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Sourcefabric powers quality journalism worldwide through software development and services.
Sourcefabric is Europe’s largest developer of open source tools for news media. Headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, Sourcefabric z.ú. brings together minds from all corners of the globe to promote media development through the creation of open source software. All of our tools are open source and free to download: Superdesk, Live Blog and Airtime.
We work with some of the most prestigious news organisations around the world and our goal is to become a household name in newsrooms everywhere.
We offer a range of services from managed hosting (SaaS) and support, to bespoke feature development and integration into existing workflows. Our international list of clients includes online-only and multi-channel newspapers, radio stations, self-publishing and print-on-demand service providers as well as NGOs and news agencies.
Sourcefabric develops and maintains a strong media development portfolio which has enabled us to work in some of the most challenging political environments since our inception in 2010. In this way, our open source code is our contribution to the dissemination of free speech. As a nonprofit organisation, we solicit grants and funding on a project-by-project basis.
The Sourcefabric family has about 50 team members located across the globe in 14 countries, with office locations in Prague and Toronto.
Sourcefabric received a Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism in 2011, a Guardian Megas Award for Digital Innovation in 2012, and an African News Innovation Challenge Award in 2012.
Mission and History
Our mission
Our mission is to bridge the digital divide in media. By making state-of-the-art journalism tools available to organisations and individuals in need of better technology, we aim to support the future of quality independent journalism as the lifeblood of democratic societies.
From Australia to Zimbabwe, we partner with organisations around the world to develop, maintain and distribute a robust open-source code base for journalism that benefits everyone.
We believe in giving independent voices a competitive advantage through technology so that they can speak truth to power and tell the stories that matter.
Our history
In 2001, the Media Development Loan Fund (now the Media Development Investment Fund) launched the Campware initiative to support open source solutions for independent news media organisations in emerging democracies. The Sourcefabric partners Sava Tatić, Micz Flor and Douglas Arellanes were among the key people behind Campware.
Campware consolidated a lot of work that had been happening since 1999 to develop user-centric, financially-viable, multilingual platforms for journalists.
In 2010, Sourcefabric was set up as the continuation of that endeavour, but with greatly expanded aims and a new organisational structure.
Why ‘Sourcefabric’?
Both the journalist's 'source' (the origin of information) and the programmer's 'source' (the code on which software is built) are vital to the work we do.
We are concerned with the 'fabric' of these things - their structures, relations and interactions. At the core of our experience and vision is a commitment to enable quality journalism. We do this through open source software and services that address these structures with solutions that are flexible, strong and interwoven; just like fabric.
Join us!
If our philosophy resonates with you and we sound like a company that you would like to be a part of, join us, work for Sourcefabric!
Meet the team
Sourcefabric works with talented people worldwide. Want to join us? See our current jobs and opportunities.
Having been there from the beginning, Sava has both the history and the future firmly in his sights. In 1999 he left his journalism career to lead the development of digital technology solutions for news media at Media Development Loan Fund’s Center for Advanced Media-Prague (CAMP). In 2010 he oversaw its spin-off as Sourcefabric. Hailing from Belgrade (a Partizan fan if you’re interested), Sava picked up a few languages (and his passion for Rio’s Vasco da Gama) as he moved around the world. He practices yoga and enjoys playing basketball and four-stringed musical instruments.
Zuzanna has extensive experience in international business. She has worked in financial management and administration for a variety of companies, ranging from law firms in Eastern Europe to mining operations in Africa.
Vladimir takes the raw functionality of our products and turns them into something users enjoy working with. He's also the visionary behind the look and feel of our branding. He has more than a decade of graphic and web design experience, but it's not what he expected to do. As a little kid he wanted to be a garbage man — he says it has something to do with the orange vests. His interest in and love for comic book design and Blade Runner have probably influenced his approach as well: clear, communicative design with just a hint of the future to get you excited about coming to work.
Manolis did his undergraduate studies in marketing and management in Athens followed by a Masters in Arts Administration and Cultural Policy in London. He loves problem solving, creative thinking, innovation, music and cooking, to mention a few. Over the past few years his focus has been on marketing strategies and creative strategies for small businesses and start-ups. In 2012 he launched BrokeinLondon.com, a survival guide for Londoners living on a budget. At Sourcefabric, Manolis is helping to increase brand awareness for Sourcefabric's software and bringing quality leads to the business development teams.
