The IIPC is looking for one or two people to take on a leadership role in the OpenWayback project.
The OpenWayback project is responsible not only for the widely used OpenWayback software, but also for the underlying webarchive-commons library. In addition the OpenWayback project has been working to define access related APIs.
The OpenWayback project thus plays an important role in the IIPCs efforts to foster the development and use of common tools and standards for web archives.
Why now?
The OpenWayback project is at a cross roads. The IIPC first took on this project three years ago with
Originally this work was done by volunteers in our community. About two years ago the IIPC decided to fund a developer to work on it. The initial funding was for 16 months. With this we were able to complete the task of stabilizing the software as evidenced by the release of OpenWayback 2.0.0 through 2.3.0.
We then embarked on a somewhat more ambitious task to improve the core of the software. A significant milestone that is now ending as a new ‘CDX server’ or resource resolver is being introduced. You can read more about that here.
This marks the end of the paid position (at least for time being). The original 16 months wound up being spread over somewhat longer time frame, but they are now exhausted. Currently, the National Library of Norway (who hosted the paid developer) is contributing, for free, the work to finalize the new resource resolver.
I’ve been guiding the project over the last year since the previous project leader moved on. While I was happy to assume this role to ensure that our funded developer had a functioning community, I felt like I was never able to give the project the kind of attention that is needed to grow it. Now it seems to be a good time for a change.
With the end of the paid position we are now at a point where there either needs to be a significant transformation of the project or it will likely die away, bit by bit, which is a shame bearing in mind the significance of the project to the community and the time already invested in it.
the initial objective to make the software easier to install, run and manage. This included cleaning up the code and improving documentation.
Who are we looking for?
While a technical background is certainly useful it is not a primary requirement for this role. As you may have surmised from the above, building up this community will definitely be a part of the job. Being a good communicator, manager and organizer may be far more important at this stage.
Ideally, I’d like to see two leads with complementary skill sets, technical and communications/management. Ultimately, the most important requirement is a willingness and ability to take on this challenge.
You’ll not be alone, aside from your prospective co-lead, there is an existing community to build on. Notably when it comes to the technical aspects of the project. You can get a feel for the community on the OpenWayback Google Group and the IIPC GitHub page.
It would be simplest if the new leads were drawn from IIPC member institutions. We may, however, be willing to consider a non-member, especially as a co-lead, if they are uniquely suited for the position.
If you would like to take up this challenge and help move this project forward, please get in touch. My email is kristinn (at) landsbokasafn (dot) is.
There is no deadline, as such, but ideally I’d like the new leads to be in place prior to our next General Assembly in Lisbon next March.
