How to Build an Open Source Metrics Dashboard

[[3. Resources/Readwise/Full Document Contents/Articles/How to Build an Open Source Metrics Dashboard|Full Document Contents]]
## Document Notes
# Title: Building an Open Source Metrics Dashboard for the World Health Organization
---
tags: #OpenSource #Metrics #Collaboration
Author: Anonymous
Source: World Health Organization
Reference: N/A
---
## Table of Contents:
- Summary
- Main Content
- Notes
- References
- Paraphrase
- Hypotheses
- Methodology
- Questions
- Future Research
- Implications
- Logical validity
- Conclusion
## Index Creation:
- Open Source
- WHO
- GitHub
- OSPO
- CHAOSS
- Architecture
- Best Practices
- Community Branding
## 📝 Summary:
The World Health Organization established its Open Source Programme Office (OSPO), collaborating with GitHub to build an open source metrics dashboard. This initiative aims to enhance the organization's open source ecosystem by ensuring reliability, safety, and maintainability. The project involved designing a comprehensive dashboard strategy, overcoming challenges, implementing efficient workflow and architecture, and identifying best practices for open source projects.
## 📖 Main Content:
The project involved collaborating with the WHO to address the challenge of developing an open source metrics dashboard. By leveraging data from the GitHub API, the team built a dashboard that meets the organization's needs for tracking the health of their open source ecosystem. Common challenges like expense, data storage, rate limits, and maintainability were managed effectively to ensure the project's success.
### 🗒️ Notes:
- WHO was the first UN agency to establish an OSPO.
- GitHub supported WHO in building the open source metrics dashboard.
- The dashboard aims to monitor the health of WHO's open source ecosystem.
- Building the dashboard involved identifying metrics and addressing challenges.
- A comprehensive architecture with two applications was designed to generate and present the data effectively.
## 📖 References:
No external references required for this note.
## 🗣️ Paraphrase:
1. Building open source projects transparently from the beginning facilitates community involvement in different aspects of the project, from coding to security practices, ensuring a smoother onboarding process.
2. Configuring projects for simplicity ensures accessibility to users without technical expertise, allowing them to make changes and updates seamlessly without conflicts.
## 🧪 Hypotheses:
- Future studies could explore the impact of open source metrics dashboard on organizational efficiency and decision-making.
- Research could focus on the scalability and adaptability of open source projects across various sectors.
### 📊 Methodology:
Exploring the impact of open source metrics dashboards on organizational efficiency could involve longitudinal studies, surveys, and qualitative interviews to understand user perceptions and outcomes.
### ❓ Questions:
- How can open source metrics dashboards contribute to organizational transparency?
- What are the key factors influencing the successful implementation of open source initiatives?
### 🔮 Future Research:
Future research could delve into the scalability of open source metrics dashboards in diverse organizational settings and sectors.
### 💡 Implications:
Implementing open source metrics dashboards could enhance organizational transparency, efficiency, and accountability, potentially influencing industry-wide practices.
### ✅ Logical validity:
The arguments presented in the note are logically coherent, supported by examples and insights derived from the collaboration between GitHub and the World Health Organization.
## 🎯 Conclusion:
The collaboration between GitHub and the World Health Organization to build an open source metrics dashboard holds significant potential for improving the organization's open source ecosystem. By leveraging innovative strategies, overcoming challenges, and following best practices, this project sets a precedent for future open source initiatives within WHO and beyond.
> [!note]+ Document Notes
> # Title: Building an Open Source Metrics Dashboard for the World Health Organization
>
> ---
> tags: #OpenSource #Metrics #Collaboration
> Author: Anonymous
> Source: World Health Organization
> Reference: N/A
>
> ---
>
<!-- deep-read:sections start -->
## Table of Contents:
- Summary
- Main Content
- Notes
- References
- Paraphrase
- Hypotheses
- Methodology
- Questions
- Future Research
- Implications
- Logical validity
- Conclusion
## Index Creation:
- Open Source
- WHO
- GitHub
- OSPO
- CHAOSS
- Architecture
- Best Practices
- Community Branding
## 📝 Summary:
The World Health Organization established its Open Source Programme Office (OSPO), collaborating with GitHub to build an open source metrics dashboard. This initiative aims to enhance the organization's open source ecosystem by ensuring reliability, safety, and maintainability. The project involved designing a comprehensive dashboard strategy, overcoming challenges, implementing efficient workflow and architecture, and identifying best practices for open source projects.
## 📖 Main Content:
The project involved collaborating with the WHO to address the challenge of developing an open source metrics dashboard. By leveraging data from the GitHub API, the team built a dashboard that meets the organization's needs for tracking the health of their open source ecosystem. Common challenges like expense, data storage, rate limits, and maintainability were managed effectively to ensure the project's success.
### 🗒️ Notes:
- WHO was the first UN agency to establish an OSPO.
- GitHub supported WHO in building the open source metrics dashboard.
- The dashboard aims to monitor the health of WHO's open source ecosystem.
- Building the dashboard involved identifying metrics and addressing challenges.
- A comprehensive architecture with two applications was designed to generate and present the data effectively.
## 📖 References:
No external references required for this note.
