how to...get the best from open source: a beginners guide

8/6/2019 How to...Get the Best from Open Source: a Beginners Guide

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The digital age has created unimaginable opportunities for people across theworld, to learn, share and communicate in a global conversation. What does

Get the best from Open Source:a beginners’ guide

Who is this guide for?This guide is for anyone who has heard of the term Open Source, but who isbit confused about what it actually is! You probably use digital technologies inyour organisation or individual practice, you know that Open Source is a “goodthing”, but you are still unsure exactly is it, how it could benefit you, and whatthe risks might be.

How to... Open Source

What is Open Source?

openness mean in our society, andwhat does it mean for us now in theearly 21st century, a digital age?

Author: Hannah Rudman, Marcus Wilson, Jaco Justice

Songs and RecipesThese days, the words “Open Source” are most often applied to software or services on the web. However,the concept of “Open Source” has been around for a very long time. Think of traditional songs that have

been passed down over the generations. Even before the words or tunes were written down they werepassed on orally, and they are regarded as something that belong to us all. Or think of recipes that havebeen written down and handed on from mother to daughter, father to son, or passed freely betweenmembers of a community.

Both traditional song and family recipes are example of “Open Source” - essentially, something that hasbeen written down and is freely available for anyone for their own use. In the case of the song, the “Source”would be the words or music. For the recipe, the “Source” is the written instructions including theingredients, measurements, and how to combine and serve them.

Tony Hirst from the Open University discusses different ways of being open in a digital environment.

Chapter 1: What is Openness? (dur.3.08) 00.48-03.58. BBC Click02.02.11.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00d73v1#p00dskq4


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A good example of Open Source from beyond the world of computing is the OpenCola project.

Unlike Coca-Cola or Pepsi companies that jealously guard their

secret recipes, OpenCola is a brand of cola unique in that theinstructions for making it are freely available and modifiable.


How to... Open Source Author: Hannah Rudman, Marcus Wilson, Jaco Justice

Open Cola

This is the “Open” part of “Open Source”. Whether it is a recipe, a song or a Coladrink, the instructions, blueprint or code for making or reproducing it should beaccessible to all.

Anybody can make the drink, and anyone can modify and improve on theOpenCola recipe as long as they too make the instructions for theirmodifications freely available.

How does this apply to software and the web?When talking about the digital World, Open Source refers to the lines of computer code or the codinglanguage or structure that is at the heart of a particular software package, web application or file type.

Open Source means that the intellectual property for this code is not held by anyone, or that all claimants toits intellectual property release their claims of ownership.

The benefits of an Open Source approach to developing digital platforms and applications are many. Bysharing the “recipe” freely, there are no barriers to a community of developers and users making use of thenew software, web application or file format, or building upon it to create new solutions to meet the needs

of a range of different users and sectors.

These benefits are less possible with “closed” or “proprietary” software and solutions. For instance, thinkof the cola example given earlier. OpenCola is to Coca-Cola as Open Source soft-ware is to Microsoft’ssoftware. Just as Coca-Cola jealously guard their popular product’s recipe and only they make changes,Microsoft has a popular range of Office software products (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) for which theyprotect the code and only their developers make improvements and modifications.

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Even for large scale commercial software companies, their development teammay be limited to a few dozen developers. Some would say that this closedapproach to development makes their product more robust and secure.However, it also stops the sort wide-spread ownership and bespokedevelopments seen in the Open Source world, where a project may havethousands of developers around the globe all working to enhance and add their

experience to the project.


Open Source as a PhilosophySo, what leads developers to spend a lot of time writing and supportingsoftware that they are then essentially going to give away for free? Well, formany developers it is a way of building their own credibility in a globalcommunity of developers. Also, many developers receive lucrative contracts tosupport or implement the very software that they gave away for free.

Other developers are passionate about Open Source as a philosophy, believing that software should be

free and accessible to all. Others see it as the best way of developing software - by laying it open to thescrutiny and input of a global community of developers.

Let’s now explore some examples of other Open Source technologies on the web.

