Upload
ben-spigel
View
802
Download
1
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Presented at OKCon 2.0
Citation preview
What early Linux developers can teach us about open
knowledge
Ben SpigelDepartment of GeographyThe Ohio State University
The problem of knowledge on the internet
• Open knowledge is useless unless people use it
• One must understand knowlege in order to use it
• How do we develop this understanding for users of open knowledge?
Why is this a problem for open knowledge
• People need to learn how to use the knowledge
• People need to learn why the knowledge should be open
• This is hard to do over the internet
What is knowledge?
•More than just facts
•Applied information
•Information modified by
human intelligence
Why is knowledge hard to understand
• Communication requires a shared 'language'
• Even if everyone speaks English, a shared jargon or 'codebook' is needed
Here's the scoop:
taylor-uucp-1.03beta from convex - no patches applied...GCC 2.1 (from tsx-11, I think - H.J. ftp'd it somewhere)
Linux 0.95a virgin kernel
I had to tweak the Makefile (don't use -O, -s, or -g!), and doa real dance with the configuration file and conf.h, but it talksand transfers files! I haven't gotten uuxqt running yet (it gives me a memory fault), and the binaries are AWFULLY big (sigh) - the tar of just the executables and stuff is just over 1MB, but it runs!
Hey, H.J., got shared libs for gcc-2.1 yet?? :) Text
comp.os.linuxApril 5, 1992
How does a shared language form?
• A shared past is needed
• Shared history, shared practices, shared stories
• Communities of Practice
Communities of practice
• Allows people to share tacit knowledge
• Hard to form over the internet
• Requires people to trust each other
The case of Linux
• Immediately a global community formed
• Analysis of early newsgroup postings shows almost no miscommunications
• But how?
1,900Kilometers
Legend
PostersPOSTERS
0 - 1
2
3
4 - 5
9 - 10
Linux as a community of practice
• Shared knowledge of programming (C and Unix)
• Shared computer jargon
• Shared history of hacking
• Shared programming
1,900Kilometers
Legend
PostsCOUNT
0 - 3
4 - 8
9 - 15
16 - 27
28 - 35
Implications for open knowledge
• Free, open and modifiable isn't enough
• For the knowledge to be useful, a community must form around it
• Forming this community is very difficult
Building an open knowledge community of practice
• Conferences like this
• Creation of a more involved electronic community
• Common methods to access open knowledge
• Shared stories of why we need open knowledge
Challenges for open knowledge community
building
• Diversity of the open knowledge tent
• Role of the Open Knowledge Foundation
• Different elements of open knowledge