Hacker Culture and the FLOSS Innovation

2011 ◽  
pp. 34-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Wei Lin
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
End Users ◽  
Culture Clash ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
Ecological View ◽  
Ongoing Development ◽  
Hacker Culture ◽  
Over Time

This chapter aims to contribute to our understanding of the free/libre open source software (FLOSS) innovation and how it is shaped by and also shapes various perceptions on and practices of hacker culture. Unlike existing literature that usually normalises, radicalises, marginalises, or criminalises hacker culture, I confront such deterministic views that ignore the contingency and heterogeneity of hacker culture, which evolve over time in correspondence with different settings where diverse actors locate. I argue that hacker culture has been continuously defi ned and redefi ned, situated and resituated with the ongoing development and growing implementation of FLOSS. The story on the development of EMACSen (plural form of EMACS—Editing MACroS) illustrates the consequence when different interpretations and practices of hacker culture clash. I conclude that stepping away from a fi xed and rigid typology of hackers will allow us to view the FLOSS innovation from a more ecological view. This will also help us to value and embrace different contributions from diverse actors including end-users and minority groups.

Hacker Culture and the FLOSS Innovation

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Wei Lin
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
End Users ◽  
Culture Clash ◽  
Plural Form ◽  
Ecological View ◽  
Ongoing Development ◽  
Hacker Culture ◽  
Over Time

This article aims to contribute to our understanding of the free/libre open source software (FLOSS) innovation and how it is shaped by and also shapes various perceptions on and practices of hacker culture. Unlike existing literature that usually normalises, radicalises, marginalises, or criminalises hacker culture, the author confronts such deterministic views that ignore the contingency and heterogeneity of hacker culture, which evolve over time in correspondence with different settings where diverse actors locate. The author argues that hacker culture has been continuously defined and redefined, situated and resituated with the ongoing development and growing implementation of FLOSS. The story on the development of EMACSen (plural form of EMACS—Editing MACroS) illustrates the consequence when different interpretations and practices of hacker culture clash. The author concludes that stepping away from a fixed and rigid typology of hackers will allow people to view the FLOSS innovation from a more ecological view. This will also help people to value and embrace different contributions from diverse actors including end-users and minority groups.

Evidence-Based Assurance to Support Process Quality in the F/OSS Community

2007 ◽  
pp. 120-146
Author(s):  
Anas Tawileh ◽  
Omer F. Rana ◽  
Wendy Ivins ◽  
Stephen McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Development Process ◽  
End Users ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Software Developers ◽  
Substantial Growth ◽  
Development Processes

This chapter investigates the quality issues of the free and open source software (F/OSS) development processes. It argues that software developed within the F/OSS paradigm has witnessed substantial growth rates within the software developers’ community. However, end users from outside the community are still sceptical about adopting F/OSS because of the perceived lack of quality assurance mechanisms within the F/OSS development process. The authors aim to promote higher adoption of F/OSS artefacts outside the developers’ community by exploring possibilities to provide appropriate evidence based assurances that F/OSS artefacts will meet the quality levels expected by users.

Open Source Software Adoption

2009 ◽  
pp. 1675-1698 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Fitzgerald
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Software Adoption ◽  
Public Sector Organization ◽  
Desktop Application ◽  
Depth Study ◽  
Over Time

Current estimates suggest widespread adoption of open source software (OSS) in organizations worldwide. However, the problematic nature of OSS adoption is readily evidenced in the fairly frequent reports of problems, unforeseen hold-ups, and outright abandonment of OSS implementation over time. Hibernia Hospital, an Irish public sector organization, have embarked on the adoption of a range of OSS applications over several years, some of which have been successfully deployed and remain in live use within the organisation, whereas others, despite achieving high levels of assimilation over a number of years, have not been ultimately retained in live use in the organization. Using a longitudinal case study, we discuss in depth the deployment process for two OSS applications – the desktop application suite whose deployment was unsuccessful ultimately, and the email application which was successfully deployed. To our knowledge, this is the first such in-depth study into successful and unsuccessful OSS implementation.

Open Source Software Development Model

2005 ◽  
pp. 2221-2224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luyin Zhao ◽  
Fadi P. Deek
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Free Software ◽  
Development Model ◽  
Software Systems ◽  
Software System ◽  
Software Development Model ◽  
Hacker Culture ◽  
Free Software Foundation

The open source movement can be traced back to the hacker culture in the ’60s and ’70s. In the early 1980s, the tenet of free software for sharing was explicitly raised by Richard Stallman, who was working on developing software systems and invited others to share, contribute, and give back to the community of cooperative hackers. Stallman, together with other volunteers, established the Free Software Foundation to host GNU (Gnu’s Not Unix, a set of UNIX-compatible software system). Eric Raymond, Stallman’s collaborator, is the primary founder of the Open Source Initiative. Both communities are considered the principal drivers of open source movement.

