Members Newsletter – November 2025

Dear OSI supporters,

October was punctuated by lots of direct connections with the community. In this month’s newsletter, we’ll highlight our experience through our annual “State of the Source” track at All Things Open; discuss our advocacy on behalf of the Open Source community through our public policy work; and share the recorded sessions from outstanding contributors to the Deep Dive: Data Governance virtual event. We also conducted our OSI Members survey in October and will share what we learned in the coming weeks.

Lastly, we’re searching for our next Executive Director and are now taking applications until November 12. While I’m pleased to serve during the transition for this crucial organization – one that has been high on my list to support for many years – I’m looking forward to welcoming the next leader and seeing what experience and talent they’ll bring to advancing the OSI mission in new and exciting ways.

Deborah Bryant

Interim Executive Director, OSI

News from the OSI

The Open Source Community and U.S. Public Policy

Katie Steen-James: As the full-time Senior U.S. Policy Manager, my role at OSI is to educate policymakers about the benefits of Open Source software, track policy developments at the state and federal level, and ultimately, ensure that Open Source developers can continue doing their work.

Open Source Initiative now accepting your application for Executive Director

The Open Source Initiative is seeking its next Executive Director (ED), the chief executive and strategic leader of the OSI, responsible for advancing its mission, growing and diversifying its funding base, and fostering a global, inclusive community of stakeholders. The ED will be a visible ambassador for OSI to build consensus around key initiatives, including the next version of the Open Source Al definition.

Video recordings

State of the Source @ All Things Open

• Licensing 201
• Beyond the Bottom Line: Sustaining the Open Source Ecosystem
• Policy: Cybersecurity
• Policy: AI / Data Governance
• State of the “Open” AI

Deep Dive: Data Governance

• Opening Keynote: Data is the key to Open Source AI
• A data pathway to building public AI
• Governments as data providers for AI
• Copycats and the Commons: Governing Open Data for Trustworthy AI
• Sovereign by Design: A Blueprint for Federated, Consent-Based AI Systems
• Keynote: Trends and Insights of China Open Source Ecosystem in AI Era
• New licensing initiatives for AI training data
• How Data Provenance Powers Trustworthy AI
• The CLeAR Documentation Framework for AI Transparency
• Anticipatory Bias Governance in AIED: From Reactive Detection to Proactive Design
• Keynote: What should open source AI aspire to be?
• Building Public Data for LLMs
• A new paradigm for publishing library collections: Institutional Books 1.0, a 242B token dataset
• Beyond Extraction: Building Community-Centered Speech Data
• Saving What’s Ours: The Data Rescue Project and the Fight for Public Data

Other news

News from OSI affiliates and partners

• Apereo Foundation: Apereo Foundation Partners with Eclipse Foundation’s Open Community Experience to Present “The Open Community for Research” in Brussels
• ASF: Video recordings from Community Over Code NA
• Creative Commons: Global Call to Action: Open Heritage Statement Now Open for Signature
• Digital Public Goods Alliance: Open Data for Public Interest AI – Calls for Collaborative Action Progress Update
• Drupal Association: State of Drupal presentation
• Eclipse Foundation / ORC (with participation from Jordan Maris): From Closed Rooms to Open Dialogue: How to Participate in CRA Vertical Standards
• Joomla (Open Source Matters): Open Source Congress 2025, Drawing the Picture of a Global Agenda for Resilience and Sustainability
• Kaiyuashe: 10th Anniversary at COSCon 2025
• Linux Foundation / LF AI & Data: The Essential Role of Open Source in Sovereign AI
• Matrix Foundation: Matrix Conf 2025 was a blast!
• Mozilla Foundation: Behind the Manifesto: Standing up for encryption to keep the internet safe
• Open Forum for AI: LexLab Hosts International Open AI and Policy Discussion
• OpenForum Europe: OpenForum Europe Releases Public Letter Calling on the EU to Invest in an EU Sovereign Tech Fund for Open Source Sustainability
• OpenInfra Foundation: Europe’s plan to ditch US tech giants is built on open source – and it’s gaining steam
• OpenSSF: SBOMs in the Era of the CRA: Toward a Unified and Actionable Framework
• OpenUK: The UK’s future leadership in open source
• Python Software Foundation: The PSF has withdrawn a $1.5 million proposal to US government grant program
• Wikimedia Foundation: Wikipedia’s Foundation Was Built on Trust

Research

• A Cartography of Open Collaboration in Open Source AI: Mapping Practices, Motivations, and Governance in 14 Open Large Language Model Projects

Surveys and Reports

Vertical Standards for the CRA

As the deadline for the application of the CRA draws closer, the OSI is happy to announce the beginning of an Open consultation on many of the vertical standards.

2026 State of Open Source Survey

Perforce OpenLogic and Zend, in collaboration with OSI and Eclipse Foundation, is seeking responses from OSS users to gather data for the next State of Open Source Report.

Octoverse 2025

In this year’s Octoverse, GitHub uncovered how AI, agents, and typed languages are driving the biggest shifts in software development in more than a decade.

Events

Upcoming events

• Seattle GNU/Linux Conference (November 7-8 – Seattle)
• SFSCON (November 7-8 – Bolzano)
• OpenForum Academy Symposium (November 18-19 – Rio de Janeiro)
• DPGA Annual Members Meeting (November 24-26 – Brasilia)
• COSCon (December 6-7 – Beijing)
• Open Source Experience (December 10-11 – Paris)

Call for proposals

• FOSDEM (January 31 – February 1 – Brussels)
• SCALE (March 5-8 – Pasadena)
• All things AI (March 23-24 – Durham)
• OCX (April 21-23 – Brussels)

Thanks to our sponsors

New sponsors and renewals

• Sentry
• See all sponsors

Interested in sponsoring, or partnering with, the OSI? Please see our Sponsorship Prospectus and our Annual Report. Please contact the OSI to find out more about how your company can promote open source development, communities and software.

Support OSI by becoming a full member

Let’s build a world where knowledge is freely shared, ideas are nurtured, and innovation knows no bounds! Join as a full member!