interview

Copyright, copyleft, or copy none?

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is concerned that some open source software developers are not choosing a license for their work, so they want to educate software developers and anyone else working on open source projects that simply not choosing a license is not enough. » Read more

[The public domain] is the basis of our self-understanding as expressed by our shared knowledge and culture. It is the raw material from which new knowledge is derived and new cultural works are created. [..] Having a healthy and thriving Public Domain is essential to the social and economic well-being of our societies."

—from The Public Domain Manifesto

The Public Domain Review is a proponent of this message and actively supports other institutions in opening up their digital works to the public domain. Today, the public domain is in danger of being locked up by private companies and institutions who want to try to resell access and reproduction rights to the copies that they make.

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Open source is used just about everywhere, but when it comes to "safety-critical" systems, like software that flies planes or controls medical equipment, most of us assume that open source just doesn't fit the bill. The regulations and requirements are rigorous, and ill-suited to the usual "fail faster" approach of open source. » Read more

How are we going to teach the next generation about open source and Linux? More importantly, how can we get the right technology into classrooms to empower our educators to teach our children the open source way? » Read more

SparkFun’s Department of Education engages in educational outreach all over the country, and we’re always impressed and excited when we run into people and organizations as enthusiastic about electronics as we are. Over the past few years we’ve met a lot of people involved in the maker movement on the east coast, and Vermont continues to stand out as a state invested in furthering STEAM and electronics education in new ways. (In fact, Vermont’s Department of Education recently instituted a grant structure that will give SparkFun Inventor Kits to Career and Technical Education Centers around the state to provide preliminary Arduino training for FIRST Robotics teams!)

One of our friends in Vermont is Jenn Karson, who is on the forefront of the maker and open source movements there, and has worked with SparkFun on several educational endeavors, including the Champlain Mini Maker Faire. We recently caught up with her to talk about her experiences.

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I remember first meeting Jeffrey A. "Jam" McGuire in person at DrupalCon Denver. We talked about communities, music, and shared ways to show why open source is a better way. Even before meeting him, I could tell from my first interaction with him that he was passionate about Drupal and open source. He's becoming an in-demand Keynote speaker and presenter at Drupal and other business and software events around the world. He's already a staple for the Intro to DrupalCon session and always seems to incorporate music and singing as part of the performance. » Read more

As stressful as elections can be, they always bring a welcome surge of patriotism. United States citizens have a lot of opinions about their government, and election time is a good reminder that actually vollunteering time and resources is the best way to facilitate real change. Luckily we live in the 21st century, and collaborating to make change has never been easier. Apps like Shareabouts make it simple to get involved and do your part to make our cities great.

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In open source software communities, few events are as exciting as the release of a new operating system. Community members may wait for months—even years—as fresh versions of their favorite Linux distributions are collectively and meticulously prepared, debugged, and packaged for the world.

Next month, Todd Robinson will release a Linux-based desktop operating system in a single day. Thirty-one times in a row. » Read more

Dr. Sameer Verma first learned about open source software when a college friend gave him a weekend crash course in Linux. Now a professor of information systems in the College of Business at San Francisco State University, Verma has taken those lessons to heart—and is teaching his own students the open source way.

Recently, we talked with Verma about the challenge of open source pedagogy, about integrating open source technologies and values into the college classroom, about the benefits of learning open source project management, and about his work with One Laptop Per Child. » Read more

Meet Barry Peddycord III, a PhD student in computer science at North Carolina State University. He wishes academia were more open so work like his can reach as many audiences as possible. Barry's insightful comments on articles across many opensource.com groups enhance our conversations about the open source way. You can read his thoughts on open education at his blog.

Community is very important to opensource.com. We want to continue to recognize community members who contribute to the site by doing things other than writing articles–things like rating articles and commenting on them, voting in polls, and sharing our collective work on social media. We hope you enjoy getting to know Barry. » Read more