scholarly journals USING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE AND OPEN STANDARDS FOR OPERATING ROBOTIC TELESCOPES

Author(s):  
T.-O. Husser ◽  
F. V. Hessman

The University of G¨ottingen, the McDonald Observatory of the University of Texas at Austin, and the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) operate two robotic telescopes called MONET at McDonald Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas (MONET/North), and at the SAAO in Sutherland, South Africa (MONET/South). After problems with our original observation control system and some difficulties with another one, we decided to build our own system, initially providing only the minimally required functionality, but allowing for easy extensibility. A decision was made to build on open standards and open source software only, so that we can use existing and well-tested technologies. In this paper we will describe our efforts to implement such an open observation control system using HTTP and XMPP. Furthermore, we will discuss possibilities for connecting multiple telescopes via VOEvents and RTML.

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 43-54
Author(s):  
Mahlatse Shekgola ◽  
Jan Maluleka ◽  
Antonio Rodrigues

The South African cabinet adopted policy recommendations from the Government Information Technology Officer's Council pertaining to Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS). Even though the South African Cabinet has shown support for the use of FOSS through the enactment of a policy, the adoption of open source software in electronic records management seems to be slow. Proprietary software continues to be adopted and used by most public institutions, including local and provincial municipalities in South Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate factors that may influence the adoption and use of FOSS for electronic records management by South African municipalities. The study adopted a qualitative research approach to collect data from 10 purposively selected municipalities in Gauteng. Data were analysed and presented thematically to address the research question. The findings of this study suggest that municipalities in Gauteng are not adopting FOSS for electronic records management as expected. This study established that top management support, reliability, affordability of the software, inadequate capability, contracts with proprietary software providers, organisational culture and organisational support are some of the factors that contributed to the low uptake when it comes to the adoption of Free and Open-Source Software by the municipalities.


Author(s):  
Osden Jokonya ◽  
Stan Hardman

This paper investigates the contribution of stakeholder collaboration during an open source software migration using a case study. The case study is based on the Presidential National Commission, a South African government department that migrated from proprietary software to open source software in 2007. The organization was one of the few that migrated to open source software as part of a South African government initiative. The case study consisted of semi-structured interviews with the participants involved in the migration. The interviews centered on the contribution of stakeholder collaboration during the software migration using a boundary critique. The results suggest that stakeholder collaboration can contribute to open source software migration. From a managerial perspective, business leaders must understand the value of stakeholder collaboration in open source software migration. Boundary critique can be an important tool for achieving broader collaboration of stakeholders.


Author(s):  
Josiline Phiri Chigwada

A survey on the adoption of open source software in libraries in developing countries was conducted. An online questionnaire was sent to Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa (SCAAP) participants for the Advanced Certificate Course in Modern Library Practices and the Lib@web participants of the Management of Electronic Information and Digital Libraries programme at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. The ITEC/SCAAP programme is sponsored by Government of India while the Lib@web programme is sponsored by Flemish Interuniversity Council – Belgian Development Council (VLIR-OUS). The data was collected from 31 librarians who attended these training programmes. The findings revealed that most libraries in developing countries which sent participants to these programmes have adopted open source software. The author recommends that librarians should continue upgrading their skills so that they are conversant with how the various open source software can be used in their institutions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (43) ◽  
pp. 78-83
Author(s):  
Daiva Šiškevičiūtė ◽  
Eugenijus Valavičius

Atvirųjų standartų plitimas kelia naujus reikalavimus informacinių technologijų ir kitų kompiuterinių dalykų dėstytojams. Straipsnyje analizuojamos problemos, iškylančios ruošiantis dėstyti informacinių technologijų kursą, kai kompiuterių taikymo veiksmai iliustruojami atvirosiomis programomis. Taip pat pateikiama studentų pasirengimo priimti tokį kursą analizė – dviejų etapų nuomonės pokyčių tyrimo rezultatai, jų palyginimas su kitais tyrimais, vienų mokslo metų dėstymo patirtis.Teaching of information technology and open source programsDaiva Šiškevičiūtė, Eugenijus Valavičius SummaryThe movement towards open standards on all levels of social life/the life of society puts up new challenges for teachers of Information Technologies and other computer-related disciplines. Vilnius Business College prepared a plan of particular switchover from proprietary software in computer laboratories to open source software. This paper analyses the results of a two-stage survey of students’ opinion about open source software and problems that can occur when using such programs.The changes in students opinion are discussed and results of our surveys are compared with the results of an analogous survey in Lithuanian schools.


