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Where is the open

in DH?

Paige Morgan | University of Miami | @paigecmorgan

(See notes for brief commentary approximating this short & informal talk!)

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“but this means GitHub won’t be free anymore…”

“Microsoft doesn’t have an open-source ethos like GitHub does...”

“...people in DH who like open-source don’t like Microsoft.”

“We need to build an open GitHub replacement.”

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Open source software

!=

Free software movement

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Open source software requirements

  • Substantial ongoing labor
  • Dedicated technical infrastructure and institutional investment
  • Widespread community participation, as well as interest

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Perceptions of “open”

  • a development methodology
  • a corporate ethos
  • a political identity
  • an economic choice

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Two groups can agree on rules of exchange even if they ascribe utterly different significance to the objects being exchanged; they may even disagree on the meaning of the exchange process itself. Nonetheless, the trading partners can hammer out a local coordination, despite vast global differences.

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Peter Galison’s trading zone:

Galison, Image & logic: A material culture of microphysics, 1997

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Understanding how our institutions can & will participate in the trading zone of “open” is key.

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Privilege lowers the stakes of choices around openness.

We need more education to make better decisions.

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THANKS!

Any questions?

(Thanks also to SlidesCarnival for the use of the Mowbray template.)

Paige Morgan | @paigecmorgan | p.morgan@miami.edu

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