Many of the contributors to Machinista are active supporters of the open source movement. Open source is software whose source code*
is available for users to look at and modify freely.
Open source is software built by programmers who think technology should be distributed without charge. Historically, the makers of proprietary
software have generally not made source code available.
Open source programs, such as the Linux operating system, post their source code for free so that anyone can use, modify and improve them.
The idea behind open source software is the exact opposite of the old "too many cooks spoil the broth" adage. Theoretically, through the collective
work of many programmers, the resulting software can become more useful and free of holes and bugs. The internet facilitates the easy sharing
across of computer code across international and many other boundaries.
*Source code = The plain text (usually typed in by a human) specifying the detailed operation of a program, written in a programming language.
Here's a selection of urls / information on Open Source and related issues selected by
Simon Yuill (Machinista open source consultant and organiser of the Open Source cafe)
for the Ambit newsgroup.
These are intended as an introduction to the topic for people who may be entirely new to it, or interested in learning more about it.
They also provide some info on its relationship to contemporary arts practice.
This list is neither definitive nor exhaustive and there are many other resources available online.
INTRODUCTORY TEXTS
_The Open Source Definition_
This is a succinct outline of Open Source software. There are aspects of the principles given here which many people
disagree with (such as whether
or not to support/oppose commercial software), but it serves as a decent enough introduction.
http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php
_The Free Software Definition_
Another name, and slightly different perspective, on Open Source is "Free
Software", this is an introduction to that view:
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
_licenses_
At the heart of Open Source is the use of copyright (or copyleft) licenses
which seek to ensure the "free" use of software in contrast to
conventional "restricted" commercial licenses.
http://www.fsf.org/licenses/license-list.html
_The GNU Project_Richard Stallman
One of the pioneering Open Source/Free Software projects, by one of the
pioneers of Free Software philosophy.
http://www.fsf.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html
_Free Culture_Lawrence Lessig
Relating to the broader issues of Open Source and intellectual property
rights and why over-zealous commercial control of culture and innovation
is generally bad for society as a whole.
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/policy/2002/08/15/lessig.html
_Open Source Intelligence_Felix Stalder and Jesse Hirsh
Comparing some approaches which effectively put into practice ideas
similar to those which Lessig promotes, applying the Open Source model at
a wider level.
http://news.openflows.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/23/1518208
_A Politics of Intellectual Property: Environmentalism For the Net?_James Boyle
Relates discussions over intellectual property from an Open Source
perspective to bio-informatics and genetic science issues. Argues that
enviromentalism provides a suitable model for understanding the relevance
of supporting a free public domain and open source ethos.
http://www.law.duke.edu/boylesite/intprop.htm
_Creative Commons_
Set up by Lessig, Boyle and others, Creative Commons promotes the concept
of a collective "commons" for culture and knowledge, similar to the older
concept of "common land" (an area of land set aside from private ownership
for the collective good of the community). One of the
features of Creative Commons is that it provides the tools for individual
creators to define their own licenses, thereby facilitating an Open Source
approach to legal practice.
http://creativecommons.org
OPEN SOURCE + ARTISTIC PRACTICE
_Free Software as Collaborative Text_Florian Cramer
If you only want to read one text I'd recommend this, provides an
introductory definition of Open Source and Free Software, a bit of history
behind their development, and their relationship to artistic practice and
a broader concept of "net cultures".
http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~cantsin/homepage/writings/copyleft/free_software/free_software_as_text/en//free_software_as_text.html
_Art meet Net, Net meet Art_Matthew Fuller
Not directly dealing with Open Source but espouses related principles. A
good text on exploring the relations between internet and gallery-based art.
http://www.tate.org.uk/netart/mat1.htm
_The Hi-Tech Gift Economy_Richard Barbrook
Again not overtly "Open Source" in topic but closely related. Takes a
balanced, but optimistic, view of the internet as a legacy of Situationism
and anarcho-communism.
http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_12/barbrook/
_Culture Without Commodities: From Dada to Open Source and Beyond_Felix Stalder
Kicks off with Greil Marcus's "Lipstick Traces" and parallels some of
Barbrook's text but with a more specific relation to Open Source and other
recent developments.
http://residence.aec.at/kop/writers/html/w3texts.html
_read_me 2.3_ & runme.org
"read_me" is a festival of software art, this site contains a selection of
essays relating to the medium and the featured projects from this year's
festival. Runme is a related online repository of software art.
http://www.m-cult.org/read_me
http://www.runme.org/
CRITIQUE
_The Californian Ideology_Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron
The Open Source movement, like any large-scale ideologically informed
movement, is a broad one with many differing views, some of which conflict
with the views of others who also support it. One such aspect of that in
relation to Open Source are the synergies between many American Open
Source advocates, such as Eric Raymond, and "libertarian" free-market
ideologies (Raymond is also part of the pro-gun lobby). This article by
Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron is a critique of that. The first url is
for a site with the article and various responses to it, the second to a
single page version that is easy to print.
http://www.hrc.westminster.ac.uk/hrc/theory/californianideo/index/t.4.html
http://www.alamut.com/subj/ideologies/pessimism/califIdeo_I.html
ORGANISATIONS + INDIVIDUALS + WEBSITES
The Free Software Foundation
http://www.fsf.org/
OpenFlows
http://www.openflows.org/
Detritus
http://www.detritus.net/
Scottish Linux Users Group
http://www.scotlug.org.uk/
Lowtech
http://www.lowtech.org
dynebolic
http://dynebolic.org/
slashdot
http://slashdot.org/
Freshmeat
http://freshmeat.net/
Sourceforge
http://www.sourceforge.net
Richard Stallman
http://www.stallman.org/
Eric Raymond
http://www.catb.org/~esr/
Lawrence Lessig
http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/lessig/
Felix Stalder
http://felix.openflows.org/html/left.html
|