## 🗣️ Paraphrase:
1. Building open source projects transparently from the beginning facilitates community involvement in different aspects of the project, from coding to security practices, ensuring a smoother onboarding process.
2. Configuring projects for simplicity ensures accessibility to users without technical expertise, allowing them to make changes and updates seamlessly without conflicts.
## 🧪 Hypotheses:
- Future studies could explore the impact of open source metrics dashboard on organizational efficiency and decision-making.
- Research could focus on the scalability and adaptability of open source projects across various sectors.
### 📊 Methodology:
Exploring the impact of open source metrics dashboards on organizational efficiency could involve longitudinal studies, surveys, and qualitative interviews to understand user perceptions and outcomes.
### ❓ Questions:
- How can open source metrics dashboards contribute to organizational transparency?
- What are the key factors influencing the successful implementation of open source initiatives?
### 🔮 Future Research:
Future research could delve into the scalability of open source metrics dashboards in diverse organizational settings and sectors.
### 💡 Implications:
Implementing open source metrics dashboards could enhance organizational transparency, efficiency, and accountability, potentially influencing industry-wide practices.
### ✅ Logical validity:
The arguments presented in the note are logically coherent, supported by examples and insights derived from the collaboration between GitHub and the World Health Organization.
## 🎯 Conclusion:
The collaboration between GitHub and the World Health Organization to build an open source metrics dashboard holds significant potential for improving the organization's open source ecosystem. By leveraging innovative strategies, overcoming challenges, and following best practices, this project sets a precedent for future open source initiatives within WHO and beyond.
<!-- deep-read:sections end -->
## Highlights
- What does it mean to be healthy?” We looked at the [CHAOSS project from the Linux Foundation](https://chaoss.community/) which creates metrics, metric models, and software to understand open source community health globally. We used some of their metrics as a starting point, then came up with a list of things that WHO’s OSPO was interested in and cross-referenced this with what would actually be feasible to calculate. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j7brhverkfdpte22xcvxfsv6))
- When building dashboards like this, there are some common challenges that you run into that you need to be able to address. They include things like:
• **Expense**: when developing a metric, we must consider the volume of data being utilized, especially when designing the dashboard to ensure it loads efficiently.
• **Data storage**: we wanted to minimize the dependencies for the project, which led us to get creative with how we store metrics once they’re calculated.
• **Rate limits**: every tool has its limitations to fetch data from GitHub’s API. We encountered specific rate limits while retrieving the necessary data, which required us to reevaluate how to approach getting the data and how much information we could get.
• **Maintainability**: for a small team, it’s important that tools are easy to learn, use, setup, and maintain in the long run. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j7brhcnrc691h72sra17xwgs))
- • Fetches data from the public GitHub API, specifically the GraphQL API.
• Transforms and aggregates the data into the shape we want.
• Dumps the data output into a JSON file that the backend populates.
• The data is then loaded into the next JS static site build, so it will be on the frontend once the site gets built on GitHub Pages. This is the secret sauce of the project—for small or medium size organizations, the site loads quickly because all of the data is already populated on build/load time. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j7btqjw4vz43k41nsd55zd1x))
- Note: In this week’s feature, Andrew Henry shares his insights on building an open-source metrics dashboard tailored for community health, drawing from the CHAOSS project's frameworks. With a focus on practical challenges—like expense management and API rate limits—he outlines strategies for creating an efficient dashboard that engages and sustains contributor involvement. Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just diving into web development, this guide will equip you with the tools to promote inclusivity and transparency in your open-source projects.
**Background:** I am a Developer Advocate at GoDaddy with a specialization in open source and WordPress. My strong background as a professional educator and instructional designer complements my extensive experience in teaching programming languages such as PHP, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and tools like Git and GitHub. I am dedicated to supporting and growing the open-source community, focusing on onboarding new contributors and advocating for sustainable funding solutions. As I aspire to become a director of an Open Source Program Office (OSPO), I am committed to promoting transparency and inclusivity within the WordPress ecosystem. My goal is to merge my educational efforts with my technological passion, both on and off the stage, while fostering a sustainable and inclusive open-source community. I need a prompt that clearly outlines how each article I provide aligns with my professional focus on open-source advocacy, contributor engagement, and education.
---
### Key Takeaways:
🌱 **Identify Metrics for Community Health:** Focus on understanding what constitutes a "healthy" open-source community by identifying specific metrics. This involves using existing frameworks like the CHAOSS project and aligning them with the needs and interests of the OSPO to foster better engagement and sustainability.
🛠️ **Address Common Challenges in Dashboard Development:** Recognize and prepare for challenges such as expense management, data storage, API rate limits, and maintainability. By brainstorming creative solutions for these issues, I can ensure that any metrics dashboard is efficient and sustainable for long-term use.
🤝 **Apply Best Practices to Broader Initiatives:** Explore how the best practices identified in the metrics dashboard project can be adapted to enhance community engagement across other open-source initiatives. This can help drive sustainable practices while promoting inclusivity and transparency in the community.
1. What specific metrics were identified as indicators of a healthy open source community, and how were they selected?
2. How did the challenges of expense, data storage, rate limits, and maintainability influence the design and development of the metrics dashboard?
3. In what ways can the best practices identified in this project be applied to other open source initiatives to enhance community engagement and project sustainability?