About us

The mission

The OCF is an all-volunteer, student-run, Chartered Program of the Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC) dedicated to free computing for all University of California at Berkeley students, faculty, and staff. The mission of the OCF is to provide an environment where no member of Berkeley's campus community is denied the computer resources he or she seeks, to appeal to all members of the Berkeley campus community with unsatisfied computing needs, and to provide a place for those interested in computing to fully explore that interest.

What do we do?

The Open Computing Facility provides free computing services to students, faculty, and staff, ranging from printing to expiration-free web hosting to Unix shell accounts to email. Furthermore, the OCF operates a highly frequented long-hours computer lab with a generally high volunteer-staff-to-user ratio for accessible in-person support, as well as online support. In addition to these user services, the group also hosts numerous student group and faculty/staff websites, and provides support to these and other organizations on campus.

To be able to do this, we are always aiming to secure more resources to fully meet the needs of everyone in the campus community. Our primary resources are our GNU/Linux workstations and servers, entirely administered by student volunteers. These resources are located within our computing lab on the ground floor of MLK Student Union.

To help people explore the field of computing and educate them about the resources available, the OCF also provides a variety of educational services. We used to co-sponsor a series of Help Sessions, short classes taught throughout the semester on a wide range of computing topics (focusing on resources available to the Berkeley campus community), along with hosting the UNIX SysAdmin DeCal. Additionally, the OCF used to conduct career fairs in the past with its sister organization, the Computer Science Undergraduate Association. Now, we host regular Tech Talks that explore new technologies and how they might pertain to elements of the OCF infrastructure. We also offer e-mail and in-person with our volunteer staff members, as well as online sources of information about computing on the Berkeley campus and how to use the available resources.

Policies for this cluster and decisions for the OCF organization are made by the OCF Board of Directors, an open body composed of OCF members who are interested in participating in the decision-making process. The Board convenes at BoD Meetings, held every week when classes are in session, which are open to the public and provide a chance for any user to express their concerns or opinions about the OCF. All OCF members are welcome to join the Board of Directors, and the general public is welcome to attend BoD Meetings. Minutes of all previous meetings are available online.

How to find us

The OCF is located on the ground floor of MLK Student Union. For hours and a map, see here.

If you need to contact OCF staff members, you may send us an email

The Open Computing Facility is a student group acting independently of the University of California. We take full responsibility for our organization and this website.