building free software society - computer scienceram/pubs/morelli-trinity-avdavis.pdf · slide: 2...

Building Free Softwarefor

Society

Ralph Morelli and the HFOSS Summer InternsTrinity College

[email protected] 10, 2008

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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 UnitedStates License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/

Slide: 2 The Humanitarian-FOSS Project © 2007 Trinity College June 9, 08

Free & open source softwareand …

you! you!


Who is this?

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge.”


Jimmy (Jimbo) Wales invented…

WardCunningham

Inventor of Wikisoftware

Sharing what weKnow for free.


What do these have in common?

Blue Poison Dart Frog(Dendrobates azureus)


Free and Open SourceBittorrent Software

Invented by …

Bram Cohen

Sharing our bandwidthand disk space for free.


What did this guy create?

Hint!


Linus Torvald created…

LINUXthe kernel of the free and open source

GNU/LINUXoperating system

chief rival of…

23% server market

67% server market


What did this guy invent?


Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented…

“The challenge is to manage the Web in an

open way----not too much bureaucracy,

not subject to political or commercial pressures.”


What are these?

BillGates

BlakeRoss

Free and Open Closed and proprietary


Do YOU…

• Use good quality FOSS every day?

• Like the freedom and openness of the Internet?

• Think that Internet content should remain free?

• Share stuff with your friends for free?

• Believe that FOSS is good for society?

• Do you KNOW who started the free softwaremovement…?


Richard Stallman

GNU/Linux


What is FOSSfree and open source software

?


Stallman: Free software is…

• Freedom to run the program.

• Freedom to study how the program works.

• Freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your

neighbor.

• Freedom to improve the program, and release your

improvements to the public, so that the whole community

benefits.

“ ‘Free’ as in ‘free speech’ not as in ‘free beer’… a matter of liberty, not price.”


OSI: Open source software is …

• A software development process that emphasizes

peer review and transparency.

• Software that may be freely distributed.

• Distribution must include source code.

• License must permit derived works.

• Licenses may not discriminate against persons,

groups, platforms, endeavors, or products.

• Source: Open Source Initiative (OSI)


Successful Open Source Projects

GNU/Linux Mozilla Firefox

ApacheMySQL

CompaniesSupportingFOSS


Growth of Open Source Projects• Sourceforge.net -- the largest open source repository.


FOSS Values

• “GNU …good system software [for everyone]… free, just like air.”

(Stallman, The GNU Manifesto)

• “Linux is a free … operating system originally created … with the

assistance of developers around the world.”

• “Mozilla is … a global community and public benefit

organization dedicated to improving the Internet experience for

people everywhere. We work in the open through a highly

disciplined, transparent and cooperative process…”

• “Apache projects are characterized by a collaborative,

consensus based development process… We consider ourselves …

a community of developers and users.”


Humanitarian FOSSGlobal and Local


Sahana - Disaster Management

• Web-based information system developed after the

2004 Asian Tsunami.

• Deployments: Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Peru,

and China.

• Free Software Award for Social Benefit (2007)

• Trinity: Trishan de Lanerolle, CS ‘04.

• Summer 08: Antonio Alcorn (UConn), Dimitar Gochev

(Trinity), Eli Fox Epstein (Wesleyan), James Jackson

(Conn College).

www.sahana.lk

Sahana means relief in Sinhalese


Our Volunteer Management Module


OpenMRS - Medical Record System

• Medical record system for developing countries.

• Deployed: Rwanda, Kenya, South Africa.

• Developed by Partners in Health and the Regenstrief

Institute.

• Supported by World Health Organization, Center for

Disease Control, and other health organizations.

• Trinity Connections: Christian Allen, CS, ‘00 and

Giovanni Capalbo, ‘08.

• Summer 08: Rachel Foecking and Vinit Agrawal

(Trinity)


Our Touchscreen Module


Ubuntu (Humanity towards others)

• Free, usable, easy-to-install GNU/Linux.

• “Our work is driven by a philosophy on

software freedom that aims to spread and

bring the benefits of software to all parts of the

world.”


• “Martus is a secure software applicationdesigned to gather, organize and back uphuman rights information. Launched in 2003,Martus is a free and open source technologytool that supports effective collaboration withinsocial justice organizations.”

• Greek for witness.

• By Benetech (technology serving humanity).


Ronald McDonald House


Literacy Volunteers of Greater Hartford

• Track tutoring applications.

• Team: Chris Fei (Trinity), Sarah Thayer

(Trinity), Myles Garvey (U Hartford), Ernel

Wint (Conn College).


InSTEDD Machine Learning Project

• Using machine learning algorithms to identify health

events from news reports, blogs, alert networks, and

other non-structured sources.

• Team: Juan Pablo Mendoza (Wesleyan), Qianqian Lin

(Wesleyan).


Portable Open Search Identification Tool

• Prasanna

Gautam

(Trinity).


Open Source Movement


Today: Openness Everywhere• “Software is just the beginning … open source is doing for mass

innovation what the assembly line did for mass production. Getready for the era when collaboration replaces the corporation.” -- Thomas Goetz, Wired, 11/2003


Common Theme• Commons-based peer production.

• Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law.

• Author of The Wealth of Networks: How Social ProductionTransforms Markets and Freedom.

• Available through a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License.

• “I think realistically we can see a large improvement inthe number of people who can effectively participate inthe production of information, knowledge, and culture.”

• Great 18 minute video on Open Source Economics.


Economic ImplicationsPick theopen one.

Center for Application ofMolecular Biology toInternational Agriculture

Public Library of Science


Political ImplicationsNewssources

Net neutrality

DigitalRightsManagement


Copyright vs.

Copyleft


The First US PatentCandle Making, Samuel Hopkins, Pittsford, VT, July 1790


The First CopyrightThe Statute of Queen Anne, April, 1710

• An Act for theEncouragement of Learning,by Vesting the Copies ofPrinted Books in the Authorsor Purchasers of suchCopies, during the Timestherein mentioned.

• Then: 14 years.• Now: Author’s life + 70 yrs.• Source: Karl-Erik Tallmo, The History

of Copyright,www.copyrighthistory.com


The U.S. Constitution

• Patent and copyright clause.

• Patents: Useful arts, inventions.

• Copyrights: Science, discoveries,writings, authors.

• Art. I, Sect. 8.8: Congress shallhave the power…

• “To promote the Progress of Scienceand useful Arts, by securing for limitedTimes to Authors and Inventors theexclusive Right to their respectiveWritings and Discoveries.”


Today: Open Licensing

GNU GPL


The Humanitarian FOSSProject


• Our initial motivation (inspired by ACM

President David Patterson)

• Let’s help our neighbors!

• Let’s join the open source movement!

• Our NSF Proposal

• Can these initiatives help revitalize

undergraduate computing education?


NSF/CPATH Grant

• Can H-FOSS Help Revitalize Undergraduate

Computing Education?

• Collaboration: Trinity, Conn, Wesleyan (TCW).

• Building open source software to help society.

• Two years: TCW video conference courses.

• Summer 2008/9: H-FOSS internships.

• Spring 2009: National academic workshop on

curriculum.


Building a Portable/SustainablePartnership

ComputingDepartments• Teach computing• Build FOSS• Gain skills and opportunities

IT Corporations• Host interns• Fund and advertise• Volunteer expertise• Recruit students

HumanitarianCommunity

• Acquire software.• Host interns• Teach volunteerism

The HumanitarianFOSS

Project


Looking Ahead: Community Building

Our Website: http://www.hfoss.org

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