Open Source Repositories and Languages

Open source software development is a vehicle for transforming open collaboration into a viable, scalable technology solution. Innovation is fundamentally driven by this manner of openness. Innovative organizations succeed by harnessing mission contributions from diverse sources. By working in the open, environmental agencies will benefit from community contributions and create tools that are usable by aligned organizations, stretching the investment for even greater returns. Beyond the practical benefits, OSS is attractive to innovative tech talent and signals that the agency is a workplace where mission-driven innovators can have an impact commensurate with their skills.

The transparency of OSS can also improve the contracting process. Potential external partners can refine proposals and provide proofs of concept more easily for agencies that develop in the open. Partners can answer many of their own questions prior to engaging with the agency by reviewing OSS, reducing the burden on internal staff who manage proposal processes. Finally, open development gives partners a clear window into the technologies and architectures agencies use. A detailed understanding of those factors will ease workflow and compatibility hurdles down the line, reducing costs and shortening timelines.

In addition to agencies’ overall OSS presence, we broke down the programming languages they use most frequently among their OSS projects. Codebases that focus on popular and interoperable languages are more likely to attract a variety of contributors and lead to adoption by other organizations. While the OSS codebase is not necessarily reflective of the agency’s organizational codebase, it does provide clues.