Open FormatsAn open format is a published specification for storing digital data which can therefore be used andimplemented by anyone. Unlike other Open Source projects, many Open Formats were developed bycommercial companies. Some examples include:

• .pdf file format - Portable Document Format, originally developed by Adobe, and now acommon standard for sharing documents digitally

• .zip file format – used for compressing a series of files into one

• iCalendar format - used for sharing dates between calendars

• RSS format - used for syndicating information (most often news), mainly via the Web

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• PHP / XML / CSS - Although you may be less familiar with these,they are the building blocks of most modern websites. Withoutthese technologies there would be no Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia,WordPress, etc.

So, Open Formats that can be shared between different computers and users

have driven the de-velopment of the modern web - indeed, many provide theinfrastructure for our modern day com-munication. And the speed of development of the web owes much to their being freely available platformsthat developers and users alike can access and build upon.

However, that does not mean that all the successful and well-known file formatsare Open Formats. Believe it or not, the mp3 format, which has become the defacto standard for compressed digital audio, is not an Open Format, andsoftware that uses mp3 encoders or decoders require a license.


Open Source Software is computer software that is available in source code form for which the source codeand certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license thatpermits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.

Again, given the free nature of access to the code behind this software, such software is often availablefreely to the end user. Currently, Open Source alternatives can be found for most major commercialsoftware packages.

For instance, Open Office is an Open Source and freely available equivalent to Microsoft Office, and likewisecontains word processor, spreadsheet and presentation software alternatives to Microsoft’s main suite of products. And the good news is that all your Word, Excel and PowerPoint files will work in Open Office.

Open Source Software

OpenOffice started life as a commercial competitor to Microsoft Office distributed by Sun Microsys-tems. However, when it became apparent that this wasn’t a battlethat Sun were going to win, the software went Open Source. It now has a range of developers from around the world giving their time freely to support and developthe project. http://www.openoffice.org.

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Similarly for users of Adobe Photoshop, a well-used OpenSource alternative would be GIMP - or “GNU ImageManipulation Program” (GNU being the Open Source licenceunder which GIMP is distributed). GIMP can be downloaded at http://www.gimp.org.

If you are looking for an Open Source Internet browser soft-ware, Mozilla Firefox is a widely-used alternative to Microsoft’sInternet Explorer and Apple’s Safari browsers.http://www.mozilla.com.

Likewise, there are many Open Source alternatives to the twoleading commercial Operating Systems, Microsoft Windowsand Mac OSX. For instance, Linux and Unix are wellestablished Open Source operating systems.http://www.linux.com.

Open Platforms

An Open Platform is a software system with published and fully documented application programminginterfaces (known as APIs) that allow using the software to function in other ways than the originalprogrammer intended, without requiring modification of the source code.

So, an Open Platform does not mean it is open source – however, it is a way of opening proprietarysoftware up to a wider range of developers and uses, without compromising or revealing the core codebehind a product.

These APIs allow third-party developers to integrate with the software platform to add functionality or toshare information with the software.Here are a few real-world examples of Open Platforms:

• Apple’sOpenPlatformandAPIforitsiPad,iPodandiPhonerangeshaveallowedthedevelopment of c. 370,000 apps that have been designed by anyone with the skills to do so.Millions of apps are sold each year, generating an income for the designers as well as for Apple.

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• ManywebsitesuseOpenPlatformstoengageawidercommunityofdevelopers with their services. For example, Facebook have APIs whichallow programmers to develop applica-tions (or Apps) on the Facebookplatform, or allow users to login to third-party websites us-ing their Fa-cebook username and password.

• AnexamplefromtheculturalsectorwouldbeaClientRelationshipManagement software package that used an API to share customerinformation with a separate Box Office system or Accounts package.


Most often, the term “Open Source” is used to refer to the web technologies. Aswe’ve already seen, some of the building blocks of the modern web are basedon Open Source technologies.

Open Source on the Web

However, from these building blocks have come some very powerful tools - tools that you don’t need to bea web developer to take advantage of.

