technology

At the Open Source Business Conference 2013, conversations on innovation, disruption, and open source leadership dominated the sessions. The conference chair, Matt Assay, crafted a program where each presentation and conversation reinforced how traditional business strategies are being disrupted by new market dynamics. The dynamics are shifting power away from closed, proprietary corporate leadership towards open collaboration and user-led innovation. The shift is disrupting traditional business strategies, IT operation practices, and market dominance.

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Chances are you know about the digital divide, but not about the Kramden Institute's work to help hardworking students in grades 3 - 12 who don't have a computer in their home cross it. You also might be shocked to learn that while information technology seems to be ubiquitous, a full 23% of U.S. households still don't have a computer. » Read more

Join us as we celebrate innovation in technology at New York City's open source conference: NYC Open Tech Conference. It will bring together members of the community across a variety of disciplines to learn and exchange ideas, where we hope to explore the connection between open source and the growth of the tech scene in NYC. » Read more

The latest talk in education circles is moving from a STEM-based method of teaching (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) to a STEAM-based one (science, technology, art, and mathematics). This involves using an inquiry-based approach or a project-based approach to learning through the immersion in the arts. How this helps open source and women in particular is a bone of contention for some. One would think that a focus on art would help propel female art students into pioneering territory with a focus on STEAM, however, the results seem mixed for women. » Read more

Open source as a buzzword has lost much of its buzz. It’s not quite as dead as "SOA," but it’s definitely been supplanted by today’s favorites: the Cloud, Mobile, and Big Data. Open source's demise as a hype label was inevitable—it’s hard to fake giving away your software for free (although there were more than a few companies over the years that were called out for being "faux-open source" with their freemium models or commercial licenses to the code). 
Thankfully, "open source" has outlived the hype to provide real value to the industry and to customers.

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Optimization, with its Lean Sig Sigma standard-bearer, has always been the objective of management for the industrial era, designed to control variability and increase productivity.

In the information age, with the pace of change accelerating, innovation commercialization will be equally as critical to a firm's ongoing viability.

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As Luis Ibanez pointed out on Friday, Clay Shirky's latest TED Talk—exploring what open source version control systems may mean for democracy—is great food for thought. Shirky says tools like Git will one day transform democracy, because they will make it easier than ever for citizens to participate in lawmaking and other formerly hierarchical civic processes. Imagine, for example, if anyone could propose a "patch" to the legal code, as easily as they can for computer code. It might be feasible for many more people to be directly involved, and the code might get much better. » Read more

Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. For many years, it was regarded as the breadbasket of Africa. But since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980, Robert Mugabe has been the leader, and the fate of the country has largely been tied to him and his policies.

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You wouldn't think supporters of open source would be collectively discussing Disney's latest episode of "Shake It Up," but there's a first time for everything. Earlier this week, the children's TV show misrepresented the meaning of open source, reminding us that in film and TV script writers often generalize programs, platforms and ideas in technology to the point of skewing the definition of them completely.

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Last month, we conducted a poll asking how open source might have enriched your life. We got a great response. Over 150 people answered, and the comments they left hinted at the personal impact open source has on individuals. » Read more