Go Straight to The Source

Before embarking on an investigation of open source software, I have a confession to make. Before today, I had no idea what open source software was. To be completely honest, I would very possibly have selected the term in my vocabulary and dropped it in to the ‘nerdy things you don’t need to know about’ section. Having said this, I do remember my grade eleven Information Technology teacher animatedly explaining something to do with ‘open’ and ‘sauce’, and I guess I was too busy thinking about lunch to pay attention. Now, however, my understanding has matured, and I understand that open source doesn’t refer to what I may put on a sausage roll before consuming it.

Bruns (2008, p37) identifies that “[o]pen source software development provides one of the earliest present-day examples for produsage in action”. However, before considering the value of open source software as a medium of produsage, we must clarify what open source software actually is. In order to do this, I refer to the predicament we face when using the term ‘product’, as outlined by Bruns (2008). Traditionally produced commodities are developed by a producer, who then passes the finished product to a distributor, who finally sells to a consumer. As the notion of produsage outlines, these roles are now blurred, with users or consumers of content having the opportunity to continuously contribute to and extend media ‘products’.

Having delineated produsage from production, further discussed in a previous blog entry, it is now necessary to identify open source software not as products, but as blueprints for produsers to develop through accessing the source code for the software. That is, open source software is named so due to its source being open. This allows consumers a ‘hands on’ approach, rather than a fruitless system where feedback on products is very rarely acted upon promptly. Bruns (2008) explains that the ‘reputational benefits’ that come from sharing information and developments far outweigh any commercial dividends which may present themselves had the information been kept closed. Thus, this ‘new’ system of computer-mediated communication appears to be beneficial to both producers, developers, consumers and produsers alike. I use the term ‘new’ loosely, due to my new found understanding of the role that open source software plays in the ways the internet is employed by people to communicate. As Bruns (2008) reveals, “… few users of the Web are likely to be even remotely aware of the extent to which their … communication is made possible by open source software technologies.” I can safely say that I was certainly not included in the few until this blog entry.

Although I have understood the general idea of open source software, I admittedly struggled to find the relevance of open source software to my future career or my personal interests. Therefore, in order to draw my own conclusions on this topic, I relate the intention behind open source software to magazine production. That is, most magazines dedicate a section to ‘letters to the editor’ or feedback of some sort. This allows me to ponder the impact an open source system may have on a reader’s enjoyment of a magazine. In a digital format, a reader could shape the magazine around their own specific and individual interests… A bridge I’m sure I will cross when I come to it.