A key example of this is the Content Management Systems or CMS. Most modern websites are driven by aCMS - which is essentially an system them that allows you to add, edit and delete con-tent from your web-site quickly and easily through a series of secure web pages. In the past, many web developers invested indeveloping their own “closed” CMS, for which many would then charge clients substantial ongoing licensefees. In other cases, developers would build new CMSs from scratch to meet the needs of different clients,which may involve the client paying for many weeks or months of costly development time.

Now, with the advent of a range of powerful and diverse Open Source CMS tools, development of even the

most sophisticated websites is no longer solely the province of big multinational companies.

The “big three” Open Source CMS include Joomla!, Drupal and WordPress - althoughthere are many others. You’ll probably haveheard of the latter. WordPress started life asa highly-popular blogging platform but, dueto the high numbers of developers working

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on the project, has devel-oped over the years to become a fully-functional CMSsupported by a community of many thou-sand developers across the globe.

What makes these three CMSs so popular is that they have a global network of developers work-ing to develop, support and implement these technologies onbehalf of a strong and engaged community of many millions of users.

In addition, many “plugins” (sometimes called “extensions” or “plugins”) anddesign templates are available for these CMSs. Many are free, and they canbe used to develop both the functionality and look of your website. So, if you’relookingforeCommercefunctionality,SocialNetworkingfea-tures,ClientRela-tionshipManagement(CRM)orevenaWeatherForecastonyourwebsite,it’slikely that you’ll be able to find an Open Source solution that goes some of theway to meeting your needs, that can be “plugged in” to your Open Source CMS.

A great resource for comparing the leading Open Source CMSs can be found athttp://www.waterandstone.com/open-source-cms-resources.


So Open Source means we can build our website for free, right?

Wrong. This is a common mistake. Think about it - just because someone might give you the tools of acarpenter, it does not qualify you to build an ornate cabinet.

Open Source software is simply that - a tool. And you will still need a skilled professional to im-plement andtailor Open Source technologies to your own particular needs.

The fact that the code is freely available to you doesn’t make you web developer. And if you start modifying

Open Source code yourself, things can easily break - and you won’t have a support con-tract to fall back onAlso, whilst Open Source software is software for which the source code is freely and publicly available, thelicensing agreements vary as to what one is allowed to do with that code. Open Source software is oftenmade available under the terms of a GNU General Public License. The GNU website explains:

The word “free” has two legitimate general meanings; it can refer either to freedom or to price.When we speak of “free software”, we’re talking about freedom, not price. (Think of “free speech”,not “free beer”.) Specifically, it means that a user is free to run the program, change the program,

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and redistribute the program with or without changes.

So, if you can find the Open Source technology to suit your project, you couldstand to save a lot of development time and money, but it you are serious abouthaving a professional-looking, elegant, unique, secure and functional web

presence, you will need professional help to implement your website.


In many respects, the relationship between a website developer and clients willnot be very different whether they are using proprietary technology or OpenSource.

Things that will be different are the warranties and support that the developercan give to you. For proprietary solutions and those coded by the developer for

Working with a web developer on Open Source

the client, they should of course be able to give you full support and warranties for the platform, whereasdevelopers using Open Source tools as the basis of their offer will be somewhat at the mercy of thedevelopers of those platforms, and so may only be able to offer support and warranties on their owncustomisation work rather than on the Open Source platform itself.

On the other hand, developers using Open Source tools to build your website should be in a position togive you free access to the full code of your website and, whilst you may have support agreements withthe original developer, this need not stop you from moving your website to another developer in the futureif you become dissatisfied with the service you are getting. On the other hand, proprietary technologicalplatforms can tie you closely to the services of one developer, and contracts may preclude you from havingaccess to the code or moving your site to another developer.

Open Source tools are quick to implement and the best of them are easy to use, and so some of thepreviously long and laborious data entry and content upload to a new web platform – which previously theweb developer would have to manage and charge for – can be done by the client, which may also savemoney.

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Who should use Open Source?

