An exploration of the changing discourse and ideology in the Open Source Software Movement, this paper was written as a final project for my Social and Organizational Issues of Information course.

An excerpt is below:

...Most people in the United States view the Internet as an open, democratic forum, where knowledge is shared and opinions expressed freely. Even the US courts have tended to uphold this view, at times holding the sanctity of free speech on the Internet more highly than free speech in print media. One group that has backed the free flow of information on computers from the beginning (and had a hand in the creation of these morals through the implementation of protocols) was the "hacker" subclass. Members of this group later turned into the Free Software and Open Source movements.

While these two movements are mentioned interchangeably these days, there is a complicated history behind the discourse of these communities, and they have historically been (and continue to be) at odds with one another. Although the public seems to equate the two groups, each movement believes that their specific ideology is the correct way to go about building the community, so their leaders (Richard Stallman and Eric S. Raymond) seem to focus on what they think is "the right way," and rarely work together. This paper will explore each movements' changing discourse, and possible explanations.

Ultimately I will argue that by truly focusing on how people (coders, companies, and "regular people") are melding the various discourses and spreading an ideology beyond software, both movements could learn something. Although the internal politics of software movements may seem inconsequential to the public at large, some of the ideals that ultimately are being expressed could have major consequence in how technology, law and democracy are viewed throughout the world...

If you're interested in reading it or learning more about my research, please contact me.