About chaos and organization in open source...
There was one thing that struck me when I first read about this month's
theme "open source, open systems"...it was the word "systems", because I
realized that the idea of open source as complex system is becoming
accepted widely. People are now realizing how open source does not means
just "releasing a code", but "building and mantaing a whole complex system".
I drew this view of Open Source as an Open Systems from a Ko Kuwabara's
paper; maybe you already know it, but as it has been so important to me,
I'd like to suggest it to you. This paper establishes a context for the
work of Eric Raymond and his description of the Linux phenomenon, by
examining the emerging science of complex adaptive systems. Raymond's
evolutionary view is given an extended and more formal treatment under
the terms of chaos and complexity, and chaos and complexity under the
terms of sociology.
Linux: A Bazaar at the Edge of Chaos by Ko Kuwabara
First Monday, volume 5, number 3 (March 2000),
URL: http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_3/kuwabara/index.html
This paper explains very well how open source communities can be seen as
complex systems, and how they works (and succeds) like complex systems.
This association can lead to a better understanding of open source
communities and of how we could take advantage of complex systems too.
Massimo Menichinelli
openp2pdesign.org
katie hargrave ha scritto:
> Hi Dominic & List,
>
> I'm interested in what you mean by chaos in your leadership. Would you mind
> explaining a bit more fully?
>
> I think this question of democracy is increasingly important, perhaps
> particularly where there is a shift from OS software (which seems to have
> less grey areas as to how change manifests and which changes are lasting) to
> OS culture. Who is benefiting from these projects (for instance when artists
> are involved)? And is community being created and sustained, or are these
> often more akin to "drop and dash"? How do we evaluate these practices?
>
> Best,
> Katie
>
> On Sun, Apr 13, 2008 at 7:33 AM, Dominic Smith <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hello List,
>>
>> I have been lurking and reading all contributions one thing that has come
>> up a few times is the notion of managing an open source project, engaged
>> participation and the idea of democracy.
>>
>> The main question I would like to raise in this thread is -- "Is Open
>> Source a Democratic system"?
>>
>> As a co-founder of an Open Source organisation I sympathise greatly with
>> Katie Hargraves comments in an earlier thread on questions of leadership
>> within her organisation. I was at a talk a while back about a project we
>> were involved in called Grow Your Own Media Lab
>> http://ptechnic.org/gyoml/gyoml-data.html. I had to discuss our
>> participation in this project. It came as a great relief to me when the
>> speaker before me described the management of his large organisation as
>> chaos as I thought I would be the first to admit it.
>>
>> Dominic
>> http://ptechnic.org
>>
>
>
>
--
Massimo Menichinelli
Via Giacomo Matteotti 14, 20090 Assago (MI), Italy
0039 3402971655
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http://www.openp2pdesign.org/
http://www.openp2pdesign.org/massimo_menichinelli/
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