I have placed a preliminary poster on http://fsblah.googlepages.com/.
Kristian Bredemeyer
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Google Publish
I have been reading the Free Open Source Development Book. It has been describing the importance of organization structure so that there is democratic involvement in the
Kristian Bredemeyer
Kristian Bredemeyer
Monday, May 28, 2007
Libraries in Denmark compared to here
I was looking into the Budapest Open Access initiative in Europe and came across this interesting find at the public library in the Aarhus public library.
video (scroll down towards bottom of the page to view)
What is incredible about this is that the common law society in Denmark expects that libraries can be all encompassing. The ability to download any type of media whether it be journal texts, mp3s, or movies all in a legal manner through the library Internet infrastructure is incredible. In most American libraries media access is limited to physical multimedia and some online texts. In fact, attempting to engage in legal downloading of mp3s or films would most likely result in being asked to leave the library. Again it is necessary to ask, why would this be the case? In both countries libraries exist for anyone to gain access to information without barriers. This library has transformed itself into a public place and it is clear from the informational video that it is intended to be used by anyone in the city, whether a student, an immigrant, or a local resident.
There could be some possibility of studying how the Aarhus public library became as open towards information as it has. Certainly this appears to be a very different kind of library than the Leon County Public Library, which has mainly physical media for checkout. They do have a website, but it is limited to a relatively small number of databases. No services for legally obtaining most journal articles or multimedia based information exists. Strozier Library does have extensive databases, but even FSU is not able to subscribe to every article database.
Kristian Bredemeyer
video (scroll down towards bottom of the page to view)
What is incredible about this is that the common law society in Denmark expects that libraries can be all encompassing. The ability to download any type of media whether it be journal texts, mp3s, or movies all in a legal manner through the library Internet infrastructure is incredible. In most American libraries media access is limited to physical multimedia and some online texts. In fact, attempting to engage in legal downloading of mp3s or films would most likely result in being asked to leave the library. Again it is necessary to ask, why would this be the case? In both countries libraries exist for anyone to gain access to information without barriers. This library has transformed itself into a public place and it is clear from the informational video that it is intended to be used by anyone in the city, whether a student, an immigrant, or a local resident.
There could be some possibility of studying how the Aarhus public library became as open towards information as it has. Certainly this appears to be a very different kind of library than the Leon County Public Library, which has mainly physical media for checkout. They do have a website, but it is limited to a relatively small number of databases. No services for legally obtaining most journal articles or multimedia based information exists. Strozier Library does have extensive databases, but even FSU is not able to subscribe to every article database.
Kristian Bredemeyer
Perspectives on the Operation of Open Source
This last week's readings focused on the economic incentives towards using open source. The article called Economic Perspectives on Open Source written by Josh Lerner and Jean Tirole discusses some of economic motivations behind using Open Source. The article suggests that developers work on open source for both current benefits (pay) and delayed benefits (such as future job prospects) as well as an ego gratification that open source is cool!
I wouldn't be surprised if the latter is the reason why people start working on these projects in the first place. An example of this is Blake Ross, who was dissatisfied with the state of web browsers. He returned after a summer with the prototype of Mozilla Firefox. His effort gave him both "coolness" in the online community, but was able to be employed in any information technology position of his choosing. This is more dramatic than most contributors to open source, but it does prove that there can be indirect economic incentives to working on open source.
Kristian Bredemeyer
I wouldn't be surprised if the latter is the reason why people start working on these projects in the first place. An example of this is Blake Ross, who was dissatisfied with the state of web browsers. He returned after a summer with the prototype of Mozilla Firefox. His effort gave him both "coolness" in the online community, but was able to be employed in any information technology position of his choosing. This is more dramatic than most contributors to open source, but it does prove that there can be indirect economic incentives to working on open source.
Kristian Bredemeyer
Friday, May 18, 2007
Open Source share in Europe
XiTi Monitor has statistics for Firefox usage in Europe. Firefox is one of the most popular open source software packages. In Europe, the usage was 24.1%. In the US, the usage was 15.1%. Within Europe, the highest levels of usage are in Slovenia (44.5%), Finland (41.3%), Croatia (36.5%), and Germany (36.2%). Low levels of usage of Firefox were found in Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Opera, which is another free web browser, may have taken some potential Firefox users especially in Norway and Denmark as it is a locally made product.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Europe vs US viewpoint of freedom (net neutrality)
As was discussed in my last post, the Budapest declaration of open information promotes open access to read and distribute information. This is consistent with a viewpoint of societal freedom. The open source software movement has a synergy of American and European components. As an example, the public minded GNU foundation has created many of the building blocks of open source operating systems. However, Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, wanted to have a completely free system to run on his computer. These entities exist in a form of anarchy, as there is no formal hierarchy or economic activities dictating that these individuals provide these services. They were doing it presumably for the good of an open society.
