Open source – a path against the pandemic

Although we are in a moment of physical distance, the world has never been so united – mainly through the world wide web. Right now, thousands of programmers, researchers and scientists from different areas around the world are collectively developing websites with reliable information, cheap models of respirators, 3D printing face shields and several new technologies to fight against the coronavirus. This text presents the Open Source, widely used path to develop programs in a collaborative way and how its bases are being important in co-creating technologies to combat the pandemic.

What is open source – or open source?

Collaboration, freedom and continuous development are some of the main ideas that come to mind when we encounter the term Open Source. In a brief historical account, it can be said that the Open Source movement is derived from the ideals of another previous movement – Free Software, which preached through the GNU Manifesto “freedom to execute, to study and change, and to redistribute copies [of a program] with or without changes”. Although similar at first sight, the Free Software and Open Source movements have significant differences in their history and also in their objectives – aspects that you can check in greater depth in Gustavo Rodrigues’ post, who also traced a historical panorama of these software development models.

Taking up the history of Open Source, the term was coined in the late 1990s, based on discussions by some leaders of the Free Software movement who opted for get closer of the philosophy of freedom in the development of computer programs with this market. The Open Source guidelines, in general, accept the existence of software proprietary – which guarantees exclusive rights to those who produced it and are not always free – in addition to valuing the rapid detection and correction of errors, since several developers are capable of identify and propose improvements much faster and more efficiently than just one.

The term Open Source refers to the code of a program under development being available for contributions from different professionals, in order to make it better developed through different points of view. However, it is worth mentioning that, in addition to keeping the code open, it is also necessary to follow some parameters, pointed out by the Open Source Initiative – the movement’s main representative. The initiative lists ten main criteria for a technology to be considered Open Source, which are:

1 – Free distribution

2 – Source code

3 – Derived works

4 – Integrity of the source code author

5 – Non-discrimination against people and groups

6 – No discrimination against fields of action

7 – License distribution

8 – The license must not be specific to a product

9 – The license must not restrict other software

10 – The license must be technologically neutral

How is Open Source helping?

Considering the new coronavirus advancement on a global scale and at an exponential speed, the creation of viable alternatives both for the propagation of reliable and verified information and for equipment for the health and protection of workers in essential services has become an emergency demand. In this scenario, people from different knowledge areas have turned their attention to fighting the pandemic and have started to kick-start different collaborative initiatives, which are resulting in tools that have saved lives around the world in different ways.

An example of the efficiency of the Open Source movement in combating the pandemic is one of the projects of OpenAir, which was started by a Portuguese scientist and has a team of hundreds of contributors around the world in the development, among others, of an accessible model of lung ventilators. A few hours after the project was released on Twitter by the scientist, thousands of people from different nations contributed to create the ventilator model, capable of being reproduced anywhere in the world with inexpensive components and which has the potential to save lives in crowded hospitals. The project patent was registered in the name of Humanity, and the details of the equipment are available with free access.

A few days after the initiative was launched, OpenAir has expanded to more projects, which include the platform Vent2Life, created to expedite the repair of Portuguese hospital equipments. On the platform, hospitals can register to report problems with equipments, which are identified by specialized technicians capable of repairing them.

Considering examples like this, it is possible to perceive the efficiency of the Open Source movement not only in the creation of programs and platforms, but also of technologies and equipment. The simultaneous contribution of people with diverse skills and knowledge and of different cultures and areas of expertise in a project, in addition to making it more robust, also makes it capable of being tested and taking action in a much shorter time – a major factor to combat the pandemic.

What about Brazil?

Several initiatives of collaborative work, opening of source codes and prototypes have also taken place in Brazilian territory. Researchers from Poli-USP have also developed a low-cost respirator model with an Open Source license, which has recently been successfully tested and, after authorization for use by ANVISA, will reflect in a cost reduction of purchasing this type of device by R$15.000,00 for R$1.000,00. The project INSPIRE has a team of more than 40 researchers and has already received contributions from volunteers with algorithm models and industrial designs for the equipment.

Another interesting movement that has been happening in Brazilian territory is the manufacture of facial protectors and personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers using 3D printers. The project Face Shields For Life 3D, led by researchers from the Bahian School of Medicine and Public Health (BAHIANA), State University of Bahia (UNEB), Federal University of Western Bahia (UFOB) and Youth Center for Science and Culture (CJCC) offers free 3D printing models of facial shields in addition to printing and distributing equipments in partnership with the maker community – composed of people who are dedicated to the use of these printers for collaborative creation of objects.

How can I join?

If two heads are better than one, what about tens – or even hundreds? Whatever your area of ​​expertise, you can find several projects under development that may need your help to become a reality. There are some lists like this, which present some ongoing projects for software developers.

As the Open Source movement itself explains, there is no room for discrimination or knowledge area. Therefore, it is worth checking out Brazilian initiatives, such as those mentioned above, in which demands you can contribute.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors.
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