SIGN UP TO STAY INFORMED!
Give us your email address and we'll keep you up to date about upcoming Penguin Days and related events!

Background

Penguin Day will provide a venue for dialog at the crossroads of non-profit technology and F/OSS. It will take place right after the NTEN Non-Profit Technology Conference in Philadelphia on March 28, 2004 and will build on the momentum generated there by two days of workshops and session on F/OSS at the NTC, the NOSI Open Source Primer to be re-released at the NTC, the NOSI Open Source Café and hands-on training sessions.

When assessing organizational software needs, NGO’s have traditionally had to wrestle with the “build versus buy” decision, investigating whether off-the-shelf proprietary products adequately met their needs, or if there was a mandate to undertake the cumbersome and resource-intensive path of in-house solution development. F/OSS is evolving the decision towards “build or bend”, where NGO’s must assess how well existing products meet their requirements, data models, and workflow, then elect to adopt those offerings ‘as-is’ or undertake custom development. Given that the latter path can lead to frustrating and de-focusing resource drains, the stakes are high.

In short, NGOs face a complex process of evaluation and adoption of products in the current F/OSS landscape.

The Penguin Day will begin to challenge developers to provide flexible and appropriate solutions for NGO-specific mission-critical applications, while empowering NGO users and support providers to better communicate their needs and serve as more active partners in the development and maturation of F/OSS technology for the NGO space.

Penguin Day will take a unique approach to the topics at hand, examining the lifecycle of selected F/OSS projects to identify best practices alongside lessons learned. We will begin to identify support gaps in the existing resource communities (such as by technology and management support organizations, and developer communities), and posit ways to bridge those gaps. While strong bases of developers, technology support providers, circuit- and e-riders, and other NGO technology practitioners are working the sector, it seems to us that understanding and communications could be enhanced, more relationships forged, and new ideas and collaborations engendered. Working towards a common, shared vocabulary will be an essential goal of the Penguin Day, allowing the circle to grow around a focused set of concepts and terms.

Penguin Day will aim to develop concrete next steps for collaborations, visions, and technologies that will usher the NGO sector into more effective and appropriate adoption of F/OSS. Participants will capture specific ‘commitments’ for next steps and assign ‘project managers’ to shepherd those commitments to fruition. Organizers and key leaders will also work with NOSI, Aspiration, and NTEN to begin developing institutionalizing the conversation and follow-up.

Organizers

Penguin Day 2004 is a grassroots effort spearheaded by Michelle Murrain, Non-Profit Open Source Initiative (NOSI); Dirk Slater, LINC Project/Welfare Law Center; Allen Gunn, Center For Creative Learning; Jamie McClelland, Jumpstart Media, Teresa Crawford, Advocacy Project, and Katrin Verclas, TechStrategy. We are indebted to the help and support of many other wonderful individuals who have been invaluable in planning and supporting the Penguin Day: Melissa Pailthorp, Aspiration; Bill Lester, NinthBridge; Jonathan Peizer, Open Society Institute, and Reg Foster, IBM Corporation.

info@penguinday.org · Privacy Policy