[TOS] Seb Benthall on FOSS vs academic culture

[Mel Chua]

Seb (a grad student from UC Berkeley who I think is on this mailing 
list) gave the best summary of the open source mentality in one 
paragraph that I've seen yet, on 
http://digifesto.com/2012/02/28/another-rant-about-academia-and-open-source:

"I’m going to try to build a totally great new thing. It’s going to be a 
lot of work, but it will be worth it because it’s going to be so useful 
and cool. Gosh, it would be helpful if other people worked on it with 
me, because this is a lonely pursuit and having others work with me will 
help me know I’m not chasing after a windmill.

If somebody wants to work on it with me, I’m going to try hard to give 
them what they need to work on it. But hell, even if somebody tells me 
they used it and found six problems in it, that’s motivating; that gives 
me something to strive for. It means I have (or had) a user. Users are 
awesome; they make my heart swell with pride. Also, bonus, having lots 
of users means people want to pay me for services or hire me or let me 
give talks.

But it’s not like I’m trying to keep others out of this game, because 
there is just so much that I wish we could build and not enough time! 
Come on! Let’s build the future together!"

I wonder what the academic version of this paragraph looks like. Here's 
my attempt...

"I’m going to try to build a totally great new thing. It’s going to be a 
lot of work, but it will be worth it because it’s going to be so useful 
and cool. Gosh, it would be awful if other people came and stole my 
idea, so this is going to be a lonely pursuit and having others work 
with me will only happen if I really trust them; I already know I’m not 
chasing after a windmill.

If somebody wants to work on it with me, I’m going to figure out if I 
can trust them, then work out the arrangements of our secure, long-term 
commitment, then give them what they need to work on it. And we have to 
keep this secret - if somebody tells me they used it and found six 
problems in it, that might keep us from getting published. Users are 
awesome, but only when we're ready for them; when they do things we 
expect, they make our CVs swell with papers. Also, bonus, having lots of 
papers means people want to give me tenure or let me give talks.

But it's not like I'm trying to keep others out of this game, I'm just 
making sure they do it properly and in a way that doesn't hurt me, 
because there's so much to do and not enough time to deal with crap if 
it comes up! Come on! Let’s build the future together!"

--Mel