An open source project’s success depends on the community it attracts, networks of motivated members working together for a common purpose, creating and nurturing interfaces which evolve, often at an incredible pace, and snowball in popularity, as new people get drawn in, share and contribute.

It’s exciting to watch as the CUNY Academic Commons grows, expands, and responds to users’ feedback.

Commons users – CUNY faculty and grad students – create groups, participate in forums, post content on blogs, and collaborate on our wiki.  Some help develop and maintain our underlying software, which we, as a community, document, test, and if we find issues, report and track defects.

As we collaborate, we may have epiphanies or nervous breakdowns, we may write about Archeology in Iceland or managing on-line courses for distance learners, but it’s incredible to be part of the Commons!

We are enjoying a bumper crop of new members, and I look forward to their contributions!