Having worked in web hosting industry for a decade, Abbas is a seasoned system engineer. He has worked on all sort of systems (Unix being his favorite) and environments; and therefore has experienced many failures and triumphs in the industry. He likes to automate things and seeks simple solutions for complex problems. Don't go for his looks (he can do over 100 pull-ups in 5 minutes). He is also an avid reader, a self-proclaimed vegetarian and routinely practices Wim Hof Method. When not working, he tinkers with Arduino and solves all kinds of Rubik's cubes you can think of!
Gideon spends most of his time at Sourcefabric meeting with developers and clients alike. He is the glue keeping things together between these two important sides of software development as well as the communicative oil that keeps everyone on track at Sourcefabric. When he's not doing this, he's pounding the roads in training for his latest marathon.
Gregory has spent more than two decades in and around journalism – as a reporter, editor, author, and communications professional. As a writer at Sourcefabric, he believes that a strong media industry starts with solid technology. When Gregory is not crafting blog posts or tweaking the next newsletter, he’s either on the trail or at the keyboard, working on his own writing. He’s also a frequent visitor to South Asia, where the momo, a Tibetan dumpling, is one of his favourite afternoon snacks.
Aleksandar, “Braja”, is Sourcefabric's first SaaS manager. He brings a large skill set to Sourcefabric through his experience as a co-founder of Transitions Online, an external lecturer at Prague college and most recently his work as the team lead of onsite marketing operations, loyalty marketing operations, and finally e-mail marketing operations at eBay. He has been drawn to Sourcefabric since their paths first crossed in the late 1990s (Sourcefabric was called CAMP at the time). He has a son, plays guitar (even records a few songs here and there) and enjoys shooting hoops with friends.
Helmy is originally from Managua, Nicaragua, where he studied at the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería. He's passionate about open source and vanguard technologies, and he is always looking to learn something new. He has experience with a wide variety of languages and frameworks, including Python, Django, Flask, Celery, Ruby, RoR, PHP, Javascript (plugins and frameworks), NodeJS, CSS/3 and HTML/5. He likes playing football and supports Real Madrid, but also likes Bayern München.
Brian Mwangi is from the lush, sunny Nairobi, Kenya. As a software developer, he navigated both corporate and startup worlds with a knack for solving complex problems. Off-duty, he is a chess enthusiast: "It's my go-to activity for fun. In a nutshell, I code by day and strategize on the chessboard by night! "
Jacques is an ICT Support Specialist with a total of +-28 years experience, working in a range of ICT environments, from large enterprises to smaller organisations. He has worked with customers in manufacturing, software development, computer hardware manufacturing, retail, global transport and shipping, as well as Tele-Communications. He lives in South Africa, on the most beautiful Western Cape West Coast, in St Helena Bay. He enjoys nature, camping, fishing and boating (with his own boat), and is a self-described "prepper". :)
Marko grew up in the suburbs of Belgrade. While studying natural sciences at theUniversity of Biology, he developed a great passion for technology and computer science.As a very detailed oriented and curious person he found his career in supportmanagement. When Marko isn't around our help desk, you can find him enjoying video games(especially League of Legends), listening to all kinds of music, reading books, and verybad guitar playing.
As a detail-oriented, even meticulous person, Alice found a career match in quality assurance. When she is not testing software, she enjoys gardening, including growing her own herbs for natural medicine. She also likes nature, hiking, swimming, and music.
Having embraced the IT career from 1998, Mikayel worked at various US and European IT companies as Quality Assurance & Automation engineer, utilizing C++ programming skills to address a wide range of analytical problems. He moved with his wife and children to Canada in early 2011 and since March 2012 he is working as a QA for Sourcefabric, making sure that everything is going smoothly. He loves radio, music and enjoys playing football with his kids.
One of our many truly-converted developers (with many more to come), Petr was responsible for Debian projects during 2010’s Google Summer of Code. He is now a true believer of an even more powerful system that he helps to develop - Superdesk. An avid fan of football and jazz, Petr joined Sourcefabric in October 2010 just in time to make it to Sourcecamp, where we learned he is one of the developers who undertalk yet overdeliver which makes him the perfect candidate to work on our secret projects.
I grew up in a small village in the country regions of Australia. It is here where I found my passion for software development, video games and the great outdoors. In 2005 I moved to Sydney to finish off my school years and later obtain a Diploma in Games Design & Development. Most of my work since has been in the Hospitality sector working on the software for networking devices and core infrastructure. Fast forward to 2017 where I joined AAP contributing to Superdesk. Since then I have moved to the Central Coast (north of Sydney), have a baby boy and enjoy working directly for Sourcefabric from home. When I'm not working I like to spend time with family, going to the beach, roughing it in the great outdoors (i.e. camping) and developing my own software.
