ORCA

Project

The goal of this document is to describe what makes a good project, the history of projects of the past, how we select a new project for the ORCA program and the onboading process once a project is selected.

Project Attributes

For a project to be a good fit for the ORCA program there are several core requirements”

• Broader Impact - it must have a impact and an community beyound the project sponsor. There must be a measurable community, or implied community that could potentially carry the project forward.
• Sustainability - There either must be funding attached to the project to support the student’s time, or a reason that funding could not be acquired (like it is a subject where there is little funding, or the project sponsor is eligiable to get funding).
• Engagement - The project sponsor must be willing to attend weekly meetings with the team to scope work, engage with individual team members to solve problems and support the team’s effort. This is an education experience and it is important the sponors engage with the team.

History of Past Projects

Interactive Management App (ISM)

Repo: https://github.com/VERSO-UVM/interactive-management-app UVM Research Partner: John Meluso ORCA Pod Dates: Fall 2023 - Sprint 2024 (September 15, 2023 - May 8, 2024)

The Interactive Management App project will design and build an open source tool for conducting Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) research with participants. The Interactive Management App will produce a flow diagram that helps a group of people solve a collective problem. The app will take in a list of factors identified by research participants that affect a specific problem. It will then work with participants to figure out the relationships between factors (things that impact their ability to act). An algorithm will then determine which factors should be addressed first, second, and so on in order for the group to meet their goals

Vermont Zoning Atlas (VTZA)

Repo: https://github.com/thebestyoshibird/VT_Zoning_Atlas UVM Research Partner: Yoshi Bird

The Vermont Zoning Atlas is a web-based geospatial interface that visualizes zoning code distributions across all of Vermont. Zoning rules can present barriers to effective city planning, impairing our ability to achieve important policy objectives like community desegregation, climate change resiliency, transportation access, homelessness relief, and affordable housing development. The Vermont Zoning Atlas seeks to democratize researchers’, policymakers’, advocates’, and everyday citizens’ understanding of zoning regulations and enable apples-to-apples cross-jurisdiction comparisons through a methodology developed by our partner, the National Zoning Atlas.

Project Selection

A project Sponsor needs to contact the VERSO Program Director with intersted in using an ORCA team. Initial disucssions will layout the project details, scope of the work and if funding is available (and when). A discission may be made within a month if ORCA can take on a project, it may take longer if funding is still being worked out.

Project Submission Format

Submission Form for Potential Sponsored Open Source Research Project

Project Title: [Title of the Open Source Research Project]

• Submission Date: [Date of submission]
• Contact Information: [Name, Email, UVM ID if applicable]

1. Project Details Brief overview of the project, its objectives, methodology and any affiliated repos
2. Project Contributors List the Principal Investigator (PI) [Name, Affiliation, Contact Information] and Collaborators/Team Members that are activily contributing to the project
3. Potential Audience Describe the target audience or beneficiaries of the project and explain how the project will benefit them
4. Work Estimate Give a rough estimate of the amount of work required anda proposed timeline for project completion
5. Funding Describe the if there already funding to support student work, if there is a pathway to get funding or if there is no funding expected
6. Additional Notes Add any other information that is relevant to this request, including if there are roadblocks preventing development or anything else that may impact its success

Project Onboarding

Project Selected

Once a project is selected we need a couple of paragraphs about the project’s mission, goals and activities which will be used to build a project page on the VERSO Site.

Hiring

The VERSO Director will work with the project sponsor to determine the team makeup and job requirements to build a job description for hiring (see Recruiting for examples of previous job listings. The VERSO director will need to post these listing two monthes in advance of the start of the project. The VERSO Director will interview canidates and select the best based on aptittude for the technical skills and alignment to the ORCA Culture.

Pre-Kickoff Prep

The Project Sponsor and the VERSO Director will work together to build a list of tasks and resources the Pod will need to start the semester running.

Project Kickoff

In the first week of the semester when the pod is going to operate, we will hold a kickoff meeting with the project sponsor, the whole team and the VERSO Director. This will ensure the team has their technical systems up and running, know where to find tasks and resources, and can get started.

Ongoing Meetings

The Project Sponsor will need to attend Sprint Planning and Sprint Review meetings every two weeks to ensure the team is able to complete the work they are tasked and are meeting the Project Sponsor’s goals.

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