Hi Patrick,

Thank you for your question. I investigated the commitments required from Board Members before choosing to stand for election because I wanted to ensure I could meet those commitments given a busy schedule. My understanding is that there are regular board calls and that the board is working board, meaning I would be expected to participate in an active working group/committee if elected. I can comfortably commit 5 hours per month to OSI business and more than that as required - my employer is supportive of my running for election and giving me time to meet OSI commitments as part of my work schedule. I also understand that there are in person meetings required semi-quarterly, which I am more than willing to attend.

Regarding how my time would best be spent, I would look to the current board membership first for their thoughts on where I can immediately provide help to the board. Once any gaps are filled, I would specifically want to focus on educational outreach activities and mapping how the OSI could provide strategic direction to the US academy. For example, the National Science Foundation has instituted data reuse requirements that lend themselves favorably to publishing research findings, both data and source code, as open source. As an OSI Board Member, I would pursue a discussion with the NSF as to what materials or training would be useful to academics so that they are most easily able to meet these data reuse requirements and to better understand the value of open source software in their research and classrooms. 

I hope this helps. I welcome any follow up questions. Thank you for your inquiry!