In the last year net neutrality has become a major issue. In the near future, US internet access is likely to favor websites that pay the internet provider for access. Sites with free information about scientific research, literature, or open source software may not have the resources to pay these fees. Under such a system, Americans may be able to view videos on You Tube or search on Google easily. This is because these sites are operated by large multinational companies that could pay for high speed access to US internet users. Other websites may be very slow to access, or completely blocked off.
In Europe, there is more freedom online due to the European Union strictly monitoring the business competition environment. Access must be impartial, which is similar to the concept of net neutrality. Thus, Europeans will be able to access the latest free online journal or Linux software as easily as using Google.
Kristian Bredemeyer
In the last year net neutrality has become a major issue. In the near future, US internet access is likely to favor websites that pay the internet provider for access. Sites with free information about scientific research, literature, or open source software may not have the resources to pay these fees. Under such a system, Americans may be able to view videos on You Tube or search on Google easily. This is because these sites are operated by large multinational companies that could pay for high speed access to US internet users. Other websites may be very slow to access, or completely blocked off.
In Europe, there is more freedom online due to the European Union strictly monitoring the business competition environment. Access must be impartial, which is similar to the concept of net neutrality. Thus, Europeans will be able to access the latest free online journal or Linux software as easily as using Google.
Kristian Bredemeyer
Thursday, May 10, 2007
What is open access to information
The Open Access Bibliography: Liberating Scholarly Literature with E-Prints and Open Access
Journals
This work brings up several important background concepts towards gaining an understanding of what is free and open access to scholarly information. The Budapest definition of open access would include both peer reviewed journal articles and other unprinted information faculty would like to share with the world. This information would have to be available for free access online to read, download, print, or copy the information. The Budapest idea would only require that the author retain the integrity of the work and that the use of the source should be cited. This initiative suggests that a free repository be made available for professors to use themselves as well as creating free journals. As was observed a few weeks ago with the articles posted about anarchy and freedom not being accessible outside of an institution paying subscription fees, these problems are common with academic journals. The Creative Commons license has been used to legally license materials so that they may remain openly available. Prior to the advent of the Creative Commons license, there was no convenient way to have the protections of a copyright without extensive restrictions on the use of the material. In addition the Internet provides a nearly free means of distributing information. The main constraints on Internet distribution are hard drive space on servers, and bandwidth. These have both increased rapidly allowing for an economically nill cost per access to materials.
There are freely accessible journals such as PubMed that allow for free access to their materials, because their research is mainly governmentally funded. Another example is the Max Planck Demography Center journal. ACME is an International E-Journal for critical geographies.
Journals
This work brings up several important background concepts towards gaining an understanding of what is free and open access to scholarly information. The Budapest definition of open access would include both peer reviewed journal articles and other unprinted information faculty would like to share with the world. This information would have to be available for free access online to read, download, print, or copy the information. The Budapest idea would only require that the author retain the integrity of the work and that the use of the source should be cited. This initiative suggests that a free repository be made available for professors to use themselves as well as creating free journals. As was observed a few weeks ago with the articles posted about anarchy and freedom not being accessible outside of an institution paying subscription fees, these problems are common with academic journals. The Creative Commons license has been used to legally license materials so that they may remain openly available. Prior to the advent of the Creative Commons license, there was no convenient way to have the protections of a copyright without extensive restrictions on the use of the material. In addition the Internet provides a nearly free means of distributing information. The main constraints on Internet distribution are hard drive space on servers, and bandwidth. These have both increased rapidly allowing for an economically nill cost per access to materials.
There are freely accessible journals such as PubMed that allow for free access to their materials, because their research is mainly governmentally funded. Another example is the Max Planck Demography Center journal. ACME is an International E-Journal for critical geographies.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
DIS Syllabus
I have invited ljordan@gmail.com to be able to post in this blog so that you can post links if you wish. I am posting the syllabus I have come up with for the DIS. As was discussed previously there is a dearth of peer reviewed articles on open source issues of freedom. I have tried to include information that comes from as reputable a source as possible where journal articles have been lacking. The first week's reading will examine issues of free access to information in libraries. The next three weeks focus on the inside 0f the digital world and the role open source is playing. By this point I should have developed some of the interactive project. There are several readings from well known professors that focus on laws and the freedom of society and technology. There were only a few journal articles that I could find that focus on this topic that FSU subscribes to. The last of the DIS would cover freedom of innovation and future scenarios.
