The PMC has prepared a rough draft of a possible Mission and Values statement for the Open Data Kit project. It is based on from feedback received at the ODK convening and examples from other open source projects (e.g. OpenMRS).
We are seeking your feedback on what changes you would make to improve the draft Mission and Values to better reflect the ODK project. The final version will be posted on the revised website (which is currently looking for volunteers ).
Specifically, we’d like to know
- What resonates with you most?
- What resonates with you the least?
- What would you add?
- What would you remove?
Open Data Kit Project
The Open Data Kit (ODK) project produces open-source tools that help users collect and use data on mobile devices in resource-constrained environments. The project aspires to magnify human resources through technology by creating a set of software tools, that are easy to use, easy to modify, and easy to scale. The global community of contributors provides high-quality free software with standard interfaces that enable ODK tools to be modular components of an ecosystem of complementary tools, thereby maximizing reuse for global good.We are:
1) Deployment Driven and User-Centered
- We produce tools that adapt to the unique needs of users around the world enabling ODK to empower both users and implementers to solve their own problems.
- We create tools for resource-constrained environments implying design requirements such as: disconnected operation, lack of grid power, etc.
- We strive to make software that works well at scale and is flexible enough to meet the needs of users in different deployment domains
- We design tools for use by non-software developers as organizations and communities may have differing levels of technical expertise.
- We use iterative evolution for software development with new tools undergoing field testing to ensure design decisions are driven by real needs of implementers in the field.
2) Open
- We aim to build a collaborative community where people of various backgrounds, talents, and skills can come together and produce great software.
- We publicly document and share our knowledge, skills, experiences, and failures.
- We believe in producing and sharing impactful open-source software to enable users to independently leverage ODK to solve their own problems and produce their own custom solutions.
- We strive to be open, honest, and transparent in both our processes and our software.
- We strive to minimize barriers and maximize software reuse and adoption so we use permissive, non-restrictive licenses (e.g., Apache License Version 2.0, Creative Commons License Version 4.0).
- We believe in making consensus-based community decisions that involve multiple stakeholders