Open Source Initiative

As a distributed organization, the Open Source Initiative uses mailing lists as virtual committees. These are where larger Open Source community works with the OSI's Board of Directors in fulfilling our mission to "educate and advocate" for Open Source.

Active Lists

The following mailing lists are open to anyone who cares about the world of Open Source, as long as you respect the charters and observe our Code of Conduct.

License Review

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Moderator:Russ Nelson, License Review Committee Chair

Charter: Reviewing submitted licenses for OSD Compliance and Proliferation concerns (as described in the Approval Process), in order to provide community recommendations to the OSI Board.

License Discuss

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Moderator:Russ Nelson, OSI Board Member and License Review Committee Chair

Charter: Discuss and answer important questions about Open Source licensing, in order to collect community wisdom for the FAQ.

Education Project

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Moderator:Alolita Sharma, OSI Board Member and Education Committee Chair

Objectives:

1. Provide a neutral platform to facilitate interaction between educators and open source projects.
2. Promote open source technologies and methods in education.
3. Help develop open source reference curricula for high schools, colleges, universities and adult education.
4. Promote sharing of open source curricula and related resources among interested parties.

We welcome all educators, open source collaborators and friends, to participate in helping the OSI spread open source in education.

OSI Issues

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Moderator: Michael Tiemann, OSI President

Charter: General discussion of issues relevant to the OSI's mission that are not covered by an existing mailing list. Discussions should be focused on either:

1. Identifying a new issue for the OSI Issues Database
2. Proposing and/or implementing a solution to an existing issue.
3. Creating or updating the charter for another mailing list/committee

Inactive or Obsolete Lists

Women in Open Source

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Moderator: TBD

Charter: Understand why aren't there more women contributing to Open Source projects, and what can we do about it?

Status: On hold. Awaiting a new moderator and/or charter to reinvigorate and focus the discussion.

Open Standards Requirement

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Moderator: TBD

Charter: Evolve and promote the Open Standards Requirement for Software.

Status: On hold. Awaiting a new moderator and/or charter to reinvigorate and focus the discussion.

Announcements

Charter: Public announcements

Status: Obsolete. Superseded by the OSI blog

License Proliferation

(Archives)

Charter: Official discussion of the license proliferation committee, with community discussion in license-proliferation-discuss.

Status: Complete. They have submitted their final report.

License Proliferation Discuss

(Archives)

Charter: Community discussion of License Proliferation issues.

Status: Obsolete. Ongoing anti-proliferation discussions now take place on License Discuss.

Membership Discuss

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Moderator: Ken Coar, OSI Board Member

Charter: Help the OSI become a world-wide, membership-based organization. The basic idea is allowing individuals and/or organizations to associate with the Open Source Initiative for a nominal fee (adjusted for local purchasing power). We still need to define the exact criteria, rights, and responsibilities of members, which could potentially include:

• Nominating and voting for OSI Board Members
• Setting priorities for, and evaluating the effectiveness of, OSI activities
• Sponsoring and participating in OSI projects

We encourage interested parties to submit (and comment upon) specific proposals for how OSI membership could be structured.