BSA Starting Open Source Software Developent Projects

The Boy Scouts of America has just started developing an Open Source Software project at: http://opensource.scouting.org/


Their mission statement reads:

We are committed to serving the needs of the community. Our Open Source Initiative is dedicated to bringing together the Scouting Community and the Open Source Community in a joint effort to serve the needs of the wider community of software users.

In the welcome page, it states:

In the tradition of the Open Source Movement, the resources of the OSS Website are "Open" to the community. We welcome the participation of organizations who face the same sort of technology issues that we do. Many of the challenges faced by the local Boy Scout Councils, and their volunteers, are the same challenges that other non-profit organizations deal with every day.

If your organization has similar technology needs as BSA, then this might be something worth exploring and getting involved. I think it is a great idea for BSA to tap the resources of all the Scouts and Scouters (adult volunteers) to help build the tools that they all need - and in the process share it with everyone else.

It makes me proud to be a part of such an organization.