If you want to use the Open Source software “out of the box” - exactly as iswithout any amend-ments or additions - and you have some basic technicalexperience, Open Source may be ideal. For instance, if you want to use thefreely available Open Office rather than buy an expensive new copy of Microsoft

Office, and you don’t mind spending a bit of time getting used to this newsoft-ware, go ahead - download it today!

In most cases, however, to take advantage of Open Source software and webservices, you will require to have some technical skills. In some cases, you mayneed to be hugely proficient at vari-ous web languages and server technologiesin order to get Open Source tools working for you.

As we’ve seen, there are many good reasons for getting involved with OpenSource software. For many who have used expensive, outdated or over-com-

plicated Proprietary Content Management Systems to update their website, the thought that they might be

able to use a much simpler and ostensibly ‘free’ system like WordPress or Joomla! is too tempting to resist.As a result, many take the plunge without realising that, whilst these systems can be exceptionally easy-to-use and af-fordable, they are not simple to set up initially, and for the vast majority of organisations, it willbe essential to have a developer on board to deliver the project.

So many Open Source websites have failed to happen on time, or failed to happen at all, due to a goodnatured member of staff, friend, family member or well-meaning amateur web designer volun-teering todevelop the website themselves – after all, how difficult could it be? Well, unless your well-versed intechnologies like PHP, MySQL, Apache server, Javascript, XHTML, CSS or other building blocks of OpenSource applications, it’s highly unlikely that you would be able to set up an Open Source web project fromscratch.Granted, there are many entry-level website builder packages out there that come pre-configured andready to just choose your design and add content, but it’s unlikely that many cultural or creativeorganisation will be satisfied with the generic “out-of-the-box” look and functionality of one of theselighter-weight packages.

Think of the OpenCola example given earlier. Now you know the recipe, should your organisation chooseto make its own Cola from now on, rather than buy it from the suppliers? Well, of course just because the

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recipe is freely available to you, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t costsassociated in producing your own Cola. Obviously you need the rawingredients, but you also need to buy the right kit to mix it all together. Youwould then need to devote a considerable amount of staff time to learning howto mix and bottle the ingredients.

Indeed, by the time you’ve factored in all of these costs in terms of time andmoney, unless your company is in the business of manufacturing drinks, you’llprobably conclude that it’s easier to go to the experts.

Likewise, with Open Source technology, you’ll probably find that it doesn’t pay totrain up your mar-keting department to take the many months of leave it wouldrequire to learn the skills to success-fully and securely develop your websiteusing Open Source tools.

So, in most cases, an Open Source web project will require the services of a webdeveloper who can demonstrate Open Source credentials.


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Diagram comparing anOpen Source set up to anequivalent Proprietary setup.

Open Source Proprietary

Source code open to all Source code open to partners only

Mainly free, but can be charged for Mainly paid for, but can be free

Distribution unlimited Distribution limited

No end user agreement End user agreement

No warranties Warranties

Open Source vs Proprietary software : Key differences

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• Whilstyouwillprobablyneedtoinvestintheservicesofawebdeveloper, the technological platform and ongoing licenses aregenerally free.

• Set-uptimecanbeminimisedwithanoff-the-shelfsolutionas

compared to developing a system from scratch. For Open Sourcesoftware, it can be as quick and easy as download-ing and installing.

• SupportandmentoringforthemostpopularOpenSourceplatformsare widely available from large communities of developers and otherusers, often globally.

• Asaresult,securityimprovements,developmentsandbug-fixescanoccur very quickly.


• OpenSourcetoolsareoftenwrittenbyprogrammersforprogrammers,sosometimes,theiruser-interfaces are not as friendly or easy to use as tools that have been tested with end-users.

• SettingupOpenSourcesystemscanoftenbedifficult,requiringotherfiles,OpenSourceplat-forms and high levels of technical know-how – seek professional help!

• IfthecommunityofusersanddevelopersaroundanOpenSourcetoolissmall,documen-tationand support may be limited.

• Likewise,ifthiscommunityissmall,securityupdatesandbug-fixesmaybeslowtomaterialise.