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~kbredemeyer/freedis_syllabus.odt
http://mailer.fsu.edu/~kbredemeyer/freedis_syllabus.odt
Monday, April 23, 2007
Intellectual Property
The recent articles I posted are only available to blog readers who are belonging to ip numbers within an institution subscribing to the databases. I have been trying to find "free" peer-reviewed journal articles, but have not had much success finding them. There are creative commons texts and books about this issues. Peer reviewed journals have too much monetary resources at stake to allow for free access to their content. Florida State University spend thousands of dollars every year to provide us access to these databases. For example, JSTOR charges large universities like FSU between $20,000 and $45,000 to access new databases. In addition about $8,000 is charged each year for access. It appears that these fees are cumulative, which means that FSU would have to pay several hundred thousand dollars to provide these services. These service are cheaper than storing hundreds of journals in Strozier or Dirac. However, from a social justice standpoint there is a problem with this scenario. How will people be able to access scholarly information from the community. Most public libraries do not subscribe to large numbers of databases due to the high costs involved. Even universities do not subscribe to every possible database. These databases are not being priced by the cost running the web servers and paying the employees for scanning content. Instead these databases are raking in tremendous sums of money from universities that are in no financial position to spend large amounts of money. Thus, there is prioritization of subscriptions.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Here are some additional articles in academic journals that I have come across that discuss open source software.
Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy Social Text
The Architecture of Information: Open Source Software and Tactical Poststructuralist Anarchism Post Modern Culture
Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy Social Text
What is free?
The concept of free is complex. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, free means not under the control or power of another. A later definition says available without charge.
This leads to possible contradictions in the discussion of freedom. For example, Google Earth is free, in that it can be used without charge. However, it is not free because there are controls that Google restricts access to unless you pay for Google Earth Pro. Depending on the definition used, it would be possible to argue for hours for it being free or non-free. Another good example would be derivatives of open source projects. According to the Linux Weekly News, Debian and the Mozilla Foundation were in conflict over the freedom to modify Firefox. Ironically, Mozilla Firefox is an open source project that is freely modifiable. However, the Mozilla Foundation wishes to maintain its brand integrity by requiring the Mozilla logos to be used only in ways they dictate. This is in conflict with the foundations of freedom of open source. At the same time, Debian is rebranding Mozilla Firefox to be called Iceweasel to avoid this problem. However, this can confuse, and potential alienate users that are looking for Mozilla Firefox on their computer.
This leads to possible contradictions in the discussion of freedom. For example, Google Earth is free, in that it can be used without charge. However, it is not free because there are controls that Google restricts access to unless you pay for Google Earth Pro. Depending on the definition used, it would be possible to argue for hours for it being free or non-free. Another good example would be derivatives of open source projects. According to the Linux Weekly News, Debian and the Mozilla Foundation were in conflict over the freedom to modify Firefox. Ironically, Mozilla Firefox is an open source project that is freely modifiable. However, the Mozilla Foundation wishes to maintain its brand integrity by requiring the Mozilla logos to be used only in ways they dictate. This is in conflict with the foundations of freedom of open source. At the same time, Debian is rebranding Mozilla Firefox to be called Iceweasel to avoid this problem. However, this can confuse, and potential alienate users that are looking for Mozilla Firefox on their computer.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Anderson Ashby Lecture, or why to be alert on wikipedia
The Anderson Ashby Lecture on April 12th presented some concerns that impact the Internet community. The lecture focused on the open ended encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows for anonymous entries on anything. The CEO of Wikipedia has defended the rights of anonymity of posters. At the same time the speaker has been attacked numerous times by libelous comments about quite objectionable acts. The only recourse that is currently allowed is to delete the material, but it remains in historical archives, and be reinserted again. I disagree with removing anonymity from sites like Wikipedia. Instead I would think a democratic way to preserve freedom would be for a mechanism for the person who is the subject of an entry to identify themselves to Wikipedia's governance and be given access to a portion of the title of the article in which they could mention that this article has been sabotaged and contains erroneous information. This would still allow anything to be posted, but a potential reader would be alerted to the nature of the irregularities in Wikipedia. This type of system is already in place in open source projects, where build team managers monitor code submissions. They also have the ability of maintaining several different versions of the code. This helps to keep viruses and other destructive activities from harming the users of the open source software.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Installing Google Earth
As a geographer Google Earth is an interesting little program to look at globe with. The program is quite easily installed. Drivers for the display to work correctly are important, as it is an intensive program. Sometimes extraneous lines will show up if the display driver is outdated. Updating it will usually resolve most of the display problems.
