University of Vermont#
OSPO: Yes, in the Library.
Personnel: Kendall Fortney
General Description#
The Vermont Open Source Progam Office (VERSO) aims to build university systems and infrastructure to facilitate open-source development, open science and open practices through growing infrastructure through supporting the adoption of open source tools, growing open source projects and acting as an educational resource for the entire university.
Expecially given the University of Vermont’s (UVM) landgrant institutional status we act as a connection point for creating projects that partner community organizations and governmental organizations with UVM to solve problems and promote an open approach in collaboration
VERSO also serves to support and create research into the how and why of open work by fasciliating events and research.
Core Objectives#
Building capacity and infrastructure
Reaching a broader community
Research on Open Work
Primary Contacts#
Kendall Fortney, Director kendall.fortney@uvm.edu
Other context#
The Vermont Open Source Progam Office (VERSO) was founded in 2022 and jointly run by the UVM Library and the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS). Additionaly we sponsor a Post-Doc position currently help by John Meluso with a focus on research open source work including Thriving in Open Source Communities in Africa.
We fascilitate a variety of events (see here and recieved funding from the NSF for the Interdisciplinary Open Practices Workshop on Oct 27-28, 2023 exploring the research questions on what practices make communities and workplaces open and how well do those practices (activities, policies, etc.) advance innovation, transparency, and other goals.
We have created a community event in partnership with Champlain College called Open Source Connector https://opensourceconnector.com/ The Open Source Connector aims to create a new forum for collaboration and knowledge sharing around open-source software development in Vermont and the surrounding region. Our goal is to support engagement between academia, industry, and government while driving real impact in the local community.