Text Document Action Plan

or “Business Plan”

for Free Culture Vassar College.

The discussion will open with a brief introduction by Mr. Horst of the philosophy of Free/Libre/Open Source Software, and what he sees as the potential role of FLOSS applications such as OpenOffice.org in an educational environment such as Vassar. This introduction will be followed by a conversation open to anyone who wishes to participate, with the goal of exploring where we see the role and benefits of FLOSS at Vassar. We hope to stimulate a discussion of this software with respect to what benefits it has to offer students and faculty, and what types of technical support resources it would require.

Ongoing Goal: Migrate the Vassar College student body to OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice/J from Microsoft Office or another package.

Free Culture

Free Culture is an umbrella term, a meta-description derived from the term “Free Software,” to include artistic works and intellectual property of all types.

Free Software arrived first, growing out of computer hacker culture which itself has roots in 1960s counterculture (Steve Jobs spent time at an ashram in India before co-founding Apple). OSS's success has helped launch Free Culture, which is simply an adaptation to the open source sharing paradigm to new fields of creativity. Creative Commons (“some rights reserved”) is the most common license for free culture including music, books, film and art. CC has reached prominence very quickly, learning from OSS to speed its expansion and avoid making any of the same mistakes twice.

Free Software (aka, Open Source or Software Libre, sometimes all concatenated to the acronym “FLOSS”). Richard Stallman, Eric Raymond, others, founders.

Other IP, usually within the spectrum of Creative Commons licenses. Lawrence Lessig, founder.

Gilberto Gil licensed some of his famous Brazilian songs under CC licenses and they were included on a CD with Wired Magazine. His influence spread (this is how I first heard his music), and that leads to increased sales (Tracey's interest in purchasing his CDs).

Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopedia. (And source of my Iaido images).

Both FLOSS and Free Culture are, in part, the natural consequence of the internet. When the cost of global collaboration and dissemination became almost zero, a new methodology inevitably emerged. Technology has done this before (think of the phonograph and record), so why do agencies like the RIAA and MPAA go totally berserk over it? (That's a rhetorical question, I don't know the answer for sure.) A new CC tagline pokes fun of this, reading “Your failed business model is not my problem.”

General Introduction to Open Source

Open source software project development is a meritocracy—a marketplace of ideas and action where respect comes from doing.

FLOSS is active. Even if all you do is use it, you are helping create and spread it. Through “network effects” each additional user makes the collection of FLOSS more valuable for all users. The fax machine example. Because of the power of collaboration over a network.

Responsibility is shared. You are not just a consumer of a product, you are a partner in its ongoing evolution. If something is wrong, you can fix it or report it to someone who will. There is no intermediary.

OSS has grown to dominate several markets. This trend will continue to accelerate for a long time to come.

Apache webserver has about 70% marketshare.

MySQL, the most popular database on the planet.

PHP is the world's most-used scripting/programming language.

Linux is just beginning on the desktop, but is dominant for webservers and continues to grow more quickly than any other server platform for all server tasks.

Firefox is doing the impossible: taking marketshare from an entrenched Microsoft product. Most believed this could not ever happen. It has logged 45 million downloads.

OpenOffice.org is possibly the most important FLOSS project in the world right now.

OpenDocument XML file formats are key to an open future for data. Imagine what the web would be today without vendor-neutral graphics file formats like JPEG, GIF, and PNG. Or worse, without HTML. OpenDocument was pioneered by OpenOffice but is now used by KOffice and can be read by AbiWord or anyone else who makes the effort.

Why are developing countries, the EU, and Japan converting to OSS right now? To keep money in their local economies and to encourage the growth of local software industries. OpenOffice replaces one of the most expensive and common software programs for free, so it alone has a multi-million dollar impact on an economy the size of Vassar's. (Each class of students spends about $75,000 if they all purchase MSO at its academic price of $150. That money could go to local businesses instead.)

The role of the University

The academic spirit of sharing knowledge and the results of intellectual investigation, as practiced in the university, is fundamentally identical to the spirit of open source software development and dissemination.

Open Source and universities are a natural fit. The collaboration, sharing and further dissemination of intellectual property (or “knowledge”) are of key concern to both. Many universities play significant roles in ongoing open source projects, and the founder of Free Software, Richard Stallman, is employed fulltime by MIT. (Ironically, in a building wing named after Bill Gates.)

