Week 4

Monday February 1

Topics:

• FOSS in Education & Academia
• FOSS Communities

Readings (5):

Why should open source software be used in schools? (webpage)

Schools and educators tend to identify with a common set of values. Indeed, many strategic planning processes begin with an examination of the values that an organization wishes to embody, support, and represent. A quick web search for “school values” will turn up values statements from a variety of schools alongside their vision and/or mission statements. Values such as equity, collaboration, community, equal opportunity, and participation occur frequently. It is easy to see how F/OSS adoption promotes these values. Enabling every student to use current software at home and at school promotes equal opportunity. The collaborative nature of building software in cooperation with a worldwide group of like-minded individuals builds communities around software projects. It also demonstrates how a complex process can be tackled by working together and lending your talents to the group effort. The opportunity to contribute non-programming talents; through documentation, graphic design, bug-hunting, online support, translations, and feature-design promote participation from anyone with interest, skills and motivation.

It is difficult to address the issue of proprietary software in schools without an examination of the values that underlie our educational system. In his essay on “Why should open source software be used in schools?“, T. Vessels states that “The advances in all of the arts and sciences, indeed the sum total of human knowledge, is the result of the open sharing of ideas, theories, studies and research.” Educators tend to espouse openness, knowledge sharing , and building upon what we know to create new knowledge. Yet, our schools hesitate in embracing F/OSS – a concrete embodiment of these core educational values.

Why the hesitation? A large part of this may be due to lack of understanding. Educators are busy people, and F/OSS is not a topic one generally becomes familiar with unless someone sparks interest by introducing the issue. Many, if not most, educators confuse free-of-cost services (Facebook, Prezi) with F/OSS. They assume that cost is the only issue at stake, or perhaps the only immediate concern. There are two major problems with this thinking. First, are the questions of where the users data is stored, who owns it, and whether users are able to extract and/or reuse it. Second, chasing the latest for-free technology service fails to support similar F/OSS projects that could provide long-term stability, dependability, and re-usability. A great advocate for F/OSS in education, the National Center for Open Source and Education, recently closed its doors, citing educator apathy on these issues as a prime cause.

Benefits of Open Source in Education (webpage)

Which of the benefits from the above article resonate with you? The benefits explained in the article range from financial to pedagogical to pragmatic, and most of us probably end up nodding our heads as we read through them. Keep these in mind as you consider which FOSS projects you are considering contributing to as part of this course.

Open Source in Education on "FUD" (PDF)

FUD is a well-known acronym for “fear, uncertainty, and doubt”. It references a marketing technique that emphasizes scaring potential clients into avoiding a competitor’s products. Unfortunately, propaganda can be accepted and even perpetuated by the target population. Hart addresses some common statements about F/OSS with some reasoned responses. FUD is a real: consider, for example this article on a 2010 Microsoft video attacking OpenOffice.org (predecessor to LibreOffice) – or watch the video itself. This kind of attack marketing has negatively influenced FOSS adoption, as it was meant to.

Sustainability in Open Source Software Commons - Technology Innovation Management Review (webpage)

Sustainability of a F/OSS project refers to the likelihood of continuation and success over time. Even commercial products have finite life-spans, but we tend to assume that a profitable corporate developer insures that those products will continue. This research study undertook an examination of F/OSS projects at sourceforge.net, a very popular hub for F/OSS projects and participants. The author confirmed prior literature, concluding that a primary motivator for F/OSS participation is user-centric need – in other words, “Developers participate because they themselves are users of the software or because the organization they work for depends on it”. Others take part to learn from reading others’ code while developing the software, and still others do it as a leisure activity. Where developers have multiple motivations for participation, projects were found to be more successful.

Why do I contribute to open source? (webpage)

Pasi Lallinaho, a 30-year old self-described geek from Helsinki, Finland explains how he benefits from his work on FOSS projects.

Assignments:

FOSS contributorship proposal

• Submit a 1-page (3-4 paragraph) proposal about your contribution to a FOSS project. This can be on your blog, or included as a document (attachment) if you wish. Include the following information:
  • The name of the project (ie "Firefox", "Semantic MediaWiki", etc)
  • Links to the project's front-facing website, code repository, documentation and roadmap/milestones
  • The people (actual humans, can) you intend to interface with over the next couple months as part of the project
  • Your specific intended contribution(s) and/or active participation in the FOSS project over the course of the semester

Please contact me (see the README file) if you're unsure about your topic and/or need guidance choosing a project.