This post is part of a series in which we share more about what we’re working on and what we’re learning. Read our last update.

Have a question or comment about anything you see here? Get in touch! We’d love to hear from you.

On to the update …

What we are working on:

  • We shared a preliminary investigation into water utility funding. We explored how public utilities, specifically water, are funded, and found some insights that can help shape sustainable funding of open infrastructure. Read the full report.
  • We held our first Collaborator Calls of 2023. This call focused on sharing a recap of our Funders Summit last year and plans we have for the next phase of the collective fund pilot to receive feedback from our key stakeholders.  We will be sharing more about the next phase of our pilot on our blog soon!
  • There are still a few days to apply for our Research Lead vacancy! This position will play a central role in operationalizing IOI's core aim to provide funding recommendations and investment guidance for research infrastructure – find out more and apply by 6 February 2023.
Photo by Hendrik Cornelissen on Unsplash

Who we are talking to:

  • Hannah Wang, Educopia, to find out more about their work on the Digital Preservation Services Collaborative Planning project that aims at advocating for community-supported distributed digital preservation service options and designing a service model for collaboration that ensures the authority, sustainability, and viability of these options.
  • Jochai Ben-Avie, Connect Humanity, on their work to connect the unconnected and provide financing for communities in need.
  • John Inglis and Richard Sever, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, to follow up on conversations about supporting governance and diversification of funding strategies for biorXiv and medrXiv.
  • Christopher Wood, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, to explain the work of IOI and reflect on the open infrastructure needs (digital and non-digital) in Latin America as well as the elements that limit the flourishing of projects such as limited financial resources, formation of human resources, and barriers around cross-institutional collaborations.

What we are reading/exploring:

A list of highlights is below — for a more comprehensive view, please check out the Open Infrastructure Tracking Project (also on Twitter and now Mastodon).

Upcoming events/talks:

We look forward to meeting you at the following events!

  • Our very own Emmy Tsang will be representing us at the EU Open Source Summit 2023 on Friday, 3 February 2023 in Brussels, Belgium. She will be a part of a panel that will explore the current state of OSS funding and future directions for OSS funding in Europe.
  • On 15 March 2023, IOI will co-host a workshop in Accra, Ghana with the West and Central African Research and Education Network (WACREN) titled "Charting common pathways for collective action in advancing open infrastructure in Africa”. The event is a prelude to the WACREN 2023 Conference that is also being hosted in Accra.
Posted by Jerry Sellanga