H-FOSS theme in latest issue of OSBR (Open Source Business Resource)

[Chamindra de Silva]

The latest issue of the Open Source Business Resource had a theme on H-FOSS where the H-FOSS informal group and the projects that are represented were mentioned.

http://www.osbr.ca/ojs/index.php/osbr/issue/view/114

Here is a brief abstract of the editorial from Leslie Hawthorne and Chris McPhee

"In recent years, our increasingly connected world has provided us with a greater understanding of the needs of our fellow global citizens. The devastating worldwide impact of natural disasters, disease, and poverty has been raised in our collective awareness and our ability to collectively alleviate this suffering has been brought to the fore. While many of us are familiar with donating our funds to better the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves, it is often easy to overlook a core component of facing these global challenges: information technology....

....While the lower cost of using open source software and hardware solutions means that more funds can be directed to aid and comfort those in need, the goodwill of developer communities and the funds of grantees alone cannot grow the ecosystem sufficiently to meet ever-growing global needs. To face these challenges – poverty, global health crises, disaster relief, etc. – humanitarian open source projects must fully engage the market and provide cost-effective, efficient solutions to the technical aspects of these challenges."

As per the context of the magazine, in these articles all authors were also asked to consider the possible business models for sustaining an H-FOSS ecosystem. Hope we managed to mention everyone concerned, and if there were any omissions it was more probably due to the word limit placed on the authors.

Chamindra de Silva
http://chamindra-de-silva.blogspot.com | http://twitter.com/ChamindraS

-------- Original Message --------

Subject:	December issue of the OSBR is now available at osbr.ca
Date:	Wed, 1 Dec 2010 12:53:42 -0500
From:	Chris McPhee <chris....@osbr.ca>
To:	Chris McPhee <chris....@osbr.ca>

Dear Readers,

Humanitarian Open Source is the theme of the December issue of the Open
Source Business Resource, which is now available at osbr.ca. The Guest
Editor is Leslie Hawthorn, Open Source Outreach Manager for Oregon State
University's Open Source Lab.

In this issue, authors in Canada (Ottawa and Toronto), Sri Lanka (Columbo),
and the United States (Brunswick, Hartford, Indianapolis, New York,
Portland, and Seattle), draw upon their experiences to show the role of the
open source approach in meeting humanitarian needs in the past, present, and
future. 

Chamindra de Silva, Director and CTO of the Sahana Foundation, explores the
landscape of humanitarian free and open source software and the natural
alignment between the humanitarian and open source domains.

Mark Prutsalis, President and CEO of the Sahana Foundation, describes the
role of the Sahana project in disaster-relief scenarios and the need to
build a service industry based on supporting HFOSS in order to sustain the
ecosystem. 

Glenn McKnight and Alfredo Herrera from the Humanitarian Initiatives
Committee describe IEEE Canada's efforts to produce open hardware solutions
that provide reliable sources of electricity to address humanitarian needs
in developing countries.

Adam Feuer, Director of Engineering for the Grameen Foundation’s Mifos
Initiative, discusses how Mifos open source banking software helps alleviate
global poverty through microfinance and serves as a model to address other
humanitarian challenges. 

Dawn Smith, Project Coordinator for the OpenMRS medical record system,
examines the role of OpenMRS in the formation of a health information
business ecosystem for resource-poor environments.

Ralph Morelli, Professor of Computer Science at Trinity College, Allen
Tucker, Professor Emeritus at Bowdoin College, and Trishan de Lanerolle,
Project Director for the Humanitarian FOSS Project at Trinity College,
discuss the Humanitarian FOSS Project and its initiatives in undergraduate
education to benefit both global and local communities. 

Mike Herrick, Executive Director of the Collaborative Software Foundation,
traces the history of the TriSano project and its business model refinement
to illustrate how collaboration can lead to sustainable software and
communities that benefit global public health.

The editorial theme for the upcoming January 2011 issue of the OSBR is The
Business of Open Source and the guest editor will be Michael Weiss,
Associate Professor in the Technology Innovation Management program at
Carleton University. For upcoming issues, we welcome general submissions on
the topic of open source business or the growth of early-stage technology
companies. Please contact me at chris....@osbr.ca if you are interested
in making a submission.


Kind regards,

Chris McPhee
Editor, Open Source Business Resource
http://www.osbr.ca


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