• Youdon’tgetthesoftwareassurancesandsupportthatyoumightthroughacommercialsupplier. However, in some cases you can buy into ongoing support services from those thatdeveloped the Open Source platform.

Benefits of Open Source

Drawbacks of Open Source

Things to look out forKeep in mind that Open Source might not always be the best or most cost-effective option.There is not necessarily an elegant Open Source solution for your organisation’s particular needs. You may

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find that an Open Source product has half of the functionality you need, butrequires sig-nificant new functionality adding. In this case it may be better todevelop a new solution from scratch, rather than to appoint a web developer togo through potentially thousands of lines of someone else’s web coding in orderto make the changes you require. That is, in many cases, it would be less time-consuming and therefore less costly to have developed a bespoke solution from

scratch.

On the same note, customised changes to the underlying code of Open Sourcesolutions can se-verely limit the ongoing support for the application. This isbecause changes made to the core software program can impede the abilityto apply future updates, fixes or additional modules that are developed for theimprovement of the solution without adversely impacting on the customisa-tionsyou have made. In this event, an organisation may find itself in the precariousposition of hav-ing to remain with the current version together with any limita-tions that version may have. If your web developer is heavily customising an

Open Source solution, find out what this means for future updates to the core software.

Even without customisations, simply adding lots of different add-ins, extensions and plugins to an OpenSource website can cause problems. These bits of software are of course written by a di-verse range of developers. All it takes is for two developers to have named a variable in their soft-ware by the same namefor the two bits of software to conflict, and this could cause your website to malfunction.

Any good Open Source tool will have an active community of users and developers – often world-wide –demanding new features and driving the product forwards. It pays to check how active and accessiblethis community is before you commit to any platform. Search the web to find out if the product has activediscussion boards online, and whether a good range of both users and devel-opers are contributing to the

discussion. Check if developers are responding to user’s requests for new functionality and bug-fixes.

Likewise, check how long the product has been around for, and whether the developers are keep-ing itupdated. For instance, if version 1.0 of the product was released three years ago and there has been nomajor update since, it’s probably not a very future-proof product upon which to base aspects of your busi-ness.Watch out for so-called “Open Source” software and services that are not themselves based on OpenSource platforms or technologies. For instance, you might pay nothing for the software, but need to invest

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in costly proprietary database software products in order to run it.

It is also worth checking with your existing software and systems suppliers tosee if the Open Source platform that you are looking at can be integrated withthese (for instance, box office, online merchant software, emailing services, etc.)

On the other hand, free is not always best – and stubbornly opting for the freesoftware, web appli-cations and plugins may be a false economy in the longrun. This is because support for these ap-plications from the developer canoften be patchy or non-existent. However, if by paying a small annual licensefee to a developer, you can find that the support that is provided isinvaluable. For instance, WPMU Dev (http://premium.wpmudev.org) providesvery fine premium themes and plugins for the WordPress platform. However,their membership fee is worth it just for the great levels of speedy support andhelpful advice they provide to members in their forum.


Finally, you will hear some web developers – particularly those with their own proprietary ContentManagement Systems to sell – that Open Source tools are inherently insecure. They argue that, becauseanyone has access to the coding behind these technologies, they can use that know-ledge to exploitinsecurities and vulnerabilities in the software.

However, security vulnerabilities are equally problematic in proprietary software – as we know from theregular upgrades and security fixes users need to download from Microsoft, Apple or other suppliers. So,just as you would with other software, it is important to ensure that you are keeping up-to-date with thelatest version of your Open Source software, and ensuring you have the latest bug fixes installed. Checkwith your developer to ensure they are keeping you updated and pro-tected.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_and_open_source_software

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Jaco Justice is an Edinburgh based designerwho, through the Open Source WordPress siteat http://www.go-reborn.co.uk, promotes a

collective of artists and designers, alongsiderelated “pop-up” events across Scotland.

As a non-techie, Jaco discusses his relation-ship with WordPress and Open Source.

A website designer on Open Source

“How much control do you have over the look of an Open Source website?”

Control over the look of an Open Source website will often depend on the

template you have cho-sen for the particular project. With good knowledge of web developing skills thereisn’t technically any restriction.

