Henry BriggsOpen Source Software

Diffusion and Integration of Technology in EducationEDUC-7101-1/EDUC-8841-1

Dr. David ThornburgWalden University

07/08/09, Version 9.0

Open Source Software

Open Source Software

Open Source Software

AbstractThe utilization of the computer and web

technology has given rise to many innovations in the educational community.

Richard Stallman:A Man With An Open Vision

Quote Accompanying Richard Stallman's software

“Share this code with your fellow users. Learn from it. Improve upon it. And when you're done, please give something back

to the community” (Kidd, 2000).

Linus TorvaldsAuthor of the Linux Kernel Operating System

Who, What, Who, What?

The business community adopted open source because of the monetary savings.

The education community was also an early adopter of open

source because of the savings and many applications that can be applied to other school departments.

The strategies that will be the most persuasive would be to point out the savings and the compatibility of the open source

products that can be used for instructional strategies

The laggards would be the traditionalist groups who areinherently are afraid of change.

Attributes: Which combination of perceived attributes would be best for helping your innovation meet critical mass in your industry?

Unrestricted distributionSource code distributionModificationsAuthor's source code integrity.No personal discriminationNo restriction on application License distributionLicense must not be product-specificNo restriction on other software - Technology neutrality

(Open Source Software in Education 2008)

Stage 1:NEED

Open Source Software:Adapted and Used by Older Hardware

A Variety of Software isAvailable for Many Uses and Users.

Free Open Source Code: The Keys Are Free To All

Stage 2:RESEARCH

Collaboration

Free Open Source Collaborative Tools

1. Access Grid; audio and video collaboration2. Citadel; collaboration suite3. OpenGroupware.org; software server for multiple clients4. Spicebird; personal information manager5. Audacity; audio recorder and editor6. Synfig; animation builder7. Cmap; concept mapping tool8.-A Plethora of other free open source applications that are used for collaboration.

Open Source Software is used throughout society; whether indoors or outdoors, mobile or home.

Stage 3:DEVELOPMENT

History of Open Source Software 1960's Bundled software with IBM 1970's Software became closed 1970's late – 1980's Stallman founded GNU project 1980's late 1st Open Source License BSD 1980's – 1990's early development continues 1991 – 1992 Net/2 complete operating system 1991-1992 final version Linux kernel; creation GNU/Linux 1993 386BSD developed into family of BSD 1990's late Acceptance of open source products 1998 Liberation of Netscape; Mozilla web browser officially launched

Development

-One of the diffusion studies positioned the thoughts

on the paper titled “Why Open Source Software / Free

Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the

Numbers!” By David A. Wheeler and uses quantitative

data to give reasons why institutions and individuals

may consider using Open Source Software.

Technological Improvements

Open Source Software has addressed many of the technological difficulties

of online learning. In this age of communication, the Open Source Software has enabled the world to

connect and collaborate, through the circulation of the software.

Open Source Software is compatible with most computer hardware and other applications

Stage 4:COMMERCIALIZATION

Commercialism

-The commercialism and marketing of the Open Source Software is simple

because there is minimal, if any chargefor the various software

downloads, modification or use.-In the educational community through

sharing information and various educational tools the increase of the software use

has become more wide spread.

Open Source Software is also used by the business community:

S-Curve of Linux Kernel -Free Open Source Operating System

29 million

1991 2001 early 2005 earlyLinux adopters majority

18 million

1st. User Linus Torvalds

Continues to diffuse in society

Benefits:

public collaboration behind each project.

“created by tens of thousands of programmers all

collaborating to create, and improve upon, a flawless

website framework” (Dynamic Website Development

and Design 2009).

others can modify the Open Source Software to suit

their individual person or group or school needs

Benefits Continued - 2:

-free open source code

-detect and change or delete the attacker program, where

as propriety software has hidden codes and spy-ware

maybe hidden in the code without the knowledge of users

and may require a fee by the proprietary vendor to rid the

system of the spy-ware (The Linux Information Project

2004).

Benefits Continued - 3:-can be used on older hardware and thereby this is beneficial to all and

especially to lower income individuals and others in third world countries who get

donations of older computers who can take advantage of these open source

software resources

-savings monetarily lets one invest in other educational endeavors

-allow teachers to expose students to a wide range of software products

-addresses security issues because its source code is open and available to

the users and if any “back-doors” or spy-ware is written into the program the

users will be able to detect and correct the problem.

Open Source Software (OSS)

Common and/or Successful OSS products:

Mozilla Foxfire, internet browserApache HTTP ServerInternet Protocol [IP], and internet address systemGNU/Linux operating system, Unix-like operating system

Open Source can be currently utilized bymany learners around the world.

Its use is expected to continue to expand.

Huli Wigmen of Papua, New Guinea using laptop computers.

Conclusion There are many organizations in the business and

educational communities that have adopted Open Source Software into their units. The monetary

savings and the collaborative nature of open source are appropriate for these tough financial times and the growing use of the internet to

produce, manage, and share knowledge across natural barriers and time constraints.

Open source is easy to access with many organizations such as the Thornburg Center

making open source software available to all. While the use of open source software is available to all; one must

adhere to the license that accompany the software.

ReferencesClipart retrieved from: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSE QuarterlyMagazineVolum/OpenSourceSoftwareinEducation/162873 on 6/25/09.Clipart, retrieved from; www.tcpd.org on 7/1/09Kidd, (2000). Richard Stallman's Software Quote. REMINDER: ADD REMAIDER OF REFERENCELakhan, S. E., Jhunihuwala, K. (2008). Open Source Software in Education; EDUCAUSE QUARTERLY. Vol. 31, no.2Celebrating 10 Years of Mozilla http://www-archive.mozilla.org/mozilla-ten-year.html Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of Innovations; Simon & Schuster, Inc., Free Press; New York, NY. Vandana Singh, Michael B. Twidale, David M. Nichols, "Users of Open Source Software - How Do They Get Help?," hicss, pp.1-10, 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 2009Wheeler, D. A. “Why Open Source Software / Free Software (OSS/FS, FLOSS, or FOSS)? Look at the Numbers! http://irm.stackworks.net/www.wikipedia.com