The Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement (CSCCE) has recently announced the launch of a new project named Birdaro, aimed at supporting open source software (OSS) projects as they consider scaling and plans for long-term sustainability. The project has received funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

The Birdaro project will focus on addressing common, predominantly human infrastructure-related challenges faced by open-source projects as they consider whether to scale. Specifically, it will concentrate on individuals taking on leadership roles within these projects. This initiative comes in response to the increasing importance of OSS products within STEM research and the growing need for support in ensuring the longer-term persistence of these projects.

CSCCE has been researching and developing materials about the challenges of scaling and sustainability in OSS that specifically relate to “human infrastructure” topics, such as community engagement, governance, the definition of roles and leadership pathways, and where projects end up being hosted.

The project aims to conduct further research in this area, create and share new resources, and develop a training program for open source project leaders. It is distinct from CSCCE but draws on the organization's expertise in human infrastructure.

"Birdaro" draws its name from the constructed international language of Esperanto, where it means flock of birds. This name is chosen to symbolize a collaborative effort where multiple individuals work towards a shared vision, similar to the collective movement of a murmuration of starlings.

If you would like to stay up to date with work on the Birdaro project, you can sign up today for the mailing list.

If you are interested in connecting with the Birdaro team to talk more about the project, get in touch at info@birdaro.org.