The OKFN provides a community network in which projects with similar goals can thrive. There is also technical support on offer, such as wiki and server space and other useful tools. For further information about what the OKFN provides, and what is required of an OKFN project, see the projects guide.

How to Propose a Project

To propose a new project, or request that an existing project become an OKFN project you need to:

Register it as an ‘idea’ onproviding the following information. ((x) indicates required)

• Title (x): The title / name of the project (in title field).
• Project Coordinator (x): Who is or would be responsible for overall coordination of the project. (You can put multiple people but please indicate one person as a primary project contact by putting them first).
• Contact Email (x): email for contact you/project coordinator regarding this proposal if different from email of user submitting this on
• Project Description(x): A few sentences or a few paragraphs about the project. If this is an existing project please indicate its current status.
• Tags (x): any relevant tags – you must include tag okfn-project-proposal
• Resources: What kind of resources (if any) would you need or like? Things like hosting, technical services, developers or just money. Indicate, if you can, which of these you could provide and and which you would need the OKF to provide.
• Conformance with OKFN Project Criteria (x): We have a few criteria that all projects must meet (see below). Please indicate that you understand and accept these conditions by stating at the bottom: “We agree to the OKFN project criteria”.

Project Criteria

• Open Data and Content: data and content, or any other kind of resources, produced by the project will be openly licensed in a way that is compatible with the Open Definition:
• Free/Open Source Software: software created by the project will be openly licensed (i.e. in conformance with the OSI Open Source Definition)
• Public process and politness: the project will be run in a public way and encourage participation from outsiders. Interaction both within the project and the wider community will be governed by basic principles of tolerance, respect and politeness.

Pinging the mailing list

Once you have submitted your project idea you may find it helpful to ping a relevant mailing list – okfn-discuss may be a good place to start.