My Ubuntu setup was fairly generic so that it could work with most computers. However, the display driver was not exactly configured, which meant that every time I launch Google Earth, I was sent back to the login screen. I was able to download the drivers and then used the text interface I described in a recent post. The ability to post into a completely text based environment allows me to update the graphics drivers. This is not possible to do while logged into a graphics environment. After doing this, Google Earth is working great!
My Ubuntu setup was fairly generic so that it could work with most computers. However, the display driver was not exactly configured, which meant that every time I launch Google Earth, I was sent back to the login screen. I was able to download the drivers and then used the text interface I described in a recent post. The ability to post into a completely text based environment allows me to update the graphics drivers. This is not possible to do while logged into a graphics environment. After doing this, Google Earth is working great!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Economic Incentives
I was thinking about the way economic incentives work and a potential contradiction emerges with open source. Economics tells us that innovations are done for monetary or other economic gain. This does not necessarily occur with open source, as the innovations must be kept open for other people to use as they wish. There is the idea of public goodwill, in which offering ideas freely to each other does create value indirectly. This is quite confusing to understand at this time because it would appear that the open source community follows an economic activity model very different from capitalism or socialism.
If this contradiction were true, open source would be a very small movement that would not garner significant attention in society. Alas, this is not the case, as most of the Internet incorporates some open source software. Large corporations are adopting Linux as well. Clearly there are new laws of production at work here that are difficult to grasp.
If this contradiction were true, open source would be a very small movement that would not garner significant attention in society. Alas, this is not the case, as most of the Internet incorporates some open source software. Large corporations are adopting Linux as well. Clearly there are new laws of production at work here that are difficult to grasp.
Vista growing pains concerns
Windows Vista, the newest offering from Microsoft has several problems. I experienced extensive driver problems with Windows Vista when it first came out. These problems have been fixed for the most part after a few weeks. The hardware vendors had to come out with major driver updates for their products to work correctly with Vista. Hopefully with Windows 7 coming out more rapidly there will not be such a large gulf between programming APIs.
Ubuntu for humanity
Ubuntu (made in South Africa: backed by Nelson Mandella) is the most popular linux distribution, or flavor today. It is based off a fork of the Debian Project. The Debian Project has a strict policy dictating that all of its software be free of proprietary licenses. The Debian distribution has a wide variety of software available, but it is not that easy for an end user to setup. Ubuntu is a prearranged series of Debian packages that make up an operating system. It can be customized and extended if desired. Ubuntu is produced by Cannonical Corporation. They intend for Ubuntu to be free for humanity. Ubuntu refers towards humanity towards others.
Kristian Bredemeyer
Kristian Bredemeyer
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Ubuntu and bookstores
Today, I had the realization that the Barnes and Nobles/Borders model of allowing for free book browsing (while you sip coffee or eat snacks in the store) is a brick and mortar example of openness freedoms. The new paradigm is for bookstores to allow for books to be removed from the plastic so that readers can enjoy reading the book in the store. Twenty years ago, requests to be able to read books in a store would probably have been met with, we sell books here; if you want to browse go to a library.
The Geography of Free
Kris Bredemeyer, Lisa Jordan, John Fradel
Florida State University, Department of Geography
Abstract
Preamble
This is under GNU public license. This has to stay in open document format, see http://creativecommons.org/license/ for more information.
Introduction
Free Distribution of Information
Free software foundation 1985 (http://www.fsf.org/) started concept of free software. Free software refers to the liberty to use software in any desired manner, rather than it not having a cost. Thus free software may be freely copied and disseminated. However, individuals may charge a fee to provide you with free software. (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html)
Four freedoms
1. Freedom to run the program for any purpose.
2. Freedom to study how the program works and adapt it.
3. Freedom to disseminate copies of the program.
4. Freedom to improve the program and release these improvements to the public.
Freeware versus open source (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/categories.html)
Open Source Software
Open source software allows the user to use the program in any way they want to as long as it continues to be available as open source software. As open source software allows for anyone to modify the source code, the source code has to be publicly available. The source code may be embedded in the program files itself, or it may be located on a public web server.
