Generally, open source refers to a computer program in which the source code is available to the general public for use or modification from its original design. Code is released under the terms of a software license. Depending on the license terms, others may then download, modify, and publish their version (fork) back to the community.
Some years ago, after a DrupalCon in the US, I received a direct message. It was kind of shocking and has been on my mind on and off ever since...
I’ve been thinking of giving Mastodon a try and created an account for myself.
As Twitter continues to self-destruct, I’ll move over more and more to Mastodon. And here is how:
I’m constantly amazed how happy the people I know in open source are willing to help out. I needed some open source people to each record a short interview where I asked them about their motivations for contributing to open source projects, what things in projects might be detractors and, finally, what they see as their reward.
Well, I put out a quick tweet asking if anyone might be able to take part and I had half a dozen volunteers in only a few minutes!
It has been interesting talking with colleagues about how we best record things like meetings in the project I’m now involved in, GovStack.
To encourage contribution, volunteer contributors, especially but not exclusively, need to feel that the decision making in the project is clear and open - there should never be a difficulty in finding how decisions were made.
Last night, along with thousands of other free software and open source community members, I signed the open letter calling for Richard Stallman, otherwise known as RMS, to step down from the Free Software Federation's board, and the rest of the board to also step down.
Thank you to Josh Simmons for bringing the letter to my, and many other people's, attention:
