Jasig is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

US organization founded by a group of university IT personnel in late 1999 with the stated goal of creating

open source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

computer program A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to execute. Computer programs are one component of software, which also includes documentation and other intangible components. A computer program ...

s for use in

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

environments, mostly written in the

Java programming language Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers ''write once, run anywh ...

. Jasig, “a federation of higher ed institutions interested in open source”, is registered as a US

501(c)3 A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

non-profit organization. The name Jasig is an acronym for Java in Administration Special Interest Group. The founders of Jasig included Carl Jacobson from University of Delaware, David Koehler from Princeton, Bernie Gleason from Boston College, Ted Dodds at the University of British Columbia, Jeffrey Gozdieski and Art Pasquinelli from Sun Microsystems. Jasig developed uPortal, a portal framework for higher education; Bedework, an enterprise calendar system; CAS, an authentication system and single sign-on service; and “''2-3-98''” to help raise awareness and adoption of open-source.

Licensing policy

All the software sponsored by Jasig is open source, released under the Apache license.

Community model

Jasig utilizes a community model based on three classes of membership: * institutional members * partners * affiliates Each type of membership assumes a different role in the organization. Institutional members tend to be colleges or universities that use Jasig commissioned software. Partners tend to be commercial entities who have some vested interest in Jasig software. Affiliates are similar to partners, but have a lower level of commitment to the organization.

Partners

Jasig has worked with a variety of commercial entities in the development and support of its various technologies and software. * Unicon: **Offers an Open Source Cooperative Support Program for Central Authentication Service (CAS). **Unicon is a Jasig contributor and offers services for uPortal in the areas of deployment, customization, integration, and general support for education organizations.

Software projects

Jasig sponsors four main software projects, and one community project: * uMobile: delivers educational content to mobile devices. *

uPortal uPortal is a Java-based framework for creating enterprise web portals. It is sponsored by Apereo (formerly Jasig), a consortium of educational institutions and commercial affiliates sponsoring open source software projects focused on higher educati ...

: an enterprise portal framework. * CAS (Central Authentication Service): allows students and faculty to sign into multiple websites with a single sign on. * Bedework: a calendaring system. * The 2-3-98 Project: a community project that assists college faculty and staff in moving proprietary systems to open source alternatives.

Funding

Jasig's primary means of funding are through membership fees, sponsorships, and donations. The organization also relies on volunteers to assist in other non-monetary ways such as writing computer programs, writing documentation etc.

Activities

Jasig holds an annual conference spotlighting open source in education. This annual event often coincides with other conferences dedicated to the development and adoption of not only open source applications, but technology generally.

Merger with Sakai Foundation

In 2010, Jasig entered into talks with the

Sakai Foundation Sakai is a free, community source, educational software platform designed to support teaching, research and collaboration. Systems of this type are also known as Course Management Systems (CMS), Learning Management Systems (LMS), or Virtual Le ...

to merge the two organizations. The two organizations were consolidated as

Apereo Foundation Jasig is a non-profit US organization founded by a group of university IT personnel in late 1999 with the stated goal of creating Open-source model, open source computer programs for use in higher education environments, mostly written in the Jav ...

in December 2012.

References

{{reflist, 30em Free and open-source software organizations Organizations established in 1999 Organizations based in Denver 1999 establishments in Colorado