OPENNESS IN
DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGY
FREDRICK W. BAKER III
RESOURCES PAGE
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabald
win
• Assumptions
• Philosophy of
Technology
• Technology
Issues
• Alternatives
• Current Efforts
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Pelton_wheel_(patent).png
PLAN
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
Have you ever stopped
to think about the
assumptions
underpinning the things
in our lives?
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
ASSUMPTIONS
UNDERPINNING
TECHNOLOGY
•
Use a shovel with one hand.
•
Write in a notebook left handed.
•
Use a computer with your eyes closed.
•
Use a telephone with your hearing inhibited.
•
Change the theme design of your office suite
software.
Technology is rife with bias, favoritism,
inequality, barriers to use, learning curves,
etc.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
ASSUMPTIONS
UNDERPINNING
TECHNOLOGY
By the very design DNA, tools give
preference to certain skills, abilities,
behaviors, cultures, etc., over others.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
ASSUMPTIONS
UNDERPINNING
TECHNOLOGY
Worse, we are often powerless to
change these preferences.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
ASSUMPTIONS
UNDERPINNING
TECHNOLOGY
• Is technology making the world a
better place?
• A worse one?
• In 100 years will we be living in an
Orwellian nightmare or a blissful
Eden?
• Do we even have control over
technology?
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PHILOSOPHY OF
TECHNOLOGY MATRIX
Utopian
1
Utopian
Determinist
2
Utopian
Social Constructivist
Social
Construction
Determinsim
3
Dystopian
Determinist
4
Dystopian
Social Constructivist
Dystopian
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PHILOSOPHY OF
TECHNOLOGY
I tend to believe that:
•
We collectively (not individually!) decide the
characteristics of our technology.
•
•
•
Desirable content, aesthetics, technical
aspects, etc.
We exert SOME level of control over the
development, use, and dominance of
technology.
There are disruptive, “genie out of the bottle,”
moments where we can’t return to the old.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PHILOSOPHY OF
TECHNOLOGY
Utopian or Dystopian?
I believe we have a choice…
sort of…
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PHILOSOPHY OF
TECHNOLOGY
I think that whether we create a utopia or
dystopia is really completely up to society,
but it depends on whether or not we are
critical consumers of our technology.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
Issues of:
• Empowerment or Restraint,
• Ownership or Lease,
• Equality or Preference,
• Oppression or Freedom,
• Open or Closed.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
Boils down to:
Freedom &
Ownership
vs.
Restriction &
Lease
And
Choice & Availability of Alternatives
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
What if you want to use a computer or
service without being commoditized and
sold as a product?
This is the focus of this presentation.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
• Are you renting your software?
• Are you blocked from easily collecting
your data, usage patterns, content,
etc., and leaving at any time?
• Are you being advertised to?
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
• Does your grocery store know when
you are expecting a child even before
your family?
**Source on resources page
• Does your credit card company know
if you are headed for divorce?
**Source on resources page
** Links to Sources available at:
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
• Does your social media platform know
your age, gender, ethnicity, religious
and political views, personality type,
sexual preference, intelligence level,
habits of substance use, tendency
toward creativity, parental separation
status, etc.?
**Source on resources page
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
The answer is probably
YES!!!
And if it isn’t, there are people making
lucrative salaries to make it “yes”!!
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
Closed source technologies are
primarily concerned with money.
If you aren’t paying to be a client, you
are generally being sold as the product!
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
Open Source technologies are generally
concerned with creating a functional
product that embraces certain value
structures.
• Freedom
• Sharing
• Accessibility
• Inclusiveness
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
It is often the work of volunteers and
paid project leaders working in a
community of practice.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
Open Source technologies are often
updated more frequently, and reflect a
broader range of design considerations
and therefore generally meet a wider
variety of needs such as accessibility,
flexibility, etc.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
BUT…
Money is a big motivator.
It definitely impacts quality, functionality,
stability, etc. in many products!
Corporate products are often sleek and
functional.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
And…
Open Source is not always the best
option.
