Open Source Initiative to Host Virtual State of the Source Summit, September 9-10

OSI (Open Source Initiative) is hosting a new 24-hour, virtual conference called State of the Source Summit, September 9-10. The non-profit organization plays an important role in the open source ecosystem as stewards of the Open Source Definition (OSD). OSI is responsible for reviewing and approving licenses as OSD-conformant, which indirectly helps mediate community conflicts.

As part of the organization’s overall mission to educate the public on the economic and strategic advantages of open source technologies and licenses, OSI is hosting a global summit to facilitate conversations on the current state of open source software.

“We are so very excited to host our first-ever conference, with a global approach,” OSI Board President Josh Simmons said. “State of the Source provides an opportunity for both the open source software community and the OSI—all those who have contributed so much—to reflect on how we got here, why we have succeeded, and what needs to happen now.”

The conference will run four tracks with sessions that fall under these general groupings:

• Open Source Licenses and the OSI
• Projects & People
• Principles, Policy, & Practices
• “Hot Topics”

OSI has identified several example topics for each track, to guide potential presenters in writing a proposal. The first track encompasses more OSI-specific topics, such as license proliferation and license enforcement.

Projects & People includes topics that apply more broadly to communities and organizations – open source business models, sustainability, patents, and trademarks. The Principles, Policy, and Practices track is geared towards application and example topics include things like explaining a license to your peers, learning how to select a license for your project, and compliance, compatibility, and re-licensing.

As more conferences are forced to move to a virtual format, the wider open source community has the opportunity to be more engaged in an event like State of the Source. It’s a good venue for addressing non-technical issues related to the challenges facing open source maintainers and the community. The call for proposals ends July 16, and speakers will be announced August 25.