Free Software and the University: the Story of the CUNY Academic Commons

Here is a sneak preview of what Boone Gorges will be talking about in his keynote at BuddyCamp Vancouver!

The CUNY Academic Commons, a community site for members of the
twenty-four-campus community of the City University of New York, was
initially created in 2009 on a shoestring. The free platforms WordPress
and BuddyPress, combined with shared server space, meant that a
functional proof-of-concept could be whipped up for practically nothing.

At the same time, the flexibility and openness of the software allowed
for impressive growth, in terms of the Commons as well as the
environment for free software development at CUNY. The story of the CUNY Academic Commons demonstrates the impact of BuddyPress as a tool that is both cheap (to prototype) and free (as in speech), an impact magnified in political and practical importance within the context of education, government, and other non-profit organizations.

The CUNY Academic Commons is an inspirational story you won’t want to miss. The good news is Boone and the others involved with the project are happy to share not just lessons learned, but also a whole bunch of amazing open source, BuddyPress plugins they have developed and shared with the wider community.

He will also be doing a session on “Getting Started with BuddyPress Plugins” as part of the developer afternoon track on Oct. 14th. An overview will be posted here shortly.

Tickets on sale but going fast!