HDT_Open Source Knowledge Platform

A central contact point unites the activities of the Bern University of Applied Sciences around freely licensed content & software. This includes an "Awesomelist" with recommendable programmes, advice on use, participation and release.

Factsheet

Schools involved School of Architecture, Wood and Civil Engineering
School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences
School of Engineering and Computer Science
Business School
Institute(s) Institute for Public Sector Transformation
Research unit(s) Digital Sustainability Lab
Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Humane Digital Transformation"
Funding organisation BFH
Duration (planned) 01.10.2022 - 31.12.2023
Head of project Matthias Stürmer
Project staff Jonas Bärtschi
Dr. Annique Lombard
Hannes Horneber
Maurizio Piu
Prof. Dr. Ronny Standtke
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Vogel
Dr. Lena Tichy
Keywords Open Source Software, Digital Sustainability, Open Science

Situation

Research activities ("Open Science"). The use of open source software supports and concretises this intention. So far, however, only isolated, uncoordinated activities have taken place in this area, resulting, for example, in five different BFH presences on the developer platform GitHub. Open source software has also hardly been an issue in the onboarding of employees or in IT services for students.

Course of action

With a central contact point and knowledge platform, Bern University of Applied Sciences promotes the increased use, dissemination and development of open source software (OSS). BFH staff and students learn about free, high-quality alternatives to proprietary applications, benefit from guidance and guidelines around the use and development of OSS, and become familiar with the practice of a transparent, open organisational culture. In addition, the platform communicates the BFH's commitment to other universities and the wider society. This helps to position the BFH as a transparent and innovative science enterprise university.

Result

The landing page bfh.ch/opensource brings together the various activities relating to open source software at the BFH. Structurally, the website is affiliated with the Rectorate Services. A joint BFH website has been created on the developer platform Github at bfh.github.io. The work of the community can be viewed transparently, for example in the backlog and various Kanban boards.

Looking ahead

On the path to a humane digital transformation and open research activity at BFH, open source software plays an important role. In order to have a broad impact, however, the topic must be freed from its niche existence. To ensure that open source software is not only of interest to technology specialists, intuitive usability and a hurdle-free installation play a decisive role.