Open Source Culture Transdisciplinary Prac5ce
Open Source ~ Openness.
Contrary to the more narrow term Free So/ware, Open Source seems be;er suited to label a general collabora4ve approach not
limited to code.
Felix Stalder OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE (v1.2)
“Open source is an experiment in building a poli5cal economy – that is, a system of sustainable value crea4on and a set of governance mechanism.
In this case it is a governance system that holds together a community of producers around this counterintui5ve no5on of property rights as
distribu5on.”
(Weber, 2004 p.1)
Open Source – Poli4cal Economy
“It is also a poli5cal economy taps into a broad range of human mo5va5ons and relies on a crea5ve and
evolving set of organiza5onal structures to coordinate behavior.”
(Weber, 2004 p.1)
Open Source – Poli4cal Economy
Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code.
The distribu5on terms of open-‐source soPware must comply with the following criteria:
h;p://www.opensource.org/docs/osd
Open Source – Legal Aspects/Licensing
1. Free Redistribu4on
The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the soPware as a component of an
aggregate soPware distribu5on containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not
require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
2. Source Code
The program must include source code, and must allow distribu5on in source code as well as compiled form.
The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program.
Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed.
3. Derived Works
The license must allow modifica5ons and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under
the same terms as the license of the original soPware.
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code The license may restrict source-‐code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribu5on of "patch files"
with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build 5me.
• 5. No Discrimina4on Against Persons or Groups The license must not discriminate against any
person or group of persons.
Some countries, including the United States, have export restric5ons for certain types of
soPware
6. No Discrimina4on Against Fields of Endeavor
The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For
example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for gene5c
research.
7. Distribu4on of License
• The rights a;ached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execu5on of an addi5onal license by those
par5es.
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
• The rights a;ached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a
par5cular soPware distribu5on. .
9. License Must Not Restrict Other So/ware The license must not place restric5ons on other
soPware that is distributed along with the licensed soPware. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on
the same medium must be open-‐source soPware.
10. License Must Be Technology-‐Neutral
What is the impact of open source?
Open source provides the compe55ve advantage in the Internet Age.
The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolu4onary
Authors: Eric S. Raymond
Case Study: Linux
The word Linux is generally used to describe an Open Source computer Opera.ng System based on the Linux Kernel that typically forms the basis for free alterna5ves to Microso5
Windows or offerings from Apple computers.
• Linux is the first truly free Unix-‐like opera5ng system.
• Linus Torvalds invented Linux itself. In 1991, Torvalds was a student at the University of Helsinki in Finland where he had been using Minix, a non-‐free Unix-‐like system, and began
wri5ng his own kernel. This kernel, which is called Linux, was aPerwards combined with the GNU system to produce a
complete free opera5ng system.
Linux Community The largest part of the work on Linux is performed by the
community: the thousands of programmers around the world that use Linux and send their suggested improvements to the
maintainers. Various companies have also helped not only with the
development of the Kernels, but also with the wri5ng of the body of auxiliary soPware, which is distributed with Linux.
Processing / Adriano Communi5es
• Arduino is an open-‐source electronics prototyping plagorm based on flexible, easy-‐to-‐use hardware and soPware. It's intended for ar5sts, designers, hobbyists, and anyone interested in crea5ng interac5ve objects or environments. h;p://www.arduino.cc The microcontroller on the board is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino development environment (based on Processing).
• Processing is a programming language, development environment, and online community that since 2001 has promoted soPware literacy within the visual arts. Ini5ally created to serve as a soPware sketchbook and to teach fundamentals of computer programming within a visual context, Processing quickly developed into a tool for crea5ng finished professional work as well. h;p://processing.org/ h;p://www.openprocessing.org/
Open Source Culture
Impact and Cultural Implica5ons of Open Source License/Distribu5on/Community
Open Source Culture • Accessibility:
Technological Freedom Ar5s5c Freedom
• Social Implica5ons New Type of Community
Underground Movements
New type of prac55oner
Brainstorming
Crea4ve Prac4ces + Open Source
Benefits/Disadvantage of Open Source License/Distribu5on/Community/Culture
Other significant Aspect of Contemporary Prac5ce:
In-‐Between Disciplines
For Example: Art – Design -‐ Science -‐ Technology
Interdisciplinarity • For the Canadian Ins5tutes of Health Research (CIHR, 2005):
Interdisciplinary is defined as the ability to analyze, synthesize and harmonize links between disciplines into a coordinated and coherent whole.
• • Mansilla and Gardner (2005) state:
In this study we defined “interdisciplinary work” as work that integrates knowledge and modes of thinking from two or more disciplines. Such work embraces the goal of advancing understanding (e.g., explain phenomena, craP solu5ons, raise new ques5ons)
• in ways that would have not been possible through single disciplinary means.
• The Idaho State Board of Educa5on (2002) note: In spanning mul5ple disciplines, interdisciplinary programs by their very nature
reach across the tradi5onal boundaries of colleges and departments. In this context, interdisciplinary is defined as meaning University-‐wide, or programs involving faculty from more than two colleges where no single college has a majority of the curriculum or faculty.
Interdisciplinarity Mul5disciplinarity
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (undated) states, pragma5cally, that:
A simple defini5on of interdisciplinary research is “research that involves the interac5on among two or more different disciplines”. This may range from the
sharing of ideas to full integra5on of concepts, methodology, procedures, theory, terminology, data and organiza5on of research and training in a fairly large field.
Mul4disciplinary research draws on knowledge from different disciplines but stays within the boundaries of those fields. In this document, ‘interdisciplinary’ is used to refer to both types of research that may be conducted by individual researchers as well as groups. For administra5ve purposes, NSERC defines interdisciplinary grant applica5ons as those that require the selec5on of referees from more than one discipline, the establishment of a review panel with members from more than one discipline, or the exper5se of more than one selec5on commi;ee or panel in
the peer review process.
Transdisciplinarity
• ‘…transdisciplinarity concerns that which is at once between the disciplines, across the different
disciplines, and beyond all discipline. Its goal is the understanding of the present world , of which one of
the impera5ves is the unity of knowledge.’
(Nicolescu 1997, np.)
Open Access Dynamic Archive: Media Art Tube
Other Readings
• The simple Economics of Open Source Economics h;p://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.145.3577&rep=rep1&type=pdf
• Steve Weber: The Success of Open Source
Eric S. Raymond: The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolu4onary