It is fair to acknowledge that in the early days of blogging, the layout formats, albeit freely available, werea pretty standardised affair. While the branded uniformity of these designs held a functional benefit to theblog-host by prompting aspiring bloggers to also choose their service, it also resulted in a style repetitionthat easily tired on the eyes of users.

Currently the vast range of WordPress templates available is staggering. Many are free or of rela-tive littlecost and would only involve a small credit to the theme’s author in the design (much as a web designcompany would usually add at the bottom of a website anyway).

Ongoing updates to these themes are often included. These could range from mail-out plugins to newphoto gallery models.

However problems will certainly arise where the very nature of what attracted you to a template isover-looked - perhaps because too much information is being crammed into an unsuitable design. Keep-ing designs simple and clean is always my priority.

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Shopping carts are also notoriously buggy, and its likely you will need help in keeping the online shop’s lookin-line with the site’s main design.

“What skills will I need to manage an Open Source website?”

One of the main hurdles, in my experience, may be with a site’s imagery.However, the advantage of WordPress is that even knowledge of FTP andAdobe Photoshop isn’t necessary for uploading images. Presets in the CMS canhandle re-sizing and the naming of files.

WordPress’ content management “dashboard” is self-explanatory, and caneasily be explored by experimenting drafts that can be kept private.

“What aspects of developing an Open Source website might I need help with?”

Plug-ins. A new Open Source site may be the expansion of a current bloghosted elsewhere. Therefore utilising a plug-in to import previously writtenposts, contacts and attachments saves considerable time. This also extends tospam filters, adapting the site for mobiles and an ever-evolving list of ways tomake your OS site (and your business) run more efficiently.

“You work in partnership with web developers to create your Open Source websitesHow does that relationship work?”

As a designer from a predominantly print background, the ever-evolving world of web development canbe a daunting area to contemplate, never mind fully understand. It’s hard enough just keeping up with thebuzz words via the ‘Twitterpshere’!

Web design is a very different discipline to design for print, so tools that allow greater and easier

communication between designer and web-developers like WordPress are key to successfulcollaborations.In my view the opposing, but utterly intrinsic, methods of designer and developer perform best when bothare allowed the freedom to create using their preferred tools. In my case I want to con-ceptualise the lookand feel of a website. Navigation and some basic functionality is included in many of the Open Source web design tem-plates thatare available, but I don’t want to be bogged down by the practicalities of how the site will work on a

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technical level. This isn’t so much “passing the buck”, but a much moreconscience decision to allow specialists to perform a division of labour toachieve the best possible results. Specifically, my designs are completed inAdobe Photoshop/Illustrator formats with the confidence that the developer canthen take the baton.

“I thought that WordPress was just for blogsCan I use it for my organisation’s website?”

Most defnitely!

WordPress was originally an easy target for, in my opinion, skills-protectivedevelopers to brand as “just a blogging tool”. The very nature of Open Sourcehas meant it has far outstripped any con-straints. Primarily, I don’t feel I haveany design restrictions when using WordPress as a CMS - and I’ve hadexperience in both off-the-shelf templates and totally bespoke sites. Mostimportantly, I can say I’ve encountered no drawbacks to WordPress’ functionality

and ease of use for the end client.

I see Open Source as a reflection of the human appetite for learning. While some protect their knowledgeand hesitate to share (mostly stimulated by intellectual property) others see the dynamic future benefits of enabling those straggling behind to gets the bits and pieces of informa-tion essential to global progress.

Jaco Justice Freelance graphic designer and illustrator.

http://www.go-reborn.co.uk - WordPress template purchased for £40. Site updates were achieved with web developer’s assistance to introduce shopping cart and subtle design changes.

“What is the future of Open Source?”

What you have to ask yourself is: do you want an easily manageable website that you and all of your staff can be trained to update at a fraction of the cost of a bespoke site and CMS?

