Eureka! An example of a public health movement engaged in the open source movement, Una Mesa. Explore — however, to save you a click, here are the essentials:
Open source software plays a key role in the research and development of better social services
- UnaMesa works with communities to develop tools that serve their needs
- Requires the ability to share and build upon each other’s work (Open Source)
How UnaMesa supports Open Source developers
- Developer community sites – TiddlyWiki.org, SharedRecords.org
- Purchase code / support on behalf of the community (How do OS programmers eat) (e.g. Eric Shulman’s support of TiddlyWiki community)
- Public Trust – Holds copyright on behalf of the community (Allows integration with any projects that provide social benefit regardless of which open-source license they use.
- Support for localization
How UnaMesa supports social organizations that use Open Source
- Provides software tools and services for free to social enterprises (e.g. SharedRecords.org)
- Demonstrates how technology is used in real life situations (e.g. TiddlyWiki in education, SharedRecords in clincs)
- Provides training and support for users (UnaMesa Academy)
How UnaMesa supports businesses that work with Open Source
- Provides a neutral, trusted intermediary to protect the interests of both the community and the corporate participants (e.g. TiddlyWiki and BT Osmosoft)
- Negotiate on behalf of the community to establish appropriate licenses and contracts for corporate contributions of code
- Accepts contributions from corporations and ensures that they go directly to supporting the developer community (e.g. support of Martin)
