Open Source Initiative

The Board of the Open Source Initiative has constituted a number of committees to perform the work of the organization and advance its agenda. These committees all report to the Board at regularly scheduled Board meetings. The committees are listed in alphabetical order below:

Communications Committee

The Communications Committee translates OSI policy and positions to public statements, and also ensures timely, professional responses to all who communicate with the OSI. The chair is Simon Phipps and the committee uses a mailing list to conduct its work. Volunteers are welcome and should contact the committee chair.

Education Committee

The Education Committee focuses on the use and teaching of open source software in the educational context, from earliest childhood instruction up through graduate and post-graduate levels. The Education Committee is responsible for developing, arranging, and conducting educational conferences, programs, courses of instruction, and online educational seminars covering open source software, licensing, and communities. The chair is Dr. Fabio Kon and the members include Alolita Sharma, Prof. Harshad Gune, Dr. Tony Wasserman and Michael Tiemann. Ken Coar and Nnenna Nwakanma also maintain an active role in supporting various education initiatives. Additionally, members of osi-edu-discuss@opensource.org are also members of this committee.

Governance and Membership Committee

The Governance and Membership Committee has been charged by the board to develop and recommend a governance model that will increase the OSI's operational capacity, increase its authority within the open source community, and become an organization run by and for the people and organizations it represents. The chair is Simon Phipps. Other members include Andrew C. Oliver and governance mailing list members. To join the committee, contact the committee chair.

Infrastructure Committee

The Infrastructure Committee is responsible for overseeing the management of the hardware, system software and operational infrastructure of the OSI. The committee ensures the systems are in good working order and that the needs of the OSI are being fulfilled. The chair is Andrew Oliver.

License Review Committee

The License Review Committee presides over the license approval process, solicits community input, develops community consensus, and reports the progress of these discussions and recommendations to the Board. The committee also concerns itself with the topic of open source license proliferation. The chair is Mr. Karl Fogel. Subscribers to license-review at opensource.org as well as Russell Nelson are members of the committee.