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Open DataAs more organisations lead collaborative efforts, the implications of sharingdata come to the fore-front. Data sharing – whether for marketing, ticketing,fundraising purposes – raises a host of is-sues. Does pooling information aboutpatrons lead to greater revenues for all parties? Or do orga-nizations risk anegative response from patrons? Integrating the range of software that artsorgani-sations to ensure that data sharing is more open is also a problem, butopen data also offers a host of new opportunities.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World WideWeb, talks here on the 01.02.2011 OU/BBCDigital Planet programme’s on the value of open data.

Chapter 3: Open Data. Tim Berners-Lee,

works together with Edinburgh Festivals Innovation Lab http://www.festivalslab.com / @festivalslab - toensure that the cultural sector maximises the value of open data by innovating new ideas/products.

Ben Werdmuller from Edinburgh Festivals’ Innovation Lab explains open data:

“Open data sounds like a much more techie concept than it really is. It’s really a way to let thirdparties plug into and spread your organization’s information, in a way that you control, and allowsthem to create publications, products and services that you don’t have the time, resources or incli-

nation to develop or maintain. You become the centre of a creative ecosystem - something artsor-ganizations, and especially festivals - are already brilliant at. It’s a perfect fit.

More verbosely, open data takes the valuable information that an organization already owns andturns it into a product in itself, free of any specific form or function. Usually this is as a kind of data-base that third parties can query and automatically incorporate into their products.

You can think of open data as a public, read-only interface directly into the parts of your data thatyou want other organisations to get hold of - and, in fact, as the easiest, cheapest way to share that

inventor of the World Wide Web, on the value of open data.(dur. 1.01)

15.20 - 16.22. BBC Click 02.02.11.

This positive value of open data is why AmbITion Scotland supports and

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00d73v1#p00dskr5

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information. You might want to do this in order to ensure the accuracyof the information as it spreads across the web, for promotional rea-sons, to stimulate an ecosystem of third party developers, publishers,creatives and private companies around your products or services, be-cause you believe making the data available is the right thing to do - ora combination of any of these things.

One other good reason is that if you don’t release your data in this way,someone else might do it for you - and you may well want to retain con-trol, in order to maximize usefulness for the public, enforce your owner-ship, and keep track of who’s using it.

One of an arts festival’s most valuable sets of data (although by nomeans the only one in its pos-session) is its listings information. Bymaking it available as open data, the festival can allow third parties toincorporate accurate listings - and have corrections, changes and can-cellations filter down into the ecosystem almost instantly.

Better yet, they can ensure that these third-party listings link to the official ticketing page in orderto drive awareness and revenue, and they can also retrieve detailed information about how it isused. This is because while the data is open, it isn’t public domain; that is to say, the festival retainscomplete ownership and licenses the information to the third parties who use it. That license canforce the party to authenticate whenever they ask for information, resulting in a detailed set of userinformation from across the festival ecosystem that could be aggregated to infer demographic in-formation, trends in audience attention, and environmental detailslike geographic location. The license can also impose restrictionson how the data is used. It could require that applications in-cludea copyright statement, for example, or a link back to the festival’shomepage as part of each listing.

Many arts organizations already use forms of open data: they mightpublishanRSSfeed,forexample,orpushinformationthroughaTwit-ter account.” 1

RohanGunatillakeofEdinburghFestivalsInnovationLabgoesontoconsiderinmoredepthinFestivalslabblog: Why open data and the arts are natural partners.

1 Source: http://www.festivalslab.com/open-data-in-the-arts-an-introduction

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Open Source can sometimes be used to describe a methodology for engaging or or set of princi-ples forparticipation with an event. For example, BarCamps, and hack days modus operandi is:

• openexchange:freeexchangeofideasiscriticaltocreatinganenvironmentwherepeoplecanlearn and use existing ideas towards creating new one.

• powerofparticipation:collaborations(we)cansolveproblemsthatnoonepersonmaybeableto solve on their own.

• rapidprototyping:rapidlyproducedprototypescanleadtorapidfailures,butthatleadstobettersolutions found faster as you learn by doing.

