Jasig-Sakai Common Foundation Value Proposition Document

[Josh Baron]

Colleagues,

The Jasig-Sakai Joint Working Group has been working to define the "value proposition" associated with creating a common foundation/organization and are pleased to be able to share the attached document which speaks to this important issue.  You will find that we've opted to discuss the value proposition from a range of perspectives, starting first at the macro-level and the value of open source in general and then drilling down to the micro-level and the value of a common organization.  We've done this as means to ensure that the document speaks to a broad audience, including those external to both Jasig and Sakai.  

The Jasig-Sakai JWG is extremely interested in hearing from our two communities (and beyond) and are hoping that this document will stimulate discussion within and between our groups.  To this end, we would like to encourage everyone to post your questions, concerns and thoughts as means to begin this important dialog.  As a reminder, you can join the formal Jasig-Sakai Collaboration list by going to: http://groups.google.com/group/jasig-sakai-collaboration.  We will be using this list to distribute information such as this document and interact with our two communities.

Thanks,

Josh
Co-Chair, Jasig-Sakai Joint Working Group
Chair, Sakai Foundation Board of Directors



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Joshua Baron
Senior Academic Technology Officer
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, New York  12601
(845) 575-3623 (work)
Twitter: JoshBaron

[mark]

I read over the value prop document. It's a nice, high level document
that explains why we bother with open source. While I see the value
of such a document for JA-SIG/Sakai going forward, I wonder a bit
about it's audience. Was it just intended to capture, in writing, our
shared beliefs? Is it aimed more at the participating organizations
in our projects?

- Mark Norton

[Ian Dolphin]

Mark

The audience was deliberately twofold. Yes, there was an attempt to consolidate and codify the values we held in common for internal audiences, but also an attempt to engage the audience that hangs on the periphery of involvement in open source in Higher Ed. By making it (I hope) something of a manifesto in addition to a clear statement of shared values, we wanted the document to face outwards - to begin to paint the picture of the new Foundation as an effective advocate for open source. Make sense?

Best

Ian

Ian Dolphin
Executive Director, Sakai Foundation

iando...@sakaifoundation.org
+44 7737 862863
Twitter: d iandolphin24

[Clay Fenlason]

Makes sense. But at the end the itch I felt was for a more
inward-facing document, one that explained how my a-la-carte interests
and capacity to engage could map to a prix-fixe (not literally, I
know) package. I understand that kind of treatment would draw in a
lower level of detail and conversations yet to follow, so I'll just
note for now that most of my questions lie there.

In the consolidation of administrative functions, I infer that one
change on the Sakai side would be less direct responsibility on the
part of Foundation staff for execution in any particular project, and
by implication more responsibility for institutions to step up: for
example, to get timely releases out the door with the testing,
documentation, and code management that implies.

Clay Fenlason

[mark]

Yes, that makes sense. Thank you for the clarification. I think it's
a good start.

- Mark

[Josh Baron]

Clay,

As always, you've raised some good questions here.  I agree that we will need to drill down to another level of detail in terms of the inward facing value proposition.  I suspect that this will require deeper and more direct engagement with our two communities and would love to see this be a major focus of discussions at the upcoming Jasig and Sakai conferences in May and June.

I'll share some thoughts on the second part of your note but will stress that these are just mine and I think it is important that the JWG more collectively review and reach consensus on these as we move forward. One of the next major efforts of the JWG will be to look at issues related to governance and project management.  It is not entirely clear to me what the "right" approach is for staffing/managing/supporting Sakai vs. other Jasig projects.  There differences in the scope and resourcing between projects that I think needs to be considered.  I'd also imagine a need for a transition process rather then a "big bang" approach.  Although I realize there are challenges in here, I think we are all also expecting to see cross-project pollenation taking place which will allow us to better leverage resources across projects...again, a tricky thing that won't be easy to realize but something I think is an important goal to obtain.

So, I realize I've not given much in the way of direct answers here to some of the questions...but I think that is simply a reflection of where the JWG is at this point and also the fact that this is something that I sincerely believe needs to be discussed and driven by our community (both Jasig and Sakai).

Loved to hear from others...

Josh

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Joshua Baron
Senior Academic Technology Officer
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, New York  12601
(845) 575-3623 (work)
Twitter: JoshBaron