2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Büttner ◽  
Sabine Gehrlein ◽  
Stefanie Clormann

At the beginning of 2015 an online survey on the open source software Open Journal Systems (OJS) was launched in Germany to determine how the software is used at German research institutions and what scholars require when working with OJS. The survey was launched by the collaborative project OJS-de.net, a network initiative to support the use of the software in the German publishing landscape. It is a joint effort of the Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) at the Freie Universität Berlin, Heidelberg University Library, and the Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) at the University of Konstanz. The following article presents an overview of the survey results and shows how these are implemented by OJS-de.net to improve the software adaption for German speaking researchers.Au début de l’année 2015, un sondage en ligne sur le logiciel open source Open Journal System (OJS) a été lancé en Allemagne, afin de savoir comment il est utilisé et mis en œuvre dans les institutions de recherche allemandes, et de déterminer les attentes qu’ont les chercheurs en l’utilisant et ce qui peut au contraire leur manquer. L’enquête a été lancée par le projet collaboratif « OJS-de.net », une nouvelle initiative collective allemande visant à encourager l’utilisation du logiciel OJS dans le paysage éditorial allemand. C’est un effort conjoint du Center for Digital Systems (CeDiS) de la Freie Universität Berlin, de la bibliothèque universitaire de Heidelberg, et du Kommunikations-, Informations-, Medienzentrum (KIM) de l’université de Constance. L’article qui suit présente un aperçu des résultats de l’enquête, et montre comment ils sont exploités par « OJS-de.net » pour améliorer l’adaptation du logiciel aux chercheurs germanophones.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josiline Phiri Chigwada

A survey on the adoption of open source software in libraries in developing countries was conducted. An online questionnaire was sent to Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) and Special Commonwealth Assistance for Africa (SCAAP) participants for the Advanced Certificate Course in Modern Library Practices and the Lib@web participants of the Management of Electronic Information and Digital Libraries programme at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. The ITEC/SCAAP programme is sponsored by Government of India while the Lib@web programme is sponsored by Flemish Interuniversity Council – Belgian Development Council (VLIR-OUS). The data was collected from 31 librarians who attended these training programmes. The findings revealed that most libraries in developing countries which sent participants to these programmes have adopted open source software. The author recommends that librarians should continue upgrading their skills so that they are conversant with how the various open source software can be used in their institutions.


2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-14
Author(s):  
Ebtesam Najim AlShemmary ◽  
Bahaa Qasim Al-Musawi

Governments and their agencies are often challenged by high cost and flexible telephonic, Web based data services. Emerging technologies, such as those of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that allow convergent systems where voice and Web technologies can utilize the same network to provide both services, can be used to improve such services. This paper describe VoIP system for the enterprise network (e.g. company, university) that have been developed based on Asterisk which is a kind of open source software to implement IP-PBX system. Through the development and evaluation, we have confirmed that VoIP system based on Asterisk is very powerful as a whole and most PBX functions to be required for the enterprise network can be realized. Interesting findings include that the University of Kufa has a potential to implement the project. By connecting multiple Asterisk servers located in different sites based on IAX2, large scale enterprise network can be developed. Since the software recommended for installation is open source, the project could be used as a source of valuable information by students who specialize in real-time multi-media systems.


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn Lundell ◽  
Jonas Gamalielsson ◽  
Andrew Katz

Several European countries, as well as the European Commission, have acknowledged the importance of open standards (under various definitions of that term) and have taken steps accordingly. Formal (e.g. ISO) standards are often referred to in software development and procurement, but may not necessarily also be open standards. The authors consider the application of formal standards where national policy promotes their use, and, since much contemporary software development involves open source software, they further consider the interaction between the requirement to comply with open standards, and the implementation of open and formal standards in open source software, with particular reference to patent licensing. It is shown that not all formal standards are open standards. SSO policies and procedures regarding the notification of standards-essential patents (SEPs) present challenges for organisations wishing to implement standards in software since such policies and procedures need to be compliant with procurement requirements, patent licences and open source software licences. This paper draws out some implications for those organisations (differentiating where appropriate between small companies and other organisations) and suggests a number of ways of addressing the challenges identified. Use of formal standards may create barriers for implementation in open source software and inhibit an open and inclusive business-friendly ecosystem, and to avoid such barriers is of particular importance for small companies that are essential players in an innovative and international society.


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