencies, and educational institutions are all now investing in the production of FOSS-based applications. However, there are a growing set of challenges and options regarding how best to organize and run a FOSS project in a manner that insures its longevity, participation, adaptation, and overall success. For example, FOSS licenses can facilitate or complicate the integration of software systems when FOSS components with different copyright (or intellectual property) licenses are involved. Similarly, different ways to organize or structure how individuals, groups, alliances, coalitions, or enterprise actors participate, contribute, make collective decisions within, or defend their FOSS projects from corruption impose different requirements for how best to govern or self-govern a FOSS.  This presentation will examine results from empirical studies of different FOSS projects to help explain what has been learned so far about these matters.

Join us to discuss some of the fruits of the first study I've seen of the anthropology of open-source projects.
<http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0534771>



Chris Strauber
Open Source Systems IG chair
Reference and Web Services Librarian
Wofford College
Spartanburg SC

[Ryan Wick]

Michael Doran presented on this at Code4LibCon 2007.
http://code4lib.org/2007/doran

It was a great presentation. Maybe he'd be interested in working on
something new.

Also, I think it'd be good to cover some of the specific licensing and
legal issues with real-world examples, and how collaboration,
particularly across institutions, is sometimes affected by licensing
and expectations. As more open source projects get released by those
in the community, and more institutions are interested in helping out
each other, what are the issues that come up?

One possibility is the Blacklight/VuFind joint work on Solrmarc:
http://code.google.com/p/solrmarc/ I know Bess mentioned there were
some licensing issues.

Ryan Wick