Open source software development is changing the way that the information technology world does business. Unlike closed, proprietary software, of which source code is closely guarded, open source software is developed by an international community, mostly comprised of volunteers, and is licensed under terms that encourage sharing and participation. Advocates of open source believe that the more eyes that can see and hands that can change software, the quicker glitches are found and fixed, and new features added and tested by the open source community. Major commercial software and hardware developers, including IBM, Novell, Apple, RedHat, ActiveState (Vancouver) and TransGaming (Ottawa), are aware of the value in the open source software development model, which includes intense scrutiny of code and rapid development, in creating more reliable software more economically.
The success of this peculiar software development model cannot be explained solely by technological terms. A deep understanding of the phenomenon must be transdisciplinary in nature, shedding light on the ideological commitments of the open source community, the intellectual property issues surrounding open source licenses, the emergent business models that build profitable businesses out of freely distributable, open source software, and the community building effects of the intrinsically participatory open source development process. This seminar series is organized to promote awareness of this important movement among the university community, and to foster transdisciplinary research collaboration among researchers from various academic units.
For more information about the seminar series, contact Philip Fong (pwlfong@cs.uregina.ca).
| Date: | March 11, 2004 (Thursday) |
| Time: | 3:30 - 5:15 PM |
| Place: | Education Building, Auditorium |
For the past two decades, a loosely organized group of computer hackers, neo-communists and entrepreneurs has led the charge in a technological revolution that is undermining Microsoft's monopoly and fundamentally changing the way software is developed and owned. Filmed in 35mm Cinemascope, REVOLUTION OS explores the Open Source movement's origins through original interviews with its founders, and depicts the grassroots nature of the LINUX operating system and Open Source as they march into the mainstream. (85 minutes)
| Speaker: | David Elliott |
| Date: | March 17, 2004 (Wednesday) |
| Time: | 3:30 - 4:30 PM |
| Place: | Education Building, Screening Room C |
After an introduction to the main legal aspects of intellectual property, the open source and hybrid or proprietary policies for software development are considered. While many arguments in favor of open source development have been advanced from the perspectives of economic and business advantages, this talk focuses on recent philosophical discussion surrounding the moral and political advantages of open source software development.
Dr. David Elliott is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Philosophy and Classics, University of Regina. He specializes in ethics, practical ethics, political and legal philosophy. He is particularly interested in the ethical and social implications of biotechnology and information technology. He has published academic articles on human reproductive cloning and on the philosophical aspects of moral character. He is currently working on a cooperative study with Dr. Eldon Soifer on the moral, social, and legal implications of personal privacy.
| Speaker: | Roger Petry |
| Date: | March 24, 2004 (Wednesday) |
| Time: | 3:30 - 4:30 PM |
| Place: | Education Building, Screening Room C |
Historically Canadian state universities have been structured to promote academic freedom, university autonomy, and community service through collegial forms of governance. These goals are being adversely impacted by transformations of post-secondary institutions in the knowledge based economy. In particular, universities face specific challenges associated with knowledge commercialization, distance education, and global competition with private, for-profit post-secondary education firms. A possible strategic response to these pressures involves the open licensing of knowledge produced by universities based on the Free Software/Open Source Software model. The potential success of this strategy will be examined in relation to the traditional goals of the university.
Roger Petry received his first degree at the University of Regina in philosophy and mathematics. He then studied at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar completing a degree in philosophy, politics, and economics, and a second degree in philosophical theology. Roger currently lectures in philosophy at Luther College. He is also working on an interdisciplinary Ph.D. through the Canadian Plains Studies Program at the University of Regina. His thesis research examines the capacity of prairie universities to contribute to regional sustainable development through the open licensing of knowledge.
| Speaker: | John Aycock, Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary |
| Date: | February 18, 2004 (Friday) |
| Time: | 3:30 - 4:30 PM |
| Place: | College West 307.18 (Math/CS Lounge) |
Refreshment will be served.
With more than a decade of experience in open source software development, Dr. Aycock is the leader of the open source project, SPARK, a parser/compiler framework written in pure Python. We will chat with Dr. Aycock about how he married his academic pursuit with open source development, how he maintained a healthy community of contributors, whether he belongs to the "free software" movement or the "open source" movement, etc.
Philip Fong is the lead developer of the open source project, Aegis VM. He is developing a course on Software Maintenance and Evolution, in which students will undertake a term project involving contribution to an existing open source project.
Daryl Hepting (with Philip Fong) has been awarded a Western Economic Diversification Grant, for the purpose of creating an Open Systems Lab for the University of Regina, to train students to take part in open source software development, and to conduct research with locally-run projects. He is also interested in usability issues as they pertain to open source software.
David Elliott currently teaches an upper level philosophy course on Information Technology, Privacy, and Ethics (PHIL 370/470AC), where issues concerning open source are examined along with other philosophical and ethical topics.
Roger Petry has been an advocate of applying open licensing strategies within universities, and has done extensive studies on the relationship between university governance, open source, and sustainable development.
Robert Anderson is an expert in small business and entrepreneurship. He is the managing editor of a journal on the same topic.
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