There are a variety of different types of open source licenses. According to (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/), the most common open source license is the GNU Public License (GPL). GNU stands for GNU is not Unix. This nomenclature is used because the original free software programs were attempts to recreate a free Unix operating system. The second most common open source license is the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). The difference between these licenses is that the GPL does not allow the program to be used in proprietary programs, while the LGPL allows for the program to be used in proprietary programs.
Examples of Open Source Software
Firefox is a free cross-platform web browser. Firefox is derived from the open sourced Netscape code. However, the software has been totally rewritten and is licensed under the GPL, LGPL, and a legacy Mozilla Public License. The Mozilla Public License was created when Netscape created the Mozilla project, but it was found to not be compatible with the GPL or LGPL, which is why Mozilla is now using the GPL and LGPL.
Open Source GIS in particular
ESRI is the most popular GIS in industry, and there is an incentive for GIS training to be done using ESRI products. In reaction to ESRI's high cost of GIS software there have been some open source GIS products developed.
Map Window
U-Dig
QGIS
GRASS
Dollar Breakfast Buffet and Book Bags
Cost to enter the buffet, but once inside no concept of price. There is an incentive to take as much as possible to obtain the highest value. Thus a fixed entrance price could result in a small value if only a little is eaten, while extra free value is obtained if a large amount is eaten, and additional food is taken home.
Barriers to “The Free”
Attempts to privatize public space decrease accessibility to freedom of expression of ideas. According to McLeod's Freedom of Expression (p. 227), the mallization of society has resulted in private places replacing public places for many everyday activities. These private places do not have to afford the first amendment rights to peacefully assemble, demonstrate, and express free speech. McLeod (p. 229) also describes the use of free speech zones in public areas. Free speech zones allow for law enforcement to suspend rights of assembly and speech in most areas, leaving only a small area for free speech. In addition these free speech zones are often under intense police scrutiny.
Information can be tracked by governments as well as private companies without public disclosure (McLeod p. 245-246). Trying to freely access these databases may result in conviction of a felony of violating the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This copyright act requires Internet service provides to immediately remove any copyrighted material or face litigation. A similar, but less draconian copyright act was passed in Europe in 2001. The European copyright act does not require Internet service providers to immediately remove copyrighted material or face litigation.
Fear of the Future
Online dissemination of information results in lower barriers to accessing information. These new possibilities, such as totally online journals are not respected by many in academia due to a combination of fear of change in the future, and a lack of familiarity with online journals.
Openness is Counterintuitive, e.g. Free is inferior, “there's a catch,” “no such thing as a
free lunch,” nobody else uses it, it won't work with existing standards (i.e. File
extensions, incompatibility), using open source/open access is a way of legitimizing
theft because we expect to pay for products
Conclusions
Kris Bredemeyer, Lisa Jordan, John Fradel
Florida State University, Department of Geography
Abstract
Preamble
This is under GNU public license. This has to stay in open document format, see http://creativecommons.org/license/ for more information.
Introduction
Free Distribution of Information
Free software foundation 1985 (http://www.fsf.org/) started concept of free software. Free software refers to the liberty to use software in any desired manner, rather than it not having a cost. Thus free software may be freely copied and disseminated. However, individuals may charge a fee to provide you with free software. (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/free-sw.html)
Four freedoms
1. Freedom to run the program for any purpose.
2. Freedom to study how the program works and adapt it.
3. Freedom to disseminate copies of the program.
4. Freedom to improve the program and release these improvements to the public.
Freeware versus open source (http://www.fsf.org/licensing/essays/categories.html)
Open Source Software
Open source software allows the user to use the program in any way they want to as long as it continues to be available as open source software. As open source software allows for anyone to modify the source code, the source code has to be publicly available. The source code may be embedded in the program files itself, or it may be located on a public web server.
There are a variety of different types of open source licenses. According to (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/), the most common open source license is the GNU Public License (GPL). GNU stands for GNU is not Unix. This nomenclature is used because the original free software programs were attempts to recreate a free Unix operating system. The second most common open source license is the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). The difference between these licenses is that the GPL does not allow the program to be used in proprietary programs, while the LGPL allows for the program to be used in proprietary programs.
