Free Software Reading Group

This is the homepage for a reading group and course on free and open source software being offered by the Media, Arts and Sciences program during Fall 2008.

We will have six meetings this term. Information is subject to change but the current plan is:


 * 1) October 6, 6:00 PM - E15-443A: History and primary materials
 * 2) October 19, 1:00 PM - E15-001/"The Cube": Background and foundational readings
 * 3) November 3, 6:00 PM - E15-443A: Philosophical perspectives
 * 4) Novermber 17, 6:00 PM - E15-443A: Anthropological perspectives (Part 1)
 * 5) December 1, 6:00 PM - E15-443A: Economic/econometric perspectives
 * 6) December 15, 6:00 PM - E15-443A: Final Session

comment1,

base0.txt;32;32

Session 5: Economic/econometric perspectives
Benkler, Yochai. 2002. “Coase's Penguin, or, Linux and The Nature of the Firm.” Yale Law Journal 112:369. 

Ghosh, Rishab Aiyer. 1998. “Cooking Pot Markets: An Economic Model for the Trade in Free Goods and Services on the Internet.” First Monday 3. 

Lakhani, Karim, and B. Wolf. 2005. “Why Hackers Do What They Do: Understanding Motivation and Effort in Free/Open Source Software Projects.” Pp. 3-22 in Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software, edited by Joseph Feller, Brian Fitzgerald, Scott A. Hissam, and Karim R. Lakhani. MIT Press. <span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_id=urn%3Aisbn%3A0262062461%2C%209780262062466&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Abook&amp;rft.genre=bookitem&amp;rft.atitle=Why%20Hackers%20Do%20What%20They%20Do%3A%20Understanding%20Motivation%20and%20Effort%20in%20Free%2FOpen%20Source%20Software%20Projects&amp;rft.publisher=MIT%20Press&amp;rft.aufirst=Joseph&amp;rft.aulast=Feller&amp;rft.au=Joseph%20Feller&amp;rft.au=Brian%20Fitzgerald&amp;rft.au=Scott%20A.%20Hissam&amp;rft.au=Karim%20R.%20Lakhani&amp;rft.au=Karim%20Lakhani&amp;rft.au=B.%20Wolf&amp;rft.date=2005&amp;rft.pages=3-22&amp;rft.isbn=0262062461%2C%209780262062466">

Lakhani, Karim R., and Eric von Hippel. 2003. “How open source software works: "Free" user-to-user assistance.” Research Policy 32:923-943. <span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_id=info%3Adoi/10.1016/S0048-7333%2802%2900095-1&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.atitle=How%20open%20source%20software%20works%3A%20%22Free%22%20user-to-user%20assistance&amp;rft.jtitle=Research%20Policy&amp;rft.volume=32&amp;rft.issue=6&amp;rft.aufirst=Karim%20R.&amp;rft.aulast=Lakhani&amp;rft.au=Karim%20R.%20Lakhani&amp;rft.au=Eric%20von%20Hippel&amp;rft.date=2003-06&amp;rft.pages=923-943">

Lerner, Josh, and Jean Tirole. 2002. “Some Simple Economics of Open Source.” Journal of Industrial Economics 50:197-234. 

Riehle, Dirk. 2007. “The Economic Motivation of Open Source Software: Stakeholder Perspectives.” Computer 25-32. 

Session 6: Final Session
Coleman, Gabriella. 2004. “The Political Agnosticism of Free and Open Source Software and the Inadvertent Politics of Contrast.” Anthropological Quarterly 77:507-519. <span class="Z3988" title="url_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&amp;rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Ajournal&amp;rft.genre=article&amp;rft.atitle=The%20Political%20Agnosticism%20of%20Free%20and%20Open%20Source%20Software%20and%20the%20Inadvertent%20Politics%20of%20Contrast&amp;rft.jtitle=Anthropological%20Quarterly&amp;rft.volume=77&amp;rft.issue=3&amp;rft.aufirst=Gabriella.&amp;rft.aulast=Coleman&amp;rft.au=Gabriella.%20Coleman&amp;rft.date=2004&amp;rft.pages=507-519&amp;rft.issn=1534-1518">

Healy, Kieran, and Alan Schussman. 2003. “The Ecology of Open-Source Software Development.”

MacCormack, Alan D., John Rusnak, and Carliss Y. Baldwin. 2008. Exploring the Duality between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the Mirroring Hypothesis. Harvard Business School http://ideas.repec.org/p/hbs/wpaper/08-039.html (Accessed October 16, 2008). 

Also, please read these short reflections from this special issue of First Monday on the state of FOSS and of FOSS research over the last few years written by some prominent researchers (and me). It's written in 2005 but I think most of criticism and suggestions mostly apply:


 * The elephant and the blind men - Deciphering the Free/Libre/Open Source puzzle by Sandeep Krishnamurthy
 * Future research on FLOSS development by Kevin Crowston
 * Open Source software engineering: The state of research by Stefan Koch and Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona (Seems Broken)
 * The future of sociology of FLOSS by Yuwei Lin
 * Reflections on free software past and future by Benjamin Mako Hill
 * There's no such thing as free software (And it's a good thing, too) by David McGowen (Seems Broken)