Pro bono? Or should there be a way to fund this effort?

[Bill Mohler]

Obviously, the joint project is at the initial conception stage right now. And I can see that the crucial masterminds are all signed on and convinced that an IJX rewrite is a good idea.

How much time do folks have to do this work? Is it a big enough task and important enough that we need a way to buy some of the heavy coders salaried time in order to drive things forward?

I'm thinking along the lines of applying economic-stimulus-driven funds for new research jobs... Or lobbying major research centers to direct some of their funds for software facilities development toward time of the "key personnel" on this effort. Same for EMBL or others?

Or will this be doable as an entirely grass-rootsy effort? I'm not sure of the job-status of the key players (other than Wayne and Curtis), or thorougly they could redirect focus to this critical refactoring.

Any thoughts or plans?

Bill

[Bill Mohler]

[Curtis Rueden]

Hi Bill,

> Obviously, the joint project is at the initial conception stage right
> now. And I can see that the crucial masterminds are all signed on and
> convinced that an IJX rewrite is a good idea.
>
> How much time do folks have to do this work? Is it a big enough task
> and important enough that we need a way to buy some of the heavy
> coders salaried time in order to drive things forward?

What we are proposing is a huge task, and I share your concerns about
funding. Unfortunately, I cannot justify spending much time working on
ijx at the moment, as my current projects are not directly related.
However, LOCI is investigating funding for further VisBio development,
and at that point something like ijx would potentially be a great
asset to a new version of VisBio. That said, since there is momentum
for ijx right now, I will do my best to participate in the discussion
and early planning efforts.

> I'm thinking along the lines of applying economic-stimulus-driven
> funds for new research jobs... Or lobbying major research centers to
> direct some of their funds for software facilities development toward
> time of the "key personnel" on this effort. Same for EMBL or others?

If you have the ability to pursue such avenues, that would be
fantastic. And if so, I suggest you discuss with Kevin as well.

> Or will this be doable as an entirely grass-rootsy effort? I'm not
> sure of the job-status of the key players (other than Wayne and
> Curtis), or thorougly they could redirect focus to this critical
> refactoring.

I do not know how much effort is currently behind the Fiji project,
but it seems like the most likely starting point for any sort of
grassroots effort, together with the work that Grant Harris has done.
Would you agree, Albert?

Either way, the ijx project cannot move forward initially without a
small number of leaders willing and able to devote a substantial
amount of design time up front. I cannot commit to being one of those
people right now, but like I said, that could change depending on
funding.

However, one thing LOCI is willing to consider is to write a proposal
for an ImageJX conference in the Midwest. If we could gather a few key
people in one place for a few days, we could hammer out an initial
design, which might be sufficient to get the ball rolling on a
grassroots effort. Would such a conference be of interest to anyone
else?

-Curtis

[Grant]

Bill, Curtis, others:

I am very interested to explore this idea of getting some funding. My
full-time position is becoming part-time as of May, and I am looking
for more work. Are there opportunities to collaborate on pursuing
funding? In spite of my first name, I know next to nothing about
getting grants, but I am willing to expend some effort to pursue
funding.

I also like the idea of a conference gathering, should there be enough
interest. Indeed, there needs to be a committed core of designers/
developers to pull this off.

Cheers.
- Grant

[wil...@ieee.org]

Hi Bill,

the question concerning resources (both time & money) is well
justified and should be answered before any go-ahead decision is made.
But as you said, this project is in a *very* early stage and the
dimensions of the task depend mainly on the goals we will set
ourselves. If it is only about refactoring IJ's core I have no
worries. However, the wish lists I have seen are extensive and
growing, though I believe that additional features can be built later
and much easier once a well-designed and stable architecture exists.
It seems that refactoring IJ from scratch to a level that covers most
of its current features is quite feasible but I am not sure how much
additional effort it takes to provide full backward compatibility if
required. A (possibly unjustifyable) chunk of work may go into just
that.

Personally, I am ready to put time into this (as far as my job and
other hobbies permit) and would also try to convince students to help
and possibly solicit some internal funding - though as you know it is
very hard to raise money for open-source software projects. At least
one in-person meeting of the core group (thanks to Curtis for his
suggestion) will be necessary before the actual launch, which I would
certainly try to attend.

Wilhelm

[Dimiter]

Hi Bill,

I cannot claim much of my paid time for this effort at the current
stage.
But I am willing to explore funding options.
An initial conference will be a good idea.

best regards,

Dimiter