[TOS] Teaching the concept of Free Software

Karlie Robinson karlie_robinson at webpath.net
Thu Dec 3 14:24:06 UTC 2009


On 12/02/2009 08:22 PM, Richard Stallman wrote:
>      Dead's take on sharing music right on through formal license agreements
>      such as Creative Commons, GPL and the general definition of open source.
>
> Do you teach them the definition of free software, too?  The
> definition of open source is derived from the definition of free
> software, but they are different in important cases.
>
>      In fact the Happy Birthday to GNU video featuring Stephen Fry was shown
>      and one of the homework assignments for this week includes reading one
>      of Mr. Stallman's ACM articles. (So sorry, I thought I had the link.)
>
> I'm glad to hear you teach some of what I've had to say.  But...do you
> tell them that this is part of what's called "open source"?  I hope
> not; that would be like calling FDR a Republican.
>    
First thing I should mention is that I'm not a professor, nor am I on 
the payroll at RIT.  I volunteer my time with TOS and RIT because FLOSS 
is important to me.

One of the issues we have in class is time.  We have to make some 
adjustments on how deep we go.  You could say the 11 week quarter 
follows the "release early, release often" model.  That said, my 
personal observation is that we're getting closer to the sweet spot.

Another issue is that the professors are new to teaching free software.  
A quote the guys have been kicking around is "the fastest way to learn 
something is to teach it."

Having this discussion in the first lecture this time around is a big 
step for us.  It means we've switched the focus of the class.  Rather 
than another way to make computer games, we're getting into a more 
formal way to teach FLOSS methods, and philosophy while we make 4th 
grade math activities.

On Tuesday one thing I did mention to the class was to watch their 
licenses and not assume all open source is created equal.  The example 
was how an Apache license and the GPL contradict one another.

Now I realize I'm not providing sufficient answers to your questions and 
we're probably not covering free software to your satisfaction.  It's 
not out of disrespect, nor is what I'm trying to say an excuse for not 
doing things properly.   I can say that I have a history of publicly 
calling people on no cost vs freedom.  So when I'm in class you'll 
probably find me correcting semantics and explaining the philosophy 
while we get the kids on the fast track to Open Source Software 
Development.

~Karlie Robinson



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