Documents:Summary
From ssc.aspirationtech.org
Contents |
The Social Source Commons
Helping NPO/NGOs Track and Identify Software to Meet Their Needs
Executive Summary
The development of Social Source Commons (SSC) is led by Aspiration, a nonprofit organization that supports effective software development for the non-profit/non-governmental (NPO/NGO) sector. Aspiration is working in partnership with a broad range of entities to research, design and implement the initiative. SSC is seeded by the Open Society Institute; Aspiration invites other funders to support this initiative. Funders represent a critical constituency of SSC users because on of its objective is to help them better identify software projects to fund and tools to recommend to NPO/NGO partners.
Why the Social Source Commons?
The Social Source Commons addresses a real NPO/NGO need - better access to relevant software and supporting documentation, localization and support. A profusion of software has led to exciting innovation in civil society’s use of technology while also creating a confusing landscape of choices. Much of the software developed could be open or community source, and freely shareable between organizations. However, NPO/NGOs routinely go without tools or spend scarce resources re-creating already existing applications. Why?
Excellent resources such as TechSoup, iTrainOnline, and eRiders.net assist NPO/NGOs with their technology needs, but there is currently no comprehensive map of software for the sector. Finding solutions requires exhaustive searching of various sources on (and off) the Internet. When NPO/NGO or non-profit technology assistance providers (NTAPs) find useful software, it often lacks developers or intermediaries who can offer customization, localization, and ongoing support. Developers find it difficult to connect with application development projects in need of volunteers or assistance, or with implementers who can articulate NPO/NGO needs into viable projects. Funders asked to support software projects that assist NPO/NGOs often lack good information of what already exists and what is missing. The absence of any “coverage maps” makes it difficult for all involved to identify gaps in need of filling and projects deserving of support and use.
What is the Social Source Commons?
The ultimate goal of SSC is to create a “knowledge commons” that maps the NPO/NGO software space and makes sense of the collective expertise related to that software. It provides those who need information on NPO/NGO software access to lists of what's available, with each list item linked to relevant documentation, localization tools, services and events, user reviews and a place to request the tools and features they can't find. SSC serves as an information and collaboration space between NPO/NGOs, non-profit technology assistance providers (NTAPs), software developers, and funders. It is designed to catalyze a network of resources and contributors rather than simply building a single comprehensive web site or database. It seeks to connect the rich but relatively unlinked array of NPO/NGO-focused software information resources that already exist and builds upon it. The SSC will allows anyone passionate about sharing their knowledge of NPO/NGO software and documentation to distribute that information across a global community network. Catalyzing the network and connecting the resources will inform the identification of gaps in the various offerings and the issue areas they are designed to satisfy.
Providing a better understanding of what needs are unfilled helps developers identify interesting projects and funders to prioritize requests for support, reducing duplication. The ultimate beneficiaries of this synergy are the NPO/NGOs and their technology assistance providers searching for software and concomitant resources to more effectively meet their mission objectives. SSC represents a hub for all these groups to work together in more effectively identifying, developing, funding, deploying and using software in support of civil society.
How are we building the Social Source Commons?
Implementing a solution that invites broad stakeholder involvement is a challenge. The task is to design what Tim O'Reilly calls an “architecture of participation”, inviting community contribution and a sustainable, scalable model of collaboration and value creation. No single entity can populate and maintain the broad range of subtopics a comprehensive mapping requires; a sustainable solution must engage a large base of users to contribute to the database, maintain existing data, and extend the system based on need, all while offering value and reward for their investment of time and effort.
SSC is a community-driven endeavor from the outset, seeking to mirror the values and best practices of free and open source software development communities. Drawing together core communities who occupy territory in the NGO software landscape informs the central strategy of SSC. Maps for specific sub-sectors of the NGO community (e.g. advocacy, human rights, health care, etc) will be built out in conjunction with community events and “convergences”, involving NPOs/NGOs, their technology assistance providers, developers and funders in face-to-face meetings where common needs and goals are established.
Aspiration believes face-to-face events are the most powerful and efficient way to engage these different groups and facilitate interaction, network building and collaboration. Such events are currently informing the initial design and population of SSC data sets, and getting content to thresholds where larger community interest can be attracted and sustained. Aspiration has spent the past 12 months designing and co-hosting convergence and sprint events as a means of experimenting with community engagement and interviewing the broadest possible range of constituents as to what the Social Source Commons should look like and provide.
Aspiration "convergences" bring together a diverse and heterogeneous range of stakeholders and contributors within one area of NGO software (e.g. online advocacy) to compare needs, share knowledge and best practices, and then brainstorm solutions and collaborations to address identified needs and gaps. In comparison, Aspiration "sprints" convene more focused and outcome-oriented participants to work collectively toward specific goals, such as the creation or enhancement of a code base, or the generation of documentation and specifications. Convergences and sprints differ significantly from conferences and other more traditional event formats, by de-emphasizing lectures, panels and presentations, and instead, encouraging facilitated dialog in small-group formats combined with free-form interaction and sharing.
Ultimately all communities will have distinct and unique motivations for contributing to SSC; identifying those motivations and providing appropriate points of engagement will determine the extent to which SSC evolves from novel concept to compelling reality.
Questions or Interest in the Social Source Commons?
ssc@aspirationtech.org
Allen Gunn, Co-Director, Aspiration 415-216.7252