Tomas is an ambitious and fatigueless front-end developer who is always up for a challenge to push his skills to the limits and make things better. He's been doing software development for over five years and is happy to share his expertise to make Superdesk even better. When it's time to relax Tomas enjoys traveling, learning new things, reading on personal development, science and philosophy.
Working with Superdesk as a front-end developer, Nemanja brings his skills from his previous position with a Swiss IT company that makes websites for the Swiss market and a degree in Information Technology. In addition to this he has also spent a bit of time working as a freelance developer. When Nemanja was a child his greatest love was his LEGO blocks set. He loved to play with them so much that sometimes he did not have time to eat! When he was 10 he began to take an interest in computers and always wondered what it was that started them. He is an impassioned skier, photographer, and traveller and likes animals, especially dogs. Nemanja’s favorite thing is his motorcycle.
Media, open source and technology are in Ivan’s DNA. As a digital product and transformation expert, has have spent nearly two decades in news and education, open source, podcasting, writing, and teaching about tech developments. In 2022, he merged his passions by joining Sourcefabric, where he oversees client projects and publishing products.
Based in Serbia, Ana has been working for Sourcefabric since its foundation as an implementer on diverse, international projects. Graphic and web design skills gained her a degree in archaeology and her passion became her profession. When she is not working, she plays music at Sourcefabric FM radio, goes scuba diving and hiking.
Aleksa grew up reading National Geographic, which united most of his interests: history and culture, nature, research, and of course, journalism and photography. Today, when he’s not shaping the future of journalism technology, he’s living his National Geographic dreams by travelling, exploring, taking photos, reading, and writing a little, too. Aleksa is also an avid runner and swimmer, and one of his favourite forms of relaxation is stand up paddle boarding on the rivers and lakes of Serbia. A nomad at heart, Akeksa values free movement and freedom of expression, enthusiasm that he brings to his work at Sourcefabric. Because, as Aleksa likes to say, ‘Only a free man can be a fulfilled man.’
Nikola is a front-end developer with a strong interest in the power of technology. When he’s not helping Sourcefabric build award-winning opensource tools for the news media, he’s either online or in the gym. As a former amateur basketball player, he understands the value of teamwork and collaboration – both on the court and in the code.
CloseHas has been coding for food for the last ~8 years and loves learning new things. Though he doesn't have a single favorite programming language, his top 3 are: SML, Haskell and Python. On my not so nerd side, he loves watching football especially The Champions League. Also, he likes video games especially FIFA and Clash Royale, though he says he is bad at them. He adds: "Oh, and sorry Richard Hendriks, but spaces > tabs."
Maja joins Sourcefabric as a Junior Front-End Developer and she will be working on our open source CMS, Newscoop. She is currently studying Internet Technologies with the ICT College and working alongside our design and implementations in Belgrade.
Pavla has been working with Sourcefabric since the very beginning. During those years she covered different duties from being our internal travel agent, Sourcecamp event's organiser and office manager. Pavla is involved in office management, HR and finances. She does all the support we need to do our jobs most effectively. Pavla is a yoga teacher and enjoys travelling, hiking and playing badminton.
Ketan is an avid explorer with a passion for discovering new places and embracing diverse cultures. Hailing from a small town in India, he found his calling in the dynamic world of software development. Fueled by a die-hard love for cricket, Ketan approaches challenges at work with the same enthusiasm he has for the game. Whether on the field or in the realm of coding, he thrives on the excitement of overcoming obstacles.
Although an architect by profession, Ljuba's been deep into web development for years. Discovered Campsite in 2001 while searching for the appropriate CMS for the online publication of his father's monthly and now is a fully signed-up Newscoop implementor and designer. Father of Sofija and Pavle, he’s a runner, biker, trekker, organic gardener, and great photographer.
Nareg joins us in Toronto as our senior QA engineer. He is in charge of making sure things go smoothly and that those pesky bugs stay away. He holds his B.S. degree in computer science from Ryerson University in Toronto and has extensive programming and QA experience. Nareg switched to QA domain with Lycos Europe in 2005. His most recent position was as a QA engineer at RobotForce, a Toronto-based company providing solutions for customised websites. Nareg has swum across Lake Sevan in Armenia, loves kids (even though he only has one) and thinks Legos are awesome.
