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Charter⚓︎

This page describes what the initiative is about, its goals and its scope. Start from here to quickly assess whether it is relevant to your interests, before deep diving into other parts of the site.

Mission of the Open Data Mesh Initiative⚓︎

The Open Data Mesh Initiative (“ODMI”) provides an open source community, within which individual members and industry participants may easily contribute to building vendor-neutral, portable and open source software and specifications for supporting data mesh adoption.

Context⚓︎

The data mesh is revolutionizing the way data is managed, affecting both organizational and technological spheres. While the most challenging aspect of implementing this approach lies in the organizational realm, the tools and specifications that support it play a vital role in facilitating its adoption. Since Dehghani first introduced the concept of data mesh, it has come a long way, but there is still much to be refined. The quality of the solutions developed by vendors and startups to support this paradigm will be crucial in driving its adoption beyond the early adopters' and innovators' circle.

Goals⚓︎

In this context, the initiative aims to facilitate the paradigm shift brought by modern data management approaches based on the principles of data mesh by reducing the technological barriers to their adoption through:

  1. Open specifications: These will ensure that data mesh principles can be applied in various contexts and enable interoperability between different platforms and tools.
  2. Open source software: By providing open source software, the initiative can lower the costs of adopting data mesh approaches and help organizations test and implement new technologies without vendor lock-in.
  3. Knowledge sharing: Promoting knowledge sharing among stakeholders and experts will foster a community of practitioners around data mesh principles and practices. This will encourage the development of best practices, tools, and standards throughout the ecosystem.

Principles⚓︎

These are the key principles that inspire all the activities carried out by the initiative:

  1. Open foundation: The initiative promotes open standards, specifications, and tools to ensure that the principles of data mesh are accessible and applicable across different contexts and organizations.
  2. Vendor independent: The initiative seeks to create an open ecosystem that is not tied to any specific vendor or technology. This allows for greater flexibility, agility, and innovation in data management approaches.
  3. Actionable: The initiative focuses on delivering practical guidance and tools to enable organizations to apply data mesh principles in a tangible way. This includes actionable recommendations, frameworks, and use cases.
  4. Extensible: The initiative recognizes that data mesh is an evolving concept that requires continuous refinement and expansion. As such, it promotes an extensible approach that can adapt and evolve over time to meet changing needs and challenges.
  5. Flexible: The initiative acknowledges that different organizations have varying needs, goals, and resources. As such, it promotes a flexible approach that can accommodate diverse use cases and contexts while adhering to the core principles of data mesh.

Contributions⚓︎

The initiative was created by Quantyca, which is still the main sponsor. However, the initiative is open, and new contributors are welcome. Particularly, we are seeking individuals or organizations who want to join us on this journey and contribute in the following possible ways:

  1. Helping us spread the word and promote the initiative to a broader audience.
  2. Using the initiative's deliverables and providing feedback to improve their quality further.
  3. Adopting the specifications released in external products.
  4. Developing connectors for the released tools toward external products.
  5. Contributing to the development of existing projects.
  6. Proposing the development of new projects consistent with the initiative's goals and principles.

The Community page contains more information on how to contribute to the initiative.

Last update: May 25, 2023
Created: March 30, 2023