Structuring the Office#
Placement of VERSO#
The grant that created VERSO was originally support by the UVM Library through Library Dean Bryn Geffert and Juniper Lovato at the College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (CEMS). This placed the office between a college and a cross-campus department and provided connections to students, faculty and staff that are most likely to be in the open source programming space while also giving it reach to move beyond CEMS to support a broader spectrum of the community. The first physical office was places in Howe Library building in a basement office. While the space was gracious, it was located inside of another office which by necessity was only accessible with key card to a small selection of staff.
Governance Model#
While and advisory group was created when the office first formed, it proved difficult at create an ongoing meeting or input. For much of the first couple of years the office acted
Funding and Resources#
Initial funding came from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation in the form of a $635,000 grant over two years. This was meant to support the positions of a director and community specialists.
Roles and Responsibilities#
While original positions did shift, the importance of a multi-disciplinary director was impactful in the initial direction of the office.
Policies and Frameworks#
Key early deliverables:
Open source licensing guidelines.
Contribution and governance templates.
Compliance checklists for research projects.
Here’s a narrative-style summary of the first six months of VERSO’s development, capturing the progress across all eight goals:
VERSO: The First Six Months#
The launch of VERSO marked a significant milestone in advancing open-source principles and infrastructure at the University of Vermont. In its first six months, the program laid a strong foundation across staffing, systems development, community engagement, and academic integration.
Building the Team and Launching the Program#
VERSO officially began with the successful hiring and onboarding of its core leadership and research team. Kendall Fortney joined as the VERSO Program Director on April 24, 2022, bringing strategic direction and coordination to the initiative. Earlier in the year, Jonathan St-Onge was hired as the VERSO Ph.D. Fellow (January 14, 2022), followed by John Meluso, who joined on June 1, 2022, as the Sloan VERSO Postdoctoral Fellow for Systems, Organizations, & Inclusion. With these key hires, VERSO was well-positioned to begin its mission.
Establishing Infrastructure and Systems#
VERSO quickly moved to establish its organizational infrastructure at UVM. Collaborations with UVM TechTransfer led to the development of processes for open-source licensing, while the OSPO secured office space within the UVM Library’s Center for Teaching and Learning. A formal RFP process for open-source projects was launched, and documentation on licensing was made available through the VERSO website. Additional partnerships with the UVM Library supported the adoption of Diamond Access journals and the creation of UVM Press. A GitLab repository, managed by UVM IT, was also established to support project development.
Engaging the Community#
VERSO met its goal of engaging with six faculty-, student-, and community-driven projects, collectively involving over 1,500 contributors—a 9% increase in GitLab users since January 2022. Projects included:
Allotaxonometer Project – Translating a proprietary tool into open-source with interactive features.
Boston Library Consortium Digital Lending Project – Collaborating on open-source software design.
GIS Open Data Portal – Creating a centralized hub for ArcGIS projects.
Share Grant Resource Library – Streamlining grant applications across UVM colleges.
UVM Computes Project – Finalizing a Sloan-funded browser-based supercomputer.
UVM Press – Supporting open journals and associated software pipelines.
Faculty across departments played a central role in each initiative, and efforts are underway to increase student participation through a dedicated Git training pipeline.
Training and Educational Resources#
VERSO made significant strides in training and education. A new upper-level course on open-source principles is set to launch in January 2024, co-taught by Lovato and Fortney. Course materials will be available both for credit and as a MOOC on YouTube. The VERSO website now serves as a hub for learning, featuring blogs, event announcements, and open-source resources. Fortney also holds weekly office hours in the library to support student training in Git and open-source practices.
Planning for Sustainability#
To ensure long-term viability, VERSO has actively pursued funding opportunities. Proposals submitted include an EPSCoR Track 1 (August 22, 2022), which would support 50% of the OSPO Director’s salary and expand open-source infrastructure across Vermont institutions. A renewal proposal to Google Open Source was also submitted, aiming to sustain core operations through 2025. Additional NSF and NEH conference grants are in development.
Publishing the OSPO Playbook#
VERSO is developing a comprehensive playbook to guide academic OSPO activities. Initial content is already available on the VERSO website, including guest lecture materials and documentation on organizational growth strategies. These resources are designed to be openly accessible and adaptable for other institutions.
Graduate Training and Research#
Jonathan St-Onge, the VERSO Ph.D. Fellow, is conducting research on the costs and benefits of learning to code in scientific disciplines. In collaboration with Prof. Hébert-Dufresne, he is developing a theoretical model and conducting surveys to validate it. St-Onge also leads the Allotaxonometer translation project, contributing to VERSO’s broader mission of open data visualization.
Academic Publications and Dissemination#
VERSO is ahead of schedule in publishing research. Two major works have already been released:
The Penumbra of Open-Source (EPJ Data Science) explores the longevity and collaboration of decentralized open-source projects.
The OCEAN Mailing List Dataset (arXiv) presents a network analysis across mailing lists and code repositories.
Key Changes and Strategic Decisions#
Two notable adjustments were made during this period:
The community manager role was restructured to include a research component, leading to the hiring of a postdoc focused on open-source ecosystems and inclusion.
VERSO opted for an institutional GitLab license administered through UVM ETS, replacing GitHub to better align with university infrastructure.