Can Student-Written Software Contribute to Humanitarian FOSS? Ralph A. Morelli *, Heidi J. C. Ellis *, Trishan R. de Lanerolle *, Jonathan Damon *, Christopher.

Can Student-Written Software Can Student-Written Software Contribute to Humanitarian FOSS?Contribute to Humanitarian FOSS?

Ralph A. MorelliRalph A. Morelli**, Heidi J. C. Ellis, Heidi J. C. Ellis**, Trishan , Trishan R. de LanerolleR. de Lanerolle**, Jonathan Damon, Jonathan Damon**, ,

Christopher WaltiChristopher Walti§§

*Trinity College

§Accenture Corporation Hartford, CT 06109

[email protected]

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Humanitarian FOSSHumanitarian FOSS

H-FOSS: Free and open source software built to serve humanitarian purposes.

Humanitarian (broadly defined): any non-profit activity that benefits society.

Examples:Sahana -- Disaster recovery softwareOpenMRS -- Medical record systemVM -- Volunteer management software

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Humanitarian FOSS MovementHumanitarian FOSS Movement

Premise 1: Quality humanitarian software can be built and given freely to organizations in need. Premise 2: The FOSS development model can successfully harness contributions of IT professionals.Premise 3: Computing students and faculty can contribute to FOSS as part of their educational goals.

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Educational MotivationEducational Motivation

David Patterson (ACM) Nov. 2005: Computing professionals should help our neighbors (post Katrina).David Patterson (ACM) Mar. 2006: CS educators should get involved in the open-source movement. Our Question: Can these initiatives be combined to: Do good in the community. Help revitalize computing education.

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The Crisis in CS EducationThe Crisis in CS Education

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SahanaSahana((http://www.sahana.lkhttp://www.sahana.lk))

H-FOSS disaster management system Sinhalese for relief. IT management system for people and resources.

History and Highlights 2004 started in Sri Lanka following Asian tsunami. 2005 deployed during earth quake in Pakistan. 2006 deployed during mudslide in the Philippines. 2006 Sourceforge project of the month (June). 2007 FSF Award for Social Benefit.

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Trinity Sahana ProjectTrinity Sahana Project (http://www.cs.trincoll.edu/hfoss)(http://www.cs.trincoll.edu/hfoss)

Activities 2006Activities 2006Jan: Trishan meets Sahana team in ColomboSpring: Sahana independent studySpring: Accenture--Katrina ShelterSummer: Volunteer Management ModuleJun: National Conference on Volunteering and Service (Seattle)Aug: Strong Angel III (San Diego)Fall: Course with Trinity, Connecticut College and Wesleyan University (7 students)

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Trinity Sahana ProjectTrinity Sahana ProjectActivities 2007Activities 2007

Jan: NSF C-PATH Proposal -- Can humanitarian open source software development help revitalize undergraduate computing education?Jan: VM Module in Sahana 0.5 Alpha.Mar: SIGCSE 2007 Presentation Spring: Video Conference courseTrinity, Connecticut College and Wesleyan

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National Science Foudation CPATHNational Science Foudation CPATHH-FOSS and Higher Education: A H-FOSS and Higher Education: A Portable and Sustainable Model?Portable and Sustainable Model?

ComputingDepartments

• Teach FOSS• Build Software• Student gain skills and opportunities

IT Corporations• Host interns• Help advertise and fund• Provide expertise• Create volunteer opportunities

HumanitarianCommunity

• Acquire software.• Provide real-world development context.

Open Source

for

Humanity

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Spring 2007 Application Spring 2007 Application Programming Course Programming Course

24 (male) students across 3 campuses

Student Projects (10 projects)Sahana Hospital Management ISDarien, CT EMS Scheduling SystemSahana Multi-Incident Reporting SystemSahana VM Customization

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Non-Traditional Educational Non-Traditional Educational Development EnvironmentDevelopment Environment

Deadlines don’t match academic calendar.

Requirements come from real-world clients.

Deliverables must meet industry standards.

Collaborators are distributed globally.

Beta testing is done by real-world clients.

All of these provide challenges and benefits.

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What the Students LearnedWhat the Students Learned

Good documentation is important.“We were forced to read and understand other people’s code.”Things change: Deadlines, specifications, database structure, etc.“We had to find our place in a real world organizational network.”Bottom line: Our students seemed to enjoy the challenge and experience.

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What the Faculty LearnedWhat the Faculty Learned

Considerable planning and setup is required. Good system and open-source tools are critical. PHP, MySQL, PHPDoc, MySQLAdmin, etc.

Students must be willing to experiment. Good faculty-student communication a must.

Faculty must be comfortable with uncertainty. The community must support it.Bottom Line: More work and more risk than a traditional software engineering course.

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Summer 2007:Summer 2007: H-FOSS Internship H-FOSS Internship Program at Trinity CollegeProgram at Trinity College

Funded by Aidmatrix Foundation

Five student interns and five faculty and staffProjectsSahana

Refactoring VM Module Implementing requested enhancements

OpenMRS (Medical Record System) Summer of Code Project

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Future Plans…Future Plans…

Grow the project to other U.S. colleges and universities.CUNY, U of Hawaii, Yale

Develop industry and humanitarian collaborations.Open Source for Humanity

NSF CCLI Proposal to develop H-FOSS teaching methods and materials.

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Results – The Jury is Still OutResults – The Jury is Still OutDid We…Did We…

help students make a meaningful contribution to the H-FOSS community? Maybe?

strengthen bonds between academia and industry? Some baby steps, perhaps.

broaden interest in the computing discipline? Not yet.

Did we enjoy the experience? Absolutely!

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Questions???Questions???

Email: [email protected]

Visit: http://www.cs.trincoll.edu/hfoss