Last year, we setup a more detailed governance structure for igraph, with Fabio Zanini, Szabolcs Horvát and me forming the inaugural steering committee. We also appointed coordinators for the various interfaces:
- C core: Tamás Nepusz, ntamas (Tamás Nepusz) · GitHub
- Python interface: Tamás Nepusz, ntamas (Tamás Nepusz) · GitHub
- R interface: Kirill Müller, krlmlr (Kirill Müller) · GitHub
- Mathematica: Szabolcs Horvát, szhorvat (Szabolcs Horvát) · GitHub
After one year of serving as chair of the steering committee, I am happy to say that Kirill Müller decided to step forward and take over my place on the steering committee.
A major task of the new steering committee is to try to find funding. After having received CZI funding earlier it seems it has now become more difficult to find funding. Maintaining and developing igraph has therefore become more difficult for some members. Although we made some attempts and explored some possibilities, we have not yet found a sustainable funding source.
One possibility is to open up igraph for donations, and this is possible through Open Collective at https://opencollective.com/igraph. We hope that donations might at least form one part of the funding of igraph, and we hope to make this option more visible. You can also help us make this option more visible! One of the reasons of having the governance structure is to exactly have a transparent accountable governance of such donations for the benefit of igraph.
The progress over the past few years leading to, but not limited to, the milestone 1.0 release of the C core of igraph has been impressive. I wish the new steering committee and the interface coordinators all the best. Although I may be less involved, I expect to continue contributing to igraph.