Open Semantic Data Association
The Open Semantic Data Association e. V. (OSDA) is a non-profit organization that emerged from the Semantic MediaWiki project, that is dedicated to the use of open semantic data to support education and free access to information. OSDA therefore aims at supporting:
- the creation and distribution of open data,
- the use of open machine-readable data formats that simplify re-use and distribution,
- the development of free software tools for these purposes.
OSDA believes that Semantic MediaWiki (an extension to MediaWiki) and related Open Source projects provide ideal tools for achieving these goals, but that additional organizational support is needed to bring the technological achievements to their full potential in applications. One example activity of OSDA therefore is to support the organization of the regular SMWCon meetings that bring together the Open Source user and developer community around Semantic MediaWiki.
About us
OSDA is organized as a charitable registered association under German law (gemeinnütziger eingetragener Verein, VR 3603, Amtsgericht Karlsruhe) seated in Karlsruhe, Germany. It is legally required to operate as a not-for-profit organization that only pursues the charitable goals set forth in its statutes. OSDA was founded on 3rd March 2011 and was officially announced as a registered association on 2nd August 2011.
Importantly, OSDA does not generally represent Semantic MediaWiki or any of its related projects or organizations, even though some members of OSDA may be closely affiliated with these. However, OSDA can occasionally act as a representative organization for specific activities, such as when applying for an award or funding programs, to represent related Open Source projects that otherwise do not have an official organization to support them. Naturally, this is only done in close cooperation with the responsible maintainer, and it does not mean that OSDA represents the project in other matters. Likewise, OSDA is convinced that its charitable goals have wide support in the related communities, but it does not represent a particular community as a whole (though its members may reflect a range of important viewpoints found in related communities).
The OSDA is a volunteer organization that does not currently have any employees. A small Management Board (MB) is in charge of the practical operations. A Steering Committee (SC) of OSDA members discusses important matters and takes decisions on the activities of the OSDA. As of 2016, the OSDA Management Board is comprised of:
- President: Markus Krötzsch, TU Dresden (since Mar 2011, re-elected May 2016)
- Vice president: Karsten Hoffmeyer, Professional.Wiki (since May 2016, SC member since 2013)
- Treasurer: Frank Dengler, audriga GmbH (since Mar 2011, re-elected May 2016)
The OSDA Steering Committee includes the members of the Management Board and the following members:
- Michael Cariaso, SNPedia.com (since Mar 2011, re-elected May 2016)
- Jeroen De Dauw Professional.Wiki (since Mar 2011, re-elected May 2016)
- Yaron Koren, WikiWorks (Vice President 2011–2016, SC member since May 2016)
- Joel Natividad, datHere (since Mar 2011, re-elected May 2016)
- Lydia Pintscher, Wikimedia Deutschland (since Mar 2011, re-elected May 2016)
OSDA additionally has the following members:
- Michael Erdmann, DIQA Projektmanagement GmbH
- Wolfgang Fahl, BITPlan GmbH
- Alexander Gesinn, gesinn.it
- Daniel Hansch, DIQA Projektmanagement GmbH (SC member 2011–2014)
- Toni Hermoso Pulido, Similis.cc
- Yury Katkov, mimacom AG
- Bernhard Krabina, KM-A Knowledge Management Asssociates
- Lex Sulzer, dataspects GmbH
- Don Undeen, Metropolitan Museum of Art (SC member 2011–2014)
- Lia Veja, The German Institute for International Educational Research
- Denny Vrandečić, Wikimedia Foundation (SC member 2011–2014)
- Jesse Wang, Rulai, Inc (SC member 2011–2013)
Activities
An important part of the work of OSDA is the co-organization and facilitation of the SMWCon meetings. The OSDA Steering Committee decides on the time and place of SMWCons, and supports the local organizers. OSDA also supports the EMWCon meetings in North America.
OSDA further maintains a web server that is also used to support projects that help to further the goals of the association. Currently, www.semantic-mediawiki.org is supported through this.
In 2011 and 2012, OSDA also coordinated the application of Semantic MediaWiki to the Google Summer of Code program, unfortunately without (direct) success.
Statutes
The official statutes of OSDA are in German, but an unofficial English translation is also available.
- Official German statutes (PDF, 29.4 KB)
- Translated English statutes (PDF, 27.1 KB)
Contact
To contact OSDA, please write to info@opensemanticdata.org.
Donate
All donations are very welcome. Donations will be used to further the goals of OSDA, especially the development and popularization of Semantic MediaWiki. To donate, you can just use the PayPal button below:
If you would like to make a more targeted donation, or you have any questions about donating, you can write to info@opensemanticdata.org.