Konstantin is a passionate programmer who enjoys tinkering with technology. As a firm believer in the opensource ethos, he spends most of his time on new opensource projects. When he is not building useful solutions with technology to solve users’ problems he can found among the stacks, reading about psychology and cybersecurity, or in the pool swimming laps.
Matt is from rural Illinois, just outside Chicago. He helps Sourcefabric users make the most of our great software! When Matt isn’t running our help desk and live chat, he is pursuing his hobbies of reading, drinking tea, playing video games, watching anime, and running tabletop role playing games.
Has a degree in graphic and web design (not just one), and a 10+ years of experience as a full-time designer and web developer. His special fields of interest are the feature research, user experience and maintaining relationships with clients. He loves nature and animals ... all kinds of animals (and that's a lot of animals).
One of the founders of Sourcefabric, Douglas is an American expatriate who has lived in the Czech Republic since 1992 (though he claims Dakar has the best music anywhere in the world and Cape Town the best scenery). Previous roles have included new media consultant for the Media Development Loan Fund, special projects director at Contactel (a subsidiary of TeleDanmark), and co-founder of First Tuesday Praha, an organisation devoted to helping internet start-ups. Doug is a member of the board of the Prague Civil Society Centre, a nonprofit promoting civil society in Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia. He's also a DJ on Prague's Radio 1 on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.
Micz Flor is a entrepreneur, media developer and project manager based in Berlin. Since 1995 he has been at the heart of innovation on the web, running a variety of events, social technology companies, agencies and media houses. In 2000 Micz began work as a media developer for Eastern Europe and Asia at the Media Development Loan Fund (MDLF), where he met his fellow Sourcefabric co-founders. Sourcefabric is now Europe's largest open source organisation providing software, support and consultation for independent media.
Martin Lokšík is a television journalist and assistant professor at the School of Journalism, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University; he works part time with ČT24 (Czech TV's news channel).
Krešimir Žigić is associate professor of economics at CERGE-EI, a Prague-based graduate economics programme.
Governance
Our nonprofit parent organisation Sourcefabric z.ú. was founded in 2010 to support independent journalism worldwide through open-source digital media solutions.
In 2015, Sourcefabric Ventures s.r.o (registered in the Czech Republic) was set up as a commercial subsidiary of Sourcefabric z.ú..
All profits from Sourcefabric Ventures are used to further develop our open-source products and support the nonprofit mission of Sourcefabric z.ú.
Our media development work is aimed at providing both core and experimental tools in independent media organisations in places where independent journalism requires external support.
Sourcefabric is headed up by our Managing Director Sava Tatić and is governed by an external board. Our Board of Directors ensure that we stay true to our mission and carry out quality work in an efficient and effective manner.
Open Source
All Sourcefabric software is open source which, in practice, means that our code is publicly available and free for you to download. You are free to use and shape it according to your own preferences and needs. When you shape the software to meet your requirements, these changes will not only be beneficial to you but also to other users.
Our open source approach to software projects minimises expensive software licenses and in many cases completely eliminates them. There are no forced upgrade costs. Plus, you get fast and continual feature development, easy integration of third party tools, greater robustness, increased software durability and a worldwide community of experience and expertise to draw from.
We primarily believe in open source because, simply put, it allows people to do things that they could not otherwise afford to do. It allows passion to become a currency, one that we readily accept.
We want to provide the highest quality software that is flexible enough to adapt to the rapidly changing industry in which we are operating. We believe that this can happen through collective minds working on open, accessible, shared technology.
You can download and install any of our tools for free. Or, if you prefer, you can ask us about managed hosting and custom development.
Media development
The media plays a pivotal role in the dissemination of free speech, the strengthening of democracy, economic development, accountability and political discourse in countries across the globe. Sourcefabric has closely examined the needs of independent media through our direct involvement with a range of media worldwide, as well as our engagement with international expert networks such as the Online News Association, the Global Forum for Media Development and Hacks/Hackers.
Media development is important in assisting independent media in making the transition from short-term editorial independence to long-term sustainability. They are in need of tailored multi-platform strategies that reflect local context and in-country infrastructure and need the ability to innovate at a pace that outstrips competition from better-resourced organisations.
Sourcefabric is able to provide the most modern tools for independent media in both developed and developing countries. This is unique among media development organisations worldwide.
