Can humanitarian open-source software development draw new students to CS?

Authors:
Heidi J. C. Ellis;Ralph A. Morelli;Trishan R. de Lanerolle;Jonathan Damon;Jonathan Raye
Affiliations:
Trinity College, Hartford, CT;Trinity College, Hartford, CT;Trinity College, Hartford, CT;Trinity College, Hartford, CT;Trinity College, Hartford, CT
Venue:
Proceedings of the 38th SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
Year:
2007

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Abstract

In this paper, we present an example humanitarian open-source software project that has been used since January 2006 at a small liberal-arts college as an experiment in undergraduate CS education. Sahana (Sinhalese for relief) is a free and open-source disaster management system developed in Sri Lanka by a group of IT professionals following the 2004 Asian tsunami. It is a web-based tool that addresses the IT coordination problems that typically occur in trying to recover from a large-scale disaster. We are currently exploring the wider use of Sahana as a sustainable model and platform for teaching about open-source software development while at the same time allowing CS students and educators to make a socially useful contribution of their time, effort, and expertise. This paper presents our experiences with Sahana including the benefits for both academia and industry.