• meritocracy:thebestideasriseandgathereffortfromthecommunity

• communities:formedaroundacommonpurpose,aglobalcommunity’scapabilitiesandcapacity far exceed what any individual could do

Open InnovationEdinburgh FestivalsInnovation Lab is formally part of the AmbITionScotland programme, andin February 2011,

AmbITion Scotland &Edinburgh FestivalsInnovation Lab co-hosted Open Innovation, OpenData: What it is & Why itMatterswithRolandHar-wood and BenWerdmuller.

And finally...

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http://www.getambition.com/2011/02/webinar-8-open-innovation-open-data/















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LinksOpen Office http://www.openoffice.org

Wordpresshttp://www.wordpress.com (hosted version) /

http://www.wordpress.org (development community)

Joomla http://www.joomla.org

Drupal http://drupal.org

Festivalslab http://www.festivalslab.com

Culture Hackday http://culturehackday.org.uk / Culture HackScotland http://www.culturehackscoland.com

Open University/BBC Digital Planet series of programmes exploring what what open meanshttp://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/whats-on/ou-on-the-bbc-digital-planet-openness-digital-age

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HannahRudmanrunsRudmanConsulting http://consultrudman.com, isLead Consultant of AmbI-Tion Scotlandhttp://getambition.com, having been

director of the AmbITion pilot in England.She advises on national cultural policyaround digital development in the UK; isan Associate of Mission Models Moneyhttp://www.missionmodelsmoney.org.uk;Specialist Advisor to Cultural EnterpriseOfficehttp://www.culturalenterpriseoffice.co.uk;and is a Lecturer at Edinburgh Napier Uni-

versity’s School of Computing. Hannah is also Arts Professional’s “Harnessing IT”

About the authors

columnist; and on the board of New Media Scotland

http://www.mediascot.org Hannah has overseen the strategic digital development of over 100 culturalsector organisations, across all art forms and operational models. She has also developed an online hands-on toolkit for organisations looking to self -lead their own digital developments - the AmbITion Approach.http://toolkit.getambition.com

Hannah also runs Envirodigital http://envirodigital.com. Envirodigital is a lighthouse brand, guiding thecreative and digital industries in a sustainable direction through the use of digital tools. Envirodigital believes

that getting digital can facilitate being sustainable, and helps organisations create truly economically andecologically sustainable digital developments. Envirodigital helped to estab-lish the new National TheatreWales’ digital and environmental policies, and is helping to ensure many organisations’ and events’environmental sustainability through providing webcasting production and consultancy.

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http://toolkit.getambition.com/








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Pooka.ProPooka.Pro is a new business providing webdevelopment services and consultancy to thecultural, creative and charitable sectors. Pooka.Pro specialises in Open Source technologies, and

offers environmentally friendly hosting solutions.

Established by experienced arts marketer and web developer Marcus J Wilson,and including a range of partnerships with other designers and developers,Pooka.Pro believes in showcasing compelling content through well-designed,accessible and interactive websites.

Marcus is a former Broadband Britain Champion for his work on the Northingswebsite (http://www.northings.com), which is the arts magazine and socialnetwork for arts and culture in northern Scotland.

Between 2003 and 2005, Marcus project managed a £250,000 projectto develop an online ticket-ing service for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The Booth (http://www.thebooth.co.uk) quickly achieved allprojected client adoption and income targets set, and Booth ScotlandLtd became an independent company in 2007, and has since rolled-outto service cultural organisations across Scotland. As a result, Marcussat on the Scottish Government’s National Box Office Scoping Group in2007.

MarcusiscurrentlyaReferenceGroupmemberforCreativeScotland’snational Amb:IT:ion pro-gramme, which is engaged with over 200

cultural organisations across Scotland, funding a range of these to takeforward major web development projects for their organisations.

Marcus runs the weekly Joomla! Breakfast in Edinburgh, a discussiongroup for Open Source developers using Joomla! CMS.

http://www.pooka.pro Twitter: @marcusjwilson, @PookaPro

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http://www.twitter.com/marcusjwilson

http://www.twitter.com/pookapro



http://www.pooka.pro/

http://www.twitter.com/pookapro



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