SIGCSE 2014 Pre-Symposium Event

Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software Community Workshop

Overview: This workshop will bring together members of Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software (HFOSS) project communities, faculty members, and students to discuss student contribution to HFOSS projects. Faculty members will discuss their experiences with student participation and HFOSS community members will discuss issues in helping new contributors become productive. A particular focus will be the learning value of vertical integration of students into a professional developer community.

Location: ACM SIGCSE 2014, Hyatt Regency Atlanta (exact room TBD)

Date and Time: Weds March 5th, 9:00 – 5:00; lunch will be provided for registered participants

News Update!

As of 18 February, we expect over 20 participants in this workshop, but still have room for a few more!

Representatives from the following FOSS organizations will be there!

• GNOME Accessibility Team
• OpenMRS
• Red Hat
• Sahana
• Non-Profit FOSS Institute (NPFI)

Goal

This workshop is intended to bring together members of HFOSS project communities, faculty members and students to discuss the best ways to facilitate student learning and participation in HFOSS projects. Some of the questions that we'll be looking at are:

• What are the roadblocks to student participation in HFOSS projects? How do we surmount these?
• What are the roadblocks to faculty participation in HFOSS projects? How do we surmount these?
• Do faculty and students have the same starting point? The same process for involvement?
• What needs of HFOSS projects might students and faculty be able to meet?
• What are the best practices and problems for HFOSS projects in accommodating new contributors?
• How can HFOSS projects and faculty work together for mutual benefit?
• How can students and faculty become valued contributors to HFOSS projects?

Intended Audience

Anyone interested in helping students (or others) become involved in Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software projects. Participants will include faculty members who have been working on student participation in HFOSS and members of HFOSS project communities. Faculty who have not worked on student participation in HFOSS but would like to hear about this effort are also welcome. These new participants will be introduced to a supportive community of instructors experienced in supporting student involvement in HFOSS and learn about opportunities to begin exploring this area.

Agenda

Introduction	10 minutes
Overview of student involvement in HFOSS Benefits and challenges Examples of student involvement Overview of OpenFE and POSSE Hackathons and extra curriculular activities	20 minutes
An Academic Perspective The learning curve for HFOSS participation What do faculty know and need to learn before leading student participation? What do students know and need to learn to become participants? Differences in perspective between HFOSS projects and academic needs Student technical knowledge vs. large scale project complexity Term vs. project schedules Project needs vs. course learning objectives FOSS Transparency vs. FERPA Course predictability vs. real world complexity Project personnel turnover Schedule changes	45 minutes
Break	15 minutes
Panel: HFOSS Project Community Perspectives Comment by each panelist (5 minutes each) Brief overview of the project - what does it do? Hints and tips to get involved. How might a newbie get started? Discussion - based on questions from participants or the following questions (40 minutes) What are the project's needs and goals for new participants? What are the key aspects for success? What are some common roadblocks and how do you get new participants over the roadblock? What does it take for people to become productive HFOSS participants? What would you like to see the foss2serve project do? What specific actions can we take to help?	60 minutes
Project Selection and Alternative Strategies Choosing a project to work with HFOSS model (Ellis, Purcell, Hislop, SIGCSE 2012) Project success factors (Calloway) Creating HFOSS for community organizations Ronald McDonald House NPFI - the Non-Profit FOSS Insitute	30 minutes
Lunch	60 minutes
Small Group 1 - What does someone need to learn to be a useful HFOSS participant? Student learning What do students need to learn to become successful participants How do we improve the process of becoming a student participant? How can we scaffold student involvement? Faculty learning What is the best way to bring faculty members on-board? What is different about faculty members' learning needs vs. students? How do we find commonalities between course content and HFOSS project activities	60 minutes
Report Out	15 minutes
Break	15 minutes
Small Group 2 - HFOSS Project On-Ramp Are there best practices for projects to attract and support new participants? What specific techniques are most useful? How do we create long-term relationships that are beneficial to both faculty/academic institutions and HFOSS communities?	60 minutes
Report Out	15 minutes
Discussion: Next steps How can HFOSS projects and higher education support each other? Where do we go next? Wrap Up SIGCSE Birds of a Feather session POSSE	30 minutes
Focus Groups - Topic(s) selected by group vote Continuation of small group topics Discussion of particular HFOSS projects	45 minutes

To Register

Email Greg Hislop (hislop@drexel.edu) or Lori Postner (lori.postner@ncc.edu). Please provide your name, organization, and reason for attending.