Examples of Open Source Software
Firefox is a free cross-platform web browser. Firefox is derived from the open sourced Netscape code. However, the software has been totally rewritten and is licensed under the GPL, LGPL, and a legacy Mozilla Public License. The Mozilla Public License was created when Netscape created the Mozilla project, but it was found to not be compatible with the GPL or LGPL, which is why Mozilla is now using the GPL and LGPL.
Open Source GIS in particular
ESRI is the most popular GIS in industry, and there is an incentive for GIS training to be done using ESRI products. In reaction to ESRI's high cost of GIS software there have been some open source GIS products developed.
Map Window
U-Dig
QGIS
GRASS
Dollar Breakfast Buffet and Book Bags
Cost to enter the buffet, but once inside no concept of price. There is an incentive to take as much as possible to obtain the highest value. Thus a fixed entrance price could result in a small value if only a little is eaten, while extra free value is obtained if a large amount is eaten, and additional food is taken home.
Barriers to “The Free”
Attempts to privatize public space decrease accessibility to freedom of expression of ideas. According to McLeod's Freedom of Expression (p. 227), the mallization of society has resulted in private places replacing public places for many everyday activities. These private places do not have to afford the first amendment rights to peacefully assemble, demonstrate, and express free speech. McLeod (p. 229) also describes the use of free speech zones in public areas. Free speech zones allow for law enforcement to suspend rights of assembly and speech in most areas, leaving only a small area for free speech. In addition these free speech zones are often under intense police scrutiny.
Information can be tracked by governments as well as private companies without public disclosure (McLeod p. 245-246). Trying to freely access these databases may result in conviction of a felony of violating the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This copyright act requires Internet service provides to immediately remove any copyrighted material or face litigation. A similar, but less draconian copyright act was passed in Europe in 2001. The European copyright act does not require Internet service providers to immediately remove copyrighted material or face litigation.
Fear of the Future
Online dissemination of information results in lower barriers to accessing information. These new possibilities, such as totally online journals are not respected by many in academia due to a combination of fear of change in the future, and a lack of familiarity with online journals.
Openness is Counterintuitive, e.g. Free is inferior, “there's a catch,” “no such thing as a
free lunch,” nobody else uses it, it won't work with existing standards (i.e. File
extensions, incompatibility), using open source/open access is a way of legitimizing
theft because we expect to pay for products
Conclusions
Abstract from last week
Text from my abstract for the 1st year report to the department.
I am currently most interested in the geography of freedom. This can be represented by the diffusion of open source throughout the world wide web. This topic would also lend itself to a visualization type approach, such as mapping the uptake and social impacts of open source software. I would also be able to look into some of the differences in a continuum from non-disclosure agreements, to standard closed source licenses, to more copy left licenses, such as the GPL or public domain licenses. This topic would also lend itself to some economic analysis of changing flows of capital stemming from information spreading electronically. This could include the role of open online archives and libraries, such as the Project Gutenberg movement. Looking at current academic journal online publishing movements would be relevant as well. There is some scholarly research that exists on freedoms and diffusion of ideas. A large amount of the open source and open knowledge literature exists in non-standard channels to promote freedom of exchange. These are usually of high quality, but there are significant barriers towards using these media for presenting scientific ideas, as they are not formally accepted on the ISI listings.
I am currently most interested in the geography of freedom. This can be represented by the diffusion of open source throughout the world wide web. This topic would also lend itself to a visualization type approach, such as mapping the uptake and social impacts of open source software. I would also be able to look into some of the differences in a continuum from non-disclosure agreements, to standard closed source licenses, to more copy left licenses, such as the GPL or public domain licenses. This topic would also lend itself to some economic analysis of changing flows of capital stemming from information spreading electronically. This could include the role of open online archives and libraries, such as the Project Gutenberg movement. Looking at current academic journal online publishing movements would be relevant as well. There is some scholarly research that exists on freedoms and diffusion of ideas. A large amount of the open source and open knowledge literature exists in non-standard channels to promote freedom of exchange. These are usually of high quality, but there are significant barriers towards using these media for presenting scientific ideas, as they are not formally accepted on the ISI listings.
I have been collecting and reading literature on this topic for quite a while. I was initially involved open source when I became a volunteer Mozilla quality assurance member in 2002. This was an introduction to how the open source community functioned, by each member contributing their skills and knowledge to the whole community. This functions as an alternative economic system to the traditional capitalist or socialist model. Political geography could play a role in explaining the open source dissemination of information.
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