free and open source software (foss)ram/pubs/morelli-brussels.pdfslide: 14 the humanitarian-foss...

Free and Open Source Softw

are (FOSS)

for H

umanitarian Applications

Ralph M

orelli

Trinity College

Hartford, C

T, US

ralph.morelli@

trincoll.edu

Royal Academ

y for Overseas Science, Brussels -- April 30, 2009

This w

ork is licensed under the Creative C

omm

ons Attribution-N

oncomm

ercial-Share A

like 3.0 United

States License. To view

a copy of this license, visit http://creativecomm

ons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Slide: 2

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B

russels April 30, 2009

Outlin

e

•W

hat is FO

SS?

•H

um

anitarian

FOSS

•G

overnm

ent an

d N

GO

examples

•Sah

ana

•O

pen

MRS

•M

artus

•The B

road

er FOSS M

ovemen

t•

The H

-FOSS Pro

ject

Slide: 3

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS is freed

om

to …

•…

run

the p

rogram

.

•…

stud

y h

ow

the p

rogram

works.

•…

share

copies w

ith yo

ur n

eighbor.

•…

imp

rove th

e pro

gram

to b

enefit th

e com

munity.

"Free softw

are" is a matter o

f liberty, n

ot p

rice. To

understan

d th

e concep

t, you sh

ould

thin

k of "free"

as in "free sp

eech," n

ot as in

"free beer."

(Rich

ard S

tallman

, The Free S

oftw

are Defin

ition)

ww

w.fsf.org

Slide: 4

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Linux ...

•…

is the kern

el of G

NU

/Linux.

•…

started as a h

obby p

roject in

1991.

•…

a com

munity o

f 1000s o

f develo

pers.

•…

370 M

b o

f code u

nder G

NU

/GPL licen

se.

•…

distrib

uted

by p

rojects (D

ebian

) and co

mpan

ies (Fedora

Red

Hat)

Hello

everybody o

ut th

ere usin

g m

inix - I'm

doin

g a (free) o

peratin

g system

(just a

hobby, w

on't b

e big

and p

rofessio

nal like

gnu) ...

(Linus T

orvald

, Usen

et post, 1

991)

Slide: 5

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS d

evelopm

ent is ...

•…

based

on th

e com

munity (b

azaar) model.

•…

open

and tran

sparen

t.

•…

a merito

cracy based

on p

eer review.

•…

closely tied

to th

e user co

mm

unity.

•…

release early and o

ften p

hilo

sophy.

Every g

ood w

ork o

f softw

are starts by

scratchin

g a d

eveloper's p

ersonal itch

.

(Eric S

teven R

aymond, T

he C

athed

ral an

d th

e Bazaar)

Slide: 6

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS p

roducts are p

rotected

...

•…

by free an

d o

pen

licenses.

•…

First: GPL (G

nu G

eneral Pu

blic Licen

se)

•…

Most p

opular: A

pach

e

•…

60+

licenses o

n O

pen

Source In

stitute.

•…

80+

licenses listed

by FS

F.

•…

creative com

mons licen

se.

ww

w.opensource.org

The strateg

ic marketin

g p

aradig

m o

f open

source is

a massively p

arallel dru

nkard

's walk filtered

by a

Darw

inistic p

rocess.

(Bru

ce Perens, T

he E

merg

ing E

conom

ic Parad

ign o

f O

pen

Source, 2

006)

Slide: 7

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS Licen

ses

Perm

issive – software can becom

e proprietary. S

trongly protective – software cannot becom

e proprietary. W

eakly protective – software co

mponent cannot becom

e proprietary but can be part of a proprietary system

. S

ource: David Wheeler, The F/LO

SS Slide, 2007.

Slide: 8

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Man

y Large S

uccessfu

l Projects

GN

U/Lin

ux

Mozilla Firefox

Apach

eM

ySQ

L

Com

paniesSupportingFO

SS

Grow

th of Open Source Projects

So

urce

forg

e U

sers

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

1800000

2000000

Jan-0

0Jan-0

1Jan-0

2Jan-0

3Jan-0

4Jan-0

5Jan-0

6Jan-0

7Jan-0

8

Years

Reg

istere

d U

sers

Users

So

urce

forg

e P

roje

cts

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

180000

Jan-0

0Jan-0

1Jan-0

2Jan-0

3Jan-0

4Jan-0

5Jan-0

6Jan-0

7Jan-0

8

Years

Reg

istere

d P

roje

cts

Projects

• Sourcefo

rge.n

et -- the larg

est open

source rep

osito

ry.

