Open Source Observatory

OSOR

The open source software system UCS@School is being widely applied in response to the need of German schools to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. UCS@School provides educational institutions with a large array of services and applications, as well as a centralised and standardised user management and identification system. Launched in 2014 in Bremen, the system is being used in three other federal states, namely Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Brandenburg.

Knowledge-sharing and collaboration is in the essence of the open source culture. In Sweden, public entities have adopted this mindset in order to improve in the way they use and collaborate on open source software and data. In the newly formed Network for Open Source and Data (NOSAD), public entities gather to share best practices and lessons learned through monthly workshops, but also collaborate on community initiatives such as a catalogue of open source software used within public services.

For the second year in a row, OpenUK will hold its Kids Camp in July 2021. This year’s camp includes a 10-lesson course and accompanying digital magazines on the key principles of open source. An ongoing focus of the course will be sustainability, which will also be the theme of the accompanying Kids Competition, which will take place in September. The organisers hope that this initiative will allow kids to "dig deep into open".

Lutece is a free and modular open source platform developed and championed by the City of Paris. It was built to help city governments share, re-use and adapt digital services created by other cities. The membership of the community is growing, and now includes participants from the St. Francis Neighbourhood Center in Baltimore, USA, with support from Johns Hopkins University. The Center is using Lutece to provide innovative digital services to residents of the city of Baltimore.

The Panhellenic Competition of Open Technologies in Education is now running for its third year. Students and teachers across Greece are asked to build innovative open source solutions for education and share their project on GitHub repositories in order to encourage further reuse and development. This year's theme is Artificial Intelligence (AI). Organised by the Greek Open Technologies Alliance (GFOSS), the competition receives support from the Ministry of Education and the Onassis Foundation, thus helping to support the promotion of the principles of open source software and hardware in the Hellenic education system.

Research has found that countries with the least Internet access are the same countries with the least access to quality education in general, including fewer qualified teachers per student and fewer educational materials. To remedy this, Learning Equality, a U.S. NGO, developed the open source edTech project Kolibri. Kolibri is an open source learning platform that, after the initial download, can be used entirely offline. The teaching material includes coding, mathematics and English among other subjects. Learning Equality also provides hardware grants to equip young people and teachers with vital digital skills.

The latest report on the state of open source software in higher education and research was published at the end of January. The research is based on a survey of over twenty institutions and other studies on the subject. It aims to provide an overview of open source practices in higher education and research institutions and analyse related challenges and opportunities. The report also took a look at internal open source policies in the analysed organisations in relation to other perspectives on digital development, such as digital sovereignty, open data and open access.

In 2005, the organisation FUSS (Free Upgrade in South Tyrol’s Schools) was created in schools in the autonomous Italian province of Bolzano in South Tyrol. The organisation received initial funding from the European Social Fund, with the aim of increasing access to digital technologies in schools. The software supplied by FUSS is open source and based on GNU/Linux. During the local lockdown in the first wave of the COVID-pandemic, FUSS projects helped reduce the digital divide in the area.

The drone helicopter Ingenuity's landing on Mars on February 18 represents a success for the open source community. The helicopter runs on a Linux operating system and is based on an open source software framework called F Prime. The fact that NASA invested approximately $85 million of public funds to build and operate Ingenuity shows the increasing interest that government agencies nurture for open source software and hardware in the United States.

Koha, meaning 'gift' in Maori, is an open source library management system that was founded in New Zealand in 1999. The system is available under a GPL 3 licence and can be used in libraries all over the world. The use of an open source licence allows for an open and active community, nationally and internationally, where everyone can participate in discussions and develop the software further. Decisions about technical issues and developments on Koha are taken on a day-to-day basis by the members of the community. These might be individual developers, members of the release team, or libraries that directly or indirectly has contributed or sponsored new features.

The Koulu.me initiative in Finland compiles education tools for schools, including the open source solution Mehackit Atelier. The initiative was launched by a group of pedagogical technology developers and has since caught the attention of teachers in Azerbaijan, Mongolia and South Africa, among other countries. The tools aim to help teachers who are struggling to find the right resources for facilitating remote education in the wake of the COVID-19 public health crisis.

More than 200 school computers in the city of Fontaine in France run on Elementary OS, an open source, GNU/Linux-based operative system. The system is user-friendly and ensures a high level of data security. Pupils using the system have the opportunity to gain knowledge about digital technologies without transferring large amounts of data to proprietary technology companies and third-party applications.

Following the widespread success of the open-source software and ecosystem solution X-Road®, the Mexican state of Quintana Roo kicked off “Xacbé”, a new project which will be built on top of the software-based solution. As a first milestone, the project aims to harmonise all the systems used by the police. However, the state’s commitment goes beyond this, striving to digitalise most of its services by expanding the project to the whole public administration in the near future.

Digital education is becoming increasingly important in Hungary. When the government established the Digitális Jólét Program (Digital Success Programme (DSP)) in 2015, the Digital Education Strategy represented one of its pillars, together with Digital Child Protection, Digital Export Development and Digital Startup. The Digital Education Strategy was formally launched in 2016 and takes into account the education system at all levels, from public education, to higher education, lifelong learning and vocational training.

In November 2020, OSOR published its Guidelines for Sustainable Open Source Communities in the Public Sector. Now, we want to hear from you! We are seeking feedback on the Guidelines and would also love to hear about your experience with implementing them. Share the changes you would like to see, useful tools, and good practices that make your OSS community sustainable.

Want to know more about the use of open source software in Liechtenstein's public administration? OSOR's report and accompanying factsheet will help you to gain an overview of existing policies and legal frameworks throughout the country as well as various open source software initiatives in the public sector.

On 30 March 2021, the 2021 edition of Open Source 101 will be held virtually. The event is a one-day conference covering the basics of open source software, open technologies and the open web. It is targeted at developers, technologists, students and decision makers. The event includes TED-style keynote presentations and track sessions from industry experts. The presentations will cover topics like open source licencing, governance and community engagement. Online registration is compulsory and free of charge.

On 24 April 2021, CH Open is hosting their annual Open Education Day. The event, delivered in German and French, will feature lectures, workshops, and presentations on the use of open source and open content in education. In light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the event will take place online.

Design Scuole Italia is a WordPress theme for the websites of Italian schools. The site helps users understand the organisation of the school, the study paths, the teaching support services available for the school community, and the schools identity. It aims to communicate the identity of a school in a clear and simple way, reducing bureaucracy, giving space for relevant content and people, and trying to reconstruct the atmosphere that characterizes the life of a school.

My Studies is an open source solution for students that provides them with a clear and easy-to-use view of their courses, links to course pages, learning materials, online learning environments and a checklist to manage their workload. My Teaching is similar, but targeted at teachers. It allows them to manage their planned coursework, share instructions with students, and upload learning materials, among other features. Both solutions were developed by the University of Helsinki.

RosarioSIS is a school management web-based application built with PHP and PostgreSQL. Students can use it to manage their schedule, grades and absences while teachers can upload of homework and notes. Reports can be generated from the data included in the application. Additional modules allow, among other things, the advanced management of internal communication, HR, discipline and invoicing. RosarioSIS is fully translated into French, English and Spanish.