Academics value ideas above all. They are glad to share the results of their labors, assuming they are remembered for their contributions. Rarely do academics seek to jealously monopolize all the income their ideas can generate.

Many colleges and universities have committed to using open source on the visible side of their IT infrastructure. (Almost all use it on the backend.) Their employees and students use it every day.

University of Oregon Corvallis

University of the Philippines

Bacone College in Oklahoma

The biggest thing anyone here can do to support Free Software and Free Culture is to get OpenOffice “across the chasm” at Vassar College.

Universities are the vital early adopters of Gladwell's Tipping Point theory. A mass migration among universities will provide the momentum for OpenOffice to cross the chasm in society at large.

The Tipping Point. Crossing the Chasm.

“The Tipping Point,” by Malcolm Gladwell. Investigates how the right mix of mavens, connectors and salespeople can shift the behavior of the masses, though they are but a small minority.

Crossing the Chasm, discussed by Gladwell and a book of its own, describes the cultural shift required for an idea to spread from a small group of elite or specialized people to the proverbial “Joe Sixpack.” This is the very point at which OpenOffice finds itself today. All the geeks know about it and most of them use it. But non-geeks have rarely heard of it and are afraid to try it without the support of their peers (or the close help of their geek advisers). Crossing the chasm to achieve mainstream acceptance and ubiquity is a unique challenge and will be different in every situation. And we are not doing so without opposition.

Free Culture Vassar College

The following is a plan of action to bring greater knowledge and use of open source software to this campus. With belt tightening happening everywhere, great interest in keeping money in the local economy, and the political ramifications of not using FLOSS, now is the time to make this change.

An ongoing organization is required—Free Culture Vassar College (FCVC).

Networking and outside resources required—Free Culture Swarthmore, B. Horst, faculty members.

Faculty 'champions': speak to your professors after class or at office hours. Give them an information sheet (which we'll develop) and collect interested faculty members' help.

Other campus organizations have common interests. Find them and coordinate activity. Groups that support local economies, groups that oppose too much corporate control of the national culture, groups that support individual rights and economic justice, etc.

Some money required—To provide free CDs to Vassar students and purchase Miscellany News advertisements.

CDs can be sold for a nominal fee: $2, still enough to raise funds.

As a recognized club, money from the College would be available.

Request donations from alums, particularly in technical fields.

Lots of time and energy must be expended.

Web collaboration system required: a group blog, information and news aggregation site. (More details in a few moments.)

Collect email addresses of attendees.

Raise Awareness

According to CIS, student demand must come first, before they will consider supporting action.

Students have the power on campus. A steady sustained campaign will succeed.

New students are key. Get them to download OpenOffice before purchasing a competing program in the fall. OpenOffice is the door opener to FLOSS on the desktop.

Make noise on campus and keep it going (editorials, flyers, College Center booths, email, dorm visits).

Talk with your professors. Many are unaware of open source but would support it. Create a pamphlet for them. Ask them to act as FCVC advisers or liasons with the College.

Formally request OpenOffice training from CIS. When it happens, help publicize it, and show up!

ACDC 'table tents.' Mini-brochures describing OpenOffice to students.

A series of talks on open source. General interest talks, technical discussions.

Weekend workshops: bring people from FC Swarthmore and others to discuss their activities. Go to their campuses to meet with them.

Write an article or an editorial for the Miscellany News or another campus publication. Get something published on campus every month.

Collaborate and coordinate online (ask Media Cloisters to help launch FCVC website using some web CMS or blog. Start with VassarChat.com for now.)

Direct Action

Direct action required, to build momentum and sway the fence-sitters.

Door-to-door dorm installs were practiced by FC Swarthmore for Firefox. With OpenOffice, students are extremely unlikely to switch back once they've begun using it.

College Center table: free CDs (The OpenCD) and 'bring your laptop' for a free OpenOffice and Firefox installation.

Free CD mailed on campus to anyone who requests one via email.

Take appointments to visit a student's room and install OpenOffice for him or her.

Convince Residential Life to send OpenOffice installation CDs to incoming students in their welcome packets.

Road Show: Visit other student groups at their meetings. Present OpenOffice and give them flyers and CDs, and help them install the software. Focus on groups with shared interests (political, economic, public service).

Benjamin Horst

2005-04-11T17:35:54