Una Mesa and Open Source

Eureka! An example of a public health movement engaged in the open source movement, Una Mesa. Explore -- however, to save you a click, here are the essentials:

Open source software plays a key role in the research and development of better social services

• UnaMesa works with communities to develop tools that serve their needs
• Requires the ability to share and build upon each other's work (Open Source)

How UnaMesa supports Open Source developers

• Developer community sites - TiddlyWiki.org, SharedRecords.org
• Purchase code / support on behalf of the community (How do OS programmers eat) (e.g. Eric Shulman's support of TiddlyWiki community)
• Public Trust - Holds copyright on behalf of the community (Allows integration with any projects that provide social benefit regardless of which open-source license they use.
• Support for localization

How UnaMesa supports social organizations that use Open Source

• Provides software tools and services for free to social enterprises (e.g. SharedRecords.org)
• Demonstrates how technology is used in real life situations (e.g. TiddlyWiki in education, SharedRecords in clincs)
• Provides training and support for users (UnaMesa Academy)

How UnaMesa supports businesses that work with Open Source

• Provides a neutral, trusted intermediary to protect the interests of both the community and the corporate participants (e.g. TiddlyWiki and BT Osmosoft)
• Negotiate on behalf of the community to establish appropriate licenses and contracts for corporate contributions of code
• Accepts contributions from corporations and ensures that they go directly to supporting the developer community (e.g. support of Martin)