A forge is just a tool, but is it the right tool?

Ross Gardler

@rgardler

Presentation is © OpenDirective 2012 – Some Rights ReservedLicensed under Creative Commons By AttributionAll images are public domain.

Dangers of Reductionism

• Abraham Maslow: Psychologist– 1960’s published The Psychology of Science

• Dangers of reductionism in psychology• People document atomic and chemical cogs

and gears– Is that understanding?

• Need to look at the big picture– Butterfly effect

Law of the Instrument

• "I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”– Abraham Maslow 1966

• "I call it the law of the instrument, and it may be formulated as follows: Give a small boy a hammer, and he will find that everything he encounters needs pounding.“– Abraham Kaplan 1964

Studying Open Source

Producing Open Source

A Project Without People

A Forge Without Projects

Collaborators, not Tools, Cogs and Gears

Collaborators, not Tools, Cogs and Gears

Nature or Nurture?

Community maturity

Maturity Level Description

Seed An idea and a blank canvas

Germination Early “spike” implementations

Seedling Implementation path is reasonably clear

Juvenile Becoming viable as a project, no community yet

Flowering Providing value to third parties, third parties are adopting

Pollination Third parties are starting to contribute to rather than just take

Fruiting Self organising community project but still dependant on a lead

Ripening Community led project, loss of leadership will not kill the project

Dispersal Project is spawning an eco-system of its own

Forges are tools for building communities