Issues to consider before pushing out an Open Source Project

There are a number of issues to consider and steps to take before pushing out an Open Source Software project, whether it is a new software project or if it is an existing home-grown solution a library, archive, or museum is contemplating releasing as Open Source Software. These issues include, but are not limited to: 1) Reviewing the landscape to determine if there already is an existing project that meets these needs and if so, how does your project differ?; 2) Determining the perspective community of users and developers are; 3) Creating a plan that includes a roadmap and how you are going to judge success; 4) Reviewing organizational policy and issues (such as technology transfer rules) as well as legal and licensing issues; and 5) Exploring perspective funding models for long-term success. Considering these and other factors beforehand can help create a sustainable Open Source Software project. This presentation comes, in part, out of a full-day workshop held at the 2015 International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPres) about the Roles & Responsibilities for Sustaining Open Source Platforms & Tools. During the workshop a discussion group was formed and explored what an organization needs to consider when releasing new or existing home-grown software as Open Source Software. A subset of this group, Edward M. Corrado (Associate Dean for Library Technology Planning and Policy at The University of Alabama and member of the JHOVE Product Board), Carl Wilson (Technical Lead for the Open Preservation Foundation, current lead developer of JHOVE, and a member of the veraPDF leadership team), and Brett Currier, J.D. (Director of Scholarly Communication at The University of Texas at Arlington), will prepare this presentation based on this workshop and their experience and further investigation.

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