FLOSS and VOAD Definitions

The overarching theme of this blog and the idea of this post is the necessity of Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters (VOADs) to move toward a Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) procurement policy not just for software development but also for day to day work, emergency operations, and organazational philosophy.

Before I can start talking about how VOADs can use FLOSS and why the FLOSS community should lobby for participation in VOADs, I will have to give some basic definition to both acronyms. I will also argue against the reasons VOADs, and traditional large non-profits, have ignored FLOSS historically.

VOAD
Voluntary Agencies Active in Disaster is a coordination body "where the members are a coaltion of nonprofit organizations that respond to disasters as part of their overall mission." VOAD is simultaneously organized on a national, statewide, regional, and local level. Organizations that are active on all levels are the traditional big names in not-for-profit disaster work like the American Red Cross, Southern Baptist Convention, Catholic Charities USA (full list) . Many of these organizations are active on the state, regional, and local level also. Smaller not-for-profits are usually incorporated in the VOADs in the more local VOADs. In New York City, CityHarvest or The Clothing Bank are two examples of local non-profits engaged in only the local VOAD.

The organizations in VOAD are heavily focused on providing social services and recovery services to the victims of disaster. While some agencies are focused on the immediate needs of the disaster victims, others are focused on long term recovery, psychiatric health, or spiritual needs of the disaster victims.

FLOSS
Free/Libre/Open Source Software is (definition maintained by the Free Software Foundation)

Free software is a matter of the users' freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software. More precisely, it refers to four kinds of freedom, for the users of the software:

• The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 0).
• The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs (freedom 1). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).
• The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 3). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.

A program is free software if users have all of these freedoms. Thus, you should be free to redistribute copies, either with or without modifications, either gratis or charging a fee for distribution, to anyone anywhere. Being free to do these things means (among other things) that you do not have to ask or pay for permission.

In a pracitcal sense, FLOSS means that you can make any changes you want to a personal copy of the software without fear of reproachment, and actually with the possiblity of encouragement by the community that uses that software.

Proprietary Software
The antithesis of FLOSS is proprietary software. Proprietary software is typically developed by a company that holds the copyrights on any products they release and does not (officially) let you, the end user make changes to the program.