In a significant development for the citizen science community, Ken-ichi Ueda, the creator and lead developer of iNaturalist, has announced his departure from the platform he founded. Ueda cites deep ideological conflicts regarding the future of the organization as the primary driver for his exit.
At the heart of the controversy is the organization’s recent move toward closed-source practices. Ueda argues that as a non-profit funded by taxpayer dollars and charitable grants, the platform has a moral obligation to keep its codebase open. He fears that closing the source code stifles collaboration and transparency, contrary to the ethos of the scientific community the platform serves.
This departure highlights a growing tension in the tech non-profit sector: the struggle to maintain open-source ideals while securing the funding required to scale. The community is now left wondering how this leadership vacuum will impact the future of one of the web’s most vital biodiversity databases.
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