Proposal Sketch for an Open Source Concentration
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Computer Science | Computer Science | ||
Art | Art | ||
| - | Journalism | + | Journalism and Mass Communication |
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Revision as of 20:04, 5 September 2008
(starting from Brad's Informatics template -- thanks Brad)
Contents |
Introduction to Open Source/Open Culture
Many of us in SILS make use of open source technologies (such as Firefox and OpenOffice), make our work products available under open source licenses (such as GPL and Creative Commons), publish in open access journals (such as PLoS journals), and favor open access to information. There is a growing movement towards open source and open access in science communities. One of the world's most successful open source companies is our neighbor (Red Hat), and other companies with strong interest in open source hire our graduates (including IBM, Cisco, Lulu, and others). We utilize software and services built by virtual teams, reaping the benefits of open methodologies of design and contribution. Many of us use and even contribute to this open source ecosystem (for example, ibiblio and the Open Video Project). In 2010, the theme for the Triangle-hosted World Wide Web Conference will be Open Source, Open Access, Open Formats.
Beginning this past summer, the SILS community began a serious discussion on how we, as a school, can make a coherent place in our teaching, research, and service for the way of open source and open culture.
To develop our ideas for a concentration in open source and open culture, we held several SILS community meetings.
See also:
"Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software" by Christopher M. Kelty (2008, Duke University Press)
"The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary" by Eric S. Raymond (2001, O'Reilly)
"Producing Open Source Software: How to Run a Successful Free Software Project" by Karl Fogel (2005, O'Reilly)
"Open Source for the Enterprise: Managing Risks, Reaping Rewards" by Dan Woods and Gautam Guliani (2005, O'Reilly)
"Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution (O'Reilly Open Source)" by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman, Mark Stone, and Brian Behlendorf (1999, O'Reilly)
"The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship" by John Willinsky (2006, MIT Press) -Pmedward
"Scholarship in the Digital Age: Information, Infrastructure, and the Internet" by Christine L. Borgman (2007, MIT Press) -Pmedward
"Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity" by Lawrence Lessig (2004, Penguin) -Pmedward
Esanu, J. M. & Uhlir, P. F., Eds. (2003). The Role of Scientific and Technical Data and Information in the Public Domain: Proceedings of a Symposium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.
Overview
The development of a concentration in Open Source/Open Culture Concentration at UNC-CH is being planned in three phases:
Planning Phase
1-2 year period that encompasses:
- Series of meetings of SILS community to determine interest (two such meetings already held) Meeting notes and more here
- Development of the program definition
- Discussion among the participating academic units, and coordination and agreement to a final plan by all parties
- Submission of the plan to the graduate school and ultimately approval by the graduate school
Initial Phase
- Commitments made by the University and the involved academic departments are realized. Hiring for faculty and staff positions.
- First program of the Open Source/Open Culture Concentration is begun
- Recruitment of initial student class.
Expansion Phase
Upon success of the initial program, we will build on existing infrastructure to construct a full Open Source/Open Culture certificate which will support a broad range of interests, research areas, and career opportunities.
Program
Audience: Those entering the program seeking undergraduate degrees in BSIS or similar, and those who are seeking seeking professional and practical experience in open source, open content, and open formats with aims to enter the job market after completing a Masters in Information and Library Science.
Initial Goals
- Certificate of Open Source/Open Culture Concentration
Longer Term Goals
- General Open Source/Open Culture Program supporting BS, MS, and Certificates in that area.
Resources Required
Support Requested from Campus
Full Version (Certificate at all levels)
- 3 additional faculty lines (2 SILS and 1 to be shared as appropriate). While there are already faculty in these academic units interested and involved in Open Source/Open Culture and many SILS faculty have intregrated Open Source and Open Culture into our teaching and research (see planning meeting notes), a successful program will require dedicated faculty positions who will teach, advise, and research in these areas within each of the academic units listed.
- .5 FTE Administrative Assistant Staff Support (who will handle recruiting, student services and supervision, program support, alumni, job placement, internships, corporate relations)
- 1 FTE Staff IT support personnel to be shared and administered by ibiblio (who will handle support of information technology required to support the research, teaching, service and communication needs of the Open Source/Open Culture program).
In Kind support provided by participating departments:
SILS
- Faculty Support (Teaching, Advising, Research)
- 25% SILS/JOMC faculty member (Jones)
- 25% SILS faculty member (?????)
- 50% Research Faculty FTE
- Program director (shared among SILS faculty)
- House program
- House students
- Teach majority of courses
External Support
We will solicit grant and gift funding to help fund research assistants. To be successful we will need initial startup funding for 5 GRA fellowships to attract top quality students to the UNC Open Source/Open Culture program. This needs to be provided by the University.
(Would the NSF's IGERT program be able to support this?: http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/igert/intro.jsp -Pmedward. Good question. I donno enough about it to say - --Pjones 02:40, 5 September 2008 (UTC).
I wonder if the proposed program could be spun as an element of cyberinfrastructure development, if that would get it on the radar of the NSF program officers. -Pmedward) Yes, good idea: reports out of the NSF cyberinf directorate emphasize open access & open data. Jpom 19:37, 5 September 2008 (UTC)
Other NSF Lines to check out:
Participants
UNC
School of Public Health Cultural Studies Communication Studies Institute for Arts and Humanities Computer Science Art Journalism and Mass Communication School of Law
Other Universities:
We will expand to coordinate and codevelop this program with other triangle universities as they are interested. We have already had initial discussions with Duke. This would occur as part of the expansion phase after we had established a successful UNC program.
Duke - Information Studies/Information Sciences and HASTAC NCSU - VCI (Virtual Computing Initiative) NCCU - School of Library Science
Corporate
Red Hat IBM Cisco OpenNMS Lulu OCLC Research Mindtouch Google
Other Organizations
Open Source Initiative Internet Archive Creative Commons Berkman Center (of Harvard) Apache Foundation World Wide Web Consortium (aka W3C)
Comparable Institutions and Programs
The schools of information and library science at Washington, Illinois, Michigan, Syracuse, Berkeley, UCLA, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, Texas, Indiana and Drexel were surveyed. The schools offer a number of concentrations and certificate programs, with Information Tools and Assurance, Management of Information, Digital Libraries, and School/Media Libraries emerging as common themes. No school directly addresses Open Source in its degree or certificate programs, though some Management of Information programs may address open source tools and methods. Of the iSchools, Syracuse seems to have demonstrated a focus on FLOSS and the dynamics of Open Source development. This thread of research seems to focus on distributed teams and virtual work.