173,000 + P

rojects1.8 +

Million M

embers

Source: M

orelli unpublished, 2007

Server Market Share A

ll Dom

ains

Source: http://news.netcraft.com

(April 2009)

Market Share - M

illion Busiest Sites

Source: http://news.netcraft.com

(March, 2009)

Slide: 12

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Freedom

& O

pen

ness E

verywhere

•“S

oftw

are is just th

e beg

innin

g …

open

source is d

oin

g fo

r mass

innovatio

n w

hat th

e assembly lin

e did

for m

ass pro

ductio

n. G

et

read

y fo

r the e

ra w

hen

colla

bo

ratio

n re

pla

ces th

e co

rpo

ratio

n.” -- T

hom

as Goetz, W

ired, 1

1/2

003

Slide: 13

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS in

Govern

men

t and

NG

Os

Slide: 14

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS in

Govern

men

t

•Brazil ad

opts o

pen

source (B

BC, Ju

ne 2

005)

•U

N W

orld

Sum

mit o

n In

form

ation S

ociety: R

ichard

Stallm

an p

rom

otes

softw

are freedom

(UN

, Nov. 2

005)

•Fren

ch G

endarm

erie has saved

an estim

ated 5

0 m

illion E

uro

s since 2

004 in

movin

g fro

m M

icroso

ft to U

buntu

/GN

U Lin

ux d

esktop (O

SO

R-E

U, 2

009)

•FO

SS co

sts softw

are vendors $

60 b

illion p

er year (Stan

dish

Gro

up, A

pril

2008)

•Vietn

am: B

y July 2

009 o

f clients o

f gov't IT

must u

se FOSS, in

cludin

g O

pen

Office, M

ozilla T

hunderb

ird, Firefox. (V

ietnam

Net, Jan

. 2009)

•U

K g

ov't backs FO

SS to

avoid

“lock in

” (BBC, Feb

. 2009)

•FLIS

OL: Latin

Am

erican Festivals o

f Installatio

n o

f Free Softw

are (April 2

5,

18 co

untries, 2

00 cities)

•Am

sterdam

: City g

ov't makes O

pen

Office an

d Firefox d

efault o

n all

deskto

ps. (O

SO

R.E

U, A

pril 2

009)

•Sen

. John D

. Rockefeller p

roposes law

to u

se FOSS an

d o

pen

standard

s for

electronic m

edical reco

rds (A

rsTechnia, A

pril 2

009)

Slide: 15

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


FOSS in

NG

Os

•Asp

iration Tech

– co

nnectin

g n

on-p

rofits w

ith so

ftware.

•N

OSI: N

on-p

rofit O

pen

Source In

itiative

•Pen

guin

Days (Ph

iladelp

hia, 2

004)

•F/LO

SS U

sability S

prin

t V (G

oogle, N

ov. 2007)

•SAN

GO

NET: S

. Africa N

GO

Netw

ork

•G

o-O

pen

Source.o

rg (rep

osito

ry)

•N

GO

-in-a-B

ox, Worksh

op #

8, D

elhi (A

pril 2

009)

•TC

O: To

tal Cost o

f Ow

nersh

ip

Slide: 16

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Pros an

d C

ons

+U

ser freedom

.

+O

rgan

izational flexib

ility.

+Cost b

enefit.

+N

o lo

ck-in.

––O

rgan

izational in

ertia.

–To

tal cost o

f ow

nersh

ip.

–

Slide: 17

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Hum

anitarian

FOSS

Hum

anitarian FOSS

•F

ree and open source software for the general public good.

•S

oftware that prom

otes human w

elfare and human rights.

•R

ecognized by Free S

oftware F

oundation (“help thy neighbor”)

•A

dvantages of FO

SS

:

•N

o discrimination on access.

•T

ransparency of the code and the project.

•S

hared use and development.

•A

daptability and local control.

Slide: 19

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Exam

ple: S

ahan

a

Sahana - Disaster M

anagement

•W

eb-based information system

developed after

the 2004 Asian Tsunam

i.

•D

eployments: Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia,

Peru, Myanm

ar, China (2008).

