CKAN Pathways to Strengthening Open Source Ecosystems

In the summer of 2024, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced a significant investment to strengthen the CKAN open data ecosystem through its Pathways to Enable Open Source Ecosystems (POSE) funding program. POSE was created to support open-source technologies that provide solutions to problems of national and societal importance. The Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center uses CKAN to power its open data portal.

Building on Phase I ecosystem discovery activities, the project team composed of the Regional Data Center, datHere, and Pitt's School of Computing and Information are working together to:

• Create clearly defined onboarding pathways that welcome and encourage people underrepresented in technology communities to make a meaningful contribution to the ecosystem;
• Develop new processes to design, organize, and manage products, activities, and events that improve the software and strengthen relationships among members of the community;
• Promote the adoption of CKAN;
• Upgrade users to the latest version of the software. Technical assistance provided by the project team will help existing CKAN users minimize security vulnerabilities;
• Track the ecosystem’s ongoing health through performance measures, refreshing the CKAN business plan, and updating the funding strategy to account for changing open data and open society landscapes.