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First Monday on FLOSS

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The November 2004 issue of First Monday (volume 9, number 11) is now available at http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/

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Table of Contents

Volume 9, Number 11 - November 1st 2004

FLOSS at Large: Selected papers from the 4SEASST 2004 joint conference, Paris, 25-28 August 2004

Introduction: FLOSS at Large by Yuwei Lin http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/linintro/

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Opening the sources of accountability by Shay David http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/david/

Abstract:

This paper scrutinizes the concept of accountability in light of free and open source software. On the view that increasing accountability grants value to society by motivating those most likely and able to prevent risk and harm to do so, I argue that while developing software collaboratively, licensing it openly, and distributing its source code freely are promising first steps in the long journey to rehabilitate accountability in our highly computerized society, our very understanding of what accountability is changes too. This paper analyzes the concept of accountability in an open environment and explores the implications in two mission-critical application fields in which software plays a significant role - electronic voting, and electronic medical records. It further considers the potential remedies to accountability's erosion that free and open source software offer, and the ways in which accountability can be generalized to collective action if we understand it less as punishability and more as a culture that encourages the prevention of risk and harm. With such reconceptualized accountability in mind, I find that code visibility, a self-imposed standard of care and sensible licensing arrangements, are a potent, practical, and effective alternative to the strict liability standards offered as a solution to the accountability problem by earlier scholars.

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FLOSS developers as a social formation by Frauke Lehmann http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/lehmann/

Abstract:

Developers of Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) are often referred to as a community or as a scene. But so far this seems mostly just a rough expression. This paper takes a closer look at FLOSS developers and their projects to find out how they work, what holds them together and how they interact. Community and social movement seem not to apply as descriptors. Looking at norms, values, structures, and conflict resolution, a hacker subculture appears which is compartmentalised into differently organised projects. By testing empirical findings against various theoretical approaches, ideas for further research are identified.

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Contextualising knowledge-making in Linux user groups by Yuwei Lin http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/lin/

Abstract:

A common critique on free/libre open source software (FLOSS) is that FLOSS-oriented products, often mutated from or based on parallel works, are not really innovative. FLOSS' development process and subsequent products (e.g. software packages, maintaining services, or the formation of user groups, etc.) definitely denote a kind of innovation driving our world towards a knowledge-based society. This perspective challenges the conventional notion of innovation in technological and economic arenas from a glocalised perspective. I argue that software development is not solely a matter of technical engineering or economic progress. Rather, it also involves cultural, social and political factors.

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A case for Indian insourcing: Open Source interest in IT job expansion by Casey O'Donnell http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/odonnell/

Abstract:

The controversy surrounding the "off-shoring" of IT jobs from the United States to other countries, in particular to India, has become a focal point in American political discourse and has been widely represented in the media. Disturbingly, little attention has been paid to this occurrence beyond its implications for American employment opportunities. Representing Indian and American IT workers as unified groups whose interests are mutually exclusive and opposed to one another is problematic given the material realities that propel "outsourcing." Among the potential benefits of growing demand for, and supply of, skilled IT workers is increased participation in the Open Source Software (OSS) movement. Expanding global involvement offers a significant opportunity for developing countries to influence the direction, importance, and future of OSS.

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Free software: Some Brazilian translations by Alexandre Silva Pinheiro and Henrique Luiz Cukierman http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/pinheiro/

Abstract:

We examine two histories in this paper. First, we briefly look at a North American history, in which we look at the relationship of free software with the founding principles of democracy. Second, we examine recent Brazilian history, especially the most policy decision to adopt free software, affirming technological autonomy. Democratic ideals, defended by the free software movement, are transformed in Brazilian politics, leading both to further free software development and a stronger democracy.

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The realities of Free/Libre/Open Source Software developers in Japan and Asia by Hiroyuki Shimizu, Jun Iio, and Kazuo Hiyane http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/shimizu/

Abstract:

A variety of individuals around the world are furthering development of Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) through the Internet. Why do they participate in developers' communities and continue to develop FLOSS? Is their treatment enough to sustain their activities? Surveys, using online questionnaires, were conducted to answer these questions to analyze the FLOSS movement sociologically. However these surveys tend to focus on developers in the West. We decided to see if there are regional differences in FLOSS development. To that end, we conducted two surveys, the FLOSS-JP survey in Japanese and the FLOSS- ASIA survey in other Asian languages. In this paper, we describe regional differences, especially among Asian and Japanese FLOSS developers and compare the results to those from Western FLOSS surveys.

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Reducing transaction costs in information infrastructures using FLOSS by Marcus Vinicius Brandao Soares http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_11/soares/

Abstract:

Firms, or more generally, organizations, develop and become larger along time, using more and more computers to work. This growth in the number of computers leads to a growth of software use (operating systems and their applications, for example) and, as a result, to the growth in the number of software use/access licenses to be purchased and managed. For the owners of software intellectual property rights, this process leads to a greater supervision of users to regulate lawful access to software.

The situation occurs when all of the software used by an organization is proprietary. This results in some costs - transaction costs - that are not usually taken into account by administrators and managers. What happens if FLOSS is used? We will show that this choice leads to a reduction in transaction costs in terms of computation costs and in terms of the number of managed contracts, which can be numerically reduced by half.

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