Projects lose support, tools may be
unstable or don’t always function well,
or there may be a steep learning curve
instead of a neat Graphical User
Interface (GUI).
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
FREEDOM & OWNERSHIP
VS.
RESTRICTION & LEASE
The point is that we must be critical
consumers!
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
CHOICE &
ALTERNATIVES
Do you have a choice in whether you
use open or closed source?
Sort of…
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
CHOICE &
ALTERNATIVES
Tools with great open source options:
•
Operating systems:
•
Web Search:
•
• Duck Duck Go
• Startpage
Photos & Graphics:
•
• GIMP
• Inkscape
Website Platforms:
•
•
Linux (Ubuntu,
Linux Mint, Trisquel)
Web Browsers:
•
• Chromium
• Firefox
Office Suites:
•
•
Open Office
Libre Office
•
Wordpress
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
CHOICE &
ALTERNATIVES
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Ubuntu_11.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
10_EO.png
CHOICE &
ALTERNATIVES
http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2472/3581622563_2e9e69be73_o.jp
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
g
CHOICE &
ALTERNATIVES
Tools with problematic/difficult open source options:
•
Statistics Programs:
•
• R Statistics
(Huge learning curve)
Email:
•
• Android
(Google Dominated)
• Ubuntu (new)
Social Media:
•
•
• Diaspora
• GNU Social
(know anyone here?)
Twitter
• Self-hosted
(requires know-how)
• Obscure services
Social Bookmarking?
•
Dropbox/cloud services?
•
Computer/phone Hardware
•
Phone OS:
•
Ubuntu one
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
CHOICE &
ALTERNATIVES
http://www.rensenieuwenhuis.nl/wpcontent/uploads/2008/11/2-r.jpg
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
#ProjectReclaim
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PROJECT RECLAIM
Purpose is to extricate yourself from
dependence on corporations and
reclaim your data from third-party
services.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PROJECT RECLAIM
• Started in 2011 by Boone Gorges
• Picked up by D’arcy Norman and
Doug Belshaw
One is a programmer, one works for
Mozilla, and one researches software
effects on teaching in CoP.
All discovered that it is not easy to free
yourself.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PROJECT RECLAIM
NSA PRISM has created an interesting
dialogue in these projects.
• 1 has changed focus to fight for
privacy,
• 1 expressed hopelessness & used
NSA revelation as evidence for need,
• 1 said reaction to NSA is overblown
because the Gov’t already watches
us— said we should vote people out.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
PROJECT RECLAIM
Is it reasonable to expect limits on
government surveillance?
Is your digital life private? If so, to what
degree?
Is it possible to live a digital life free
from reliance on corporations and
invasions of privacy?
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
#ReclaimOpen
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
RECLAIM OPEN
Cooperative effort of Digital Media &
Learning Hub at UC Irvine and the MIT
Media Lab, as well as other educators
and organizations.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
RECLAIM OPEN
Working to find or develop open online and
networked learning tools which would
operate under better value structures and
assumptions than current options.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
RECLAIM OPEN
Response to the rise of Massively Open
Online Course (MOOC) Providers
looking to commoditize students and are
simply replicating traditional lecture
based instruction.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
RECLAIM OPEN
The goal is to take advantage of the
open web.
Focus on creating viable education
options.
Create Choices & Alternatives.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
RECLAIM OPEN
The project is seeding innovative
approaches to open connected learning.
Encouraging others to take charge and
innovate solutions for everyone.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
CONCLUSION
I advocate being a critical consumer of
technology, reflecting on the costs and
assumptions of the tools you use, and
working to create alternatives where you
feel they are needed.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
You never change things by fighting the
existing reality. To change something,
build a new model that makes the
existing model obsolete.
~Buckminster Fuller
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
http://elsilenciero.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/01/buckminsterfuller_dymaxion.jpg
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
• Assumptions
• Philosophy of
Technology
• Technology
Issues
• Alternatives
• Current Efforts
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Pelton_wheel_(patent).png
PLAN
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
You can connect with me at:
Twitter: @fredwbaker
Email: fredwbaker@gmail.com
RESOURCES:
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin