Update on Open Data Kit transition

Dear Open Data Kit Community
We are moving forward with plans to transition the management of ODK away from the University of Washington's Department of Computer Science and Engineering (UW-CSE) and towards a community led open-source project. The management of software releases for ODK Collect has already shifted away from UW-CSE, and we are now working on identifying a new organizational structure for ODK. There are a number of aspects of this. We will be creating a survey and sending it to ODK stakeholders in early April to gather community input. Based on this input, a number of concept notes will be created that describe possible options and models for managing ODK in the future. These concept notes will be generic, in that they explore the different structures, and will not name particular entities. These concept notes will be available for community discussion in May.
We are planning a convening of members of the ODK community to discuss the options for future management of ODK and to explore mechanisms for expanding and strengthening the ODK community. At this meeting we will gather feedback on the concept notes, and likely narrow the number of options under consideration. This convening will be in Seattle, Washington, June 28-30, 2017. Due to venue and budget constraints, there are a limited number of spaces available for the face-to- face convening. If you are interested in attending, you can submit your name, and a short statement on your interest in attending: goo.gl/zOCPtl.
We will continue to accept comments on the concept notes after the convening, and we will manage an online discussion through July and August. We plan execute the transition in September, 2017.

Sincerely,
Richard Anderson
Professor of Computer Science and Engineering
University of Washington
anderson@cs.washington.edumailto:anderson@cs.washington.edu