•Free Softw

are Aw

ard for Social Benefit (2007)

•O

ver 38,000 Sourceforge downloads since 2005

ww

w.sahana.lk

Sahana means relief in Sinhalese

Sahana - Disaster M

anagement

•W

eb-based information system

developed after the 2004

Asian Tsunam

i.

•D

eployments: Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Peru,

Myanm

ar, China (2008).

•Free Softw

are Aw

ard for Social Benefit (2007)

•O

ver 38,000 Sourceforge downloads since 2005

•O

ur work: V

olunteer Managem

ent (VM

) module

•D

eployment: N

YC

, Office of E

mergency M

anagement

•V

MO

SS (Standalone VM

) over 600 downloads in 1 year.

ww

w.sahana.lk

Sahana means relief in Sinhalese

Cam

p Registry

Missing Person R

egistry

Volunteer M

anagement M

odule

Volunteer M

anagement M

odule

•M

ay 2008, China D

eployment

•C

hengdu, Colom

bo, NY

C,

Hartford collaboration.

•B

log: http://blog.hfoss.org/

Portab

le Open

Search I

den

tification T

ool

•Crisis R

ecovery Tool: V

ictim S

earch

and D

iscovery

•G

oogle A

ndro

id FO

SS

•O

pen

Han

dset A

lliance

•Ph

one, G

PS, C

amera, W

iFi, Com

pass

•co

de.g

oogle.co

m/p

/posit-an

dro

id

•Prasan

na G

autam

(Trinity, 2

011)

Slide: 27

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Exam

ple:O

pen

MRS

Open M

edical Record System

•E

lectronic Medical R

ecord System started in 2004.

•D

eveloped by Partners in Health and R

egenstrief Institute.

•G

oal: Self-sustaining health IT for developing w

orld.

•Im

plemented In: R

wanda, K

enya, South Africa, L

esotho,

Zim

babwe, M

ozambique, U

ganda, Tanzania, Haiti.

•Supporters: W

HO

, CD

C, R

ockefeller Foundation, Google

Summ

er of Code.

Open M

edical Record System

OpenM

RS – O

ur Contribution

•H

-FOSS Sum

mer Institute 2007, 2008, 2009

•Touchscreen Toolkit (G

iovanni Capalbo, T

rinity, '08)

•Sourceforge: A

utoTouch, 70+ downloads

•Im

age capture and upload (Rachel Foecking, T

rinity '11)

•N

on-numeric data representation (V

. Agraw

al, Trinity '10)

Slide: 33

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Touch

screen M

odule

Slide: 34

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


Exam

ple: M

artus

•Secure softw

are for documenting hum

an rights information.

•B

ased on strong encryption.

•D

eveloped in 2003 by Benetech (M

otto: Technology serving hum

anity.)

•D

ownloaded into m

ore than 70 countries (Darfur, B

urma,...).

•Support: U

S State Dept., O

pen Society Inst., MacA

rthur Foundation.

•Partners: International H

uman R

ights in Law

Institute (IH

RL

I), Hum

an Rights in C

hina (HR

IC), D

arfur Peace and D

evelopment (D

PAD

O).

Martus is the G

reek work for w

itness.

Slide: 36

The H

umanitarian-F

OS

S P

roject R

AO

S, B


•M

otivatio

n (D

avid Patterso

n, A

CM

)•

Let’s join

the o

pen

source m

ovemen

t!•

Let’s help

our n

eighbors!

•Sah

ana (Trish

an d

e Lanero

lle, Trinity '0

4)

•O

ur N

SF-C

PATH

Gran

t

•Can

these in

itiatives help

revitalize the

com

putin

g ed

ucatio

n?

•H

ow

should

FOSS b

e integ

rated in

to th

e

underg

raduate cu

rriculu

m?

References

● Brazil: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4602325.stm● French G

endarmerie saving m

illions: http://www.osor.eu/news/fr-gendarm

erie-saves-millions-with-open-desktop-and-web-applications

● Standish report: ● Rockefeller law: http://arstechnica.com

/open-source/news/2009/04/senator-opens-source-software-needed-for-medical-records.ars

● Brazil: http://northxsouth.com/brazil/

● Vietnam: http://english.vietnam

net.vn/tech/2009/01/822425/● UK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7910110.stm● UN: http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom

/highlights/18nov.html

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