Homesteading the Noosphere (originally published in Volume 3, Number 10, October 1998)

First Monday ◽  
2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Raymond
Keyword(s):  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Actual Behavior ◽  
Underlying Theory ◽  
Official Ideology ◽  
Hacker Culture ◽  
And Control

After observing a contradiction between the 'official' ideology defined by open-source licenses and the actual behavior of hackers, we examine the actual customs which regulate the ownership and control of open-source software. We discover that they imply an underlying theory of property rights homologous to the Lockean theory of land tenure. We relate that to an analysis of the hacker culture as a 'gift culture' in which participants compete for prestige by giving time, energy, and creativity away. We then examine the implications of this analysis for conflict resolution in the culture, and develop some prescriptive implications.

scholarly journals A global database of soil respiration data

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1321-1344 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Bond-Lamberty ◽  
A. Thomson
Keyword(s):  
Soil Respiration ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Future Development ◽  
Scientific Community ◽  
Temperature Response ◽  
Global Database ◽  
C Cycle ◽  
Dynamic Community ◽  
Over Time

Abstract. Soil respiration – RS, the flux of autotropically- and heterotrophically-generated CO2 from the soil to the atmosphere – remains the least well-constrained component of the terrestrial C cycle. Here we introduce the SRDB database, a near-universal compendium of published RS data, and make it available to the scientific community both as a traditional static archive and as a dynamic community database that will be updated over time by interested users. The database encompasses all published studies that report one of the following data measured in the field (not laboratory): annual RS, mean seasonal RS, a seasonal or annual partitioning of RS into its sources fluxes, RS temperature response (Q10), or RS at 10 °C. Its orientation is thus to seasonal and annual fluxes, not shorter-term or chamber-specific measurements. To date, data from 818 studies have been entered into the database, constituting 3379 records. The data span the measurement years 1961–2007 and are dominated by temperate, well-drained forests. We briefly examine some aspects of the SRDB data – mean annual RS fluxes and their correlation with other carbon fluxes, RS variability, temperature sensitivities, and the partitioning of RS source flux – and suggest some potential lines of research that could be explored using these data. The SRDB database described here is available online in a permanent archive as well as via a project-hosting repository; the latter source leverages open-source software technologies to encourage wider participation in the database's future development. Ultimately, we hope that the updating of, and corrections to, the SRDB will become a shared project, managed by the users of these data in the scientific community.

scholarly journals De-Commodifying Software? Open Source Software Between Business Strategy and Social Movement

2001 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-65
Author(s):  
Ursula Holtgrave ◽  
Raymund Werle
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Business Strategy ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Market Exchange ◽  
Software Products ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Movement Type ◽  
Hacker Culture

Focusing on open source software the origin, development and organisation of a process of de-commodification is examined in an industry that usually relies on strong provisions to protect intellectual property. Open source denotes a cooperative and voluntary mode of software development cross-cutting organisational boundaries and transcending relations of market exchange. Starting with the Open Systems Movement in the late 1970s, which was driven by business strategic and industrial policy interests and complemented by a spirit of mutual support in professional communities, a social movement type of collective action has emerged which develops knowledge as a public good. Competent communities share the norms of the hacker culture and cooperate in informal relations challenging the boundaries between private and public goods. But the open source idea has also been transformed into a business strategy by companies who provide basic software products for free and make money with complementary products and services.

scholarly journals Understanding Community Behaviors in For-Profit Open Source Hardware Projects

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 2397-2406
Author(s):  
Zhuoxuan Li ◽  
Warren Seering ◽  
Tiffany Tao ◽  
Shengnan Cao
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Community Interactions ◽  
Specific Nature ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Open Development ◽  
Development Context ◽  
The Government ◽  
Open Source Hardware ◽  
Over Time

AbstractFree contributors have successfully shown the potential in large/complex software co-creation in the Free and Open Source Software Movement, triggering many discussions and exploration ventures from academia to industry and to the government. Though many research efforts explored whether the same level of co-creation efforts could take place broadly in the hardware realm, very few research studies focus on profit-seeking hardware projects initiated by companies. In fact, the specific nature of being tangible and profitable makes company-led open source hardware projects suspicious to be really “open” to contributors. Community has been identified as the critical driver in many open projects. By reviewing the evolution of company-community interactions over time and different community behaviors in different open development context, authors in this paper hope to identify best community- company interaction forms for open source hardware companies. Using grounded theory and case studies, we construct a framework to describe and identify company community's different behaviors and different roles.

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