Difference between revisions of "Open Source and Search"

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(Added link to Economist article and Dave Stutz's letter.)
(→‎Slides: Fixed beamer link.)
 
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My main interest is in open source software (OSS), and I will be speaking on
 
My main interest is in open source software (OSS), and I will be speaking on
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lessons of privacy, freedom, and quality learned from OSS that are relevant to search engines.
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lessons learned from OSS about privacy, truthfulness, independence, personalization,
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I will connect several ideas along the path(s) from OSS to search,
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and cost. I will define the particular way in which I mean those words and how they re
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which may seem unrelated at first: blogs, wikis, peer-to-peer filesharing,
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relevant to search engines, especially Google.
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and web services.
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I will also connect several ideas along the path(s) from OSS to search,
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including so-called Web 2.0 phenomena: blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging,
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BitTorrent, and the long tail of niche markets. Finally, I'll summarize
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how Google and open source are related and use this to speculate on what
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Google's future plans may be.
  
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I am not a lawyer, so I will concentrate on the three social issues above
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I am not a lawyer, so I will concentrate on the social issues above
 
with regard to web search and how we can achieve them to varying degrees
 
with regard to web search and how we can achieve them to varying degrees
 
with technology. Technical detail will be kept to a minimum in order to make
 
with technology. Technical detail will be kept to a minimum in order to make
 
it clear why everyone should care about these issues, not just computer
 
it clear why everyone should care about these issues, not just computer
 
scientists.
 
scientists.
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 +
== Slides ==
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* [http://abstract.cs.washington.edu/~ppham/soctech/oss-and-search.tar.bz2 LaTeX source code], 870 KB
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* [http://abstract.cs.washington.edu/~ppham/soctech/oss-and-search.beamer.pdf PDF slides], 1.0 MB
  
 
== Readings ==
 
== Readings ==
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I'll be summarizing the salient points of the references below in my talk, which are
 
I'll be summarizing the salient points of the references below in my talk, which are
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really too long and technical for a general audience. I only include the links here for
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really too long and mostly too technical for a general audience. I only include the links here for
 
completeness.
 
completeness.
  
 
* [http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ The Cathedral and the Bazaar], the most famous essay on how Linux changed the open source model, by Eric Raymond. Unfortunately lots of jargon and acronyms are used, since programmers are the intended audience.
 
* [http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ The Cathedral and the Bazaar], the most famous essay on how Linux changed the open source model, by Eric Raymond. Unfortunately lots of jargon and acronyms are used, since programmers are the intended audience.
 +
 +
* [http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794156 Among the audience], a survey article by The Economist magazine that is extremely thorough and accessible. Only the first page is "necessary," although the other articles are also good reading.
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* [http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html What Business Can Learn From Open Source], the economical arguments for open source software in the business world by Paul Graham.
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* [http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html Why Open Source? Look at the Numbers!], a quantitative analysis by David Wheeler of open source and its economic/commercial advantages. It contains many useful links to news articles and other reports, helps dispels many common misconceptions, and is fairly recent (April 2006).
  
 
* [http://www.synthesist.net/writing/onleavingms.html Advice to Microsoft regarding commodity software], the good-bye letter of Dave Stutz, former head of the Rotor (.NET CLR) team, upon quitting his job at Microsoft.
 
* [http://www.synthesist.net/writing/onleavingms.html Advice to Microsoft regarding commodity software], the good-bye letter of Dave Stutz, former head of the Rotor (.NET CLR) team, upon quitting his job at Microsoft.
  
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* [http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794156 Among the audience], a survey article by The Economist magazine that is extremely thorough and accessible. Only the first page is "necessary," although the other articles are also good reading.
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* The [http://www.opensource.org Open Source Initiative], a non-profit organization devoted to promoting open source software through standard licenses, definitions, and facts to combat misinformation.
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** [http://www.opensource.org/docs/peru_and_ms.php Peru's answer to Microsoft FUD]. The law requiring all government software to use open standards was passed in Peru in September 2005.
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== Links ==
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Useful links which contain too many resources or change too frequently for me to list as references
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above.
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* [http://code.google.com Google Code], the official clearinghouse for Google's open source software and APIs.
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** [http://code.google.com/organizations.html Organizations] in which Google participates, which are all effectively open source.
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** [http://code.google.com/summerofcode.html Summer of Code], Google's annual summer "externship" program which pays students stipends to develop open source software with mentoring organizations.
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* [http://sourceforge.net/users/google/ Google Open Source Projects] hosted on SourceForge.
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* [http://www.searchenginewatch.com Search Engine Watch], news site and watchdog organization for all issues related to search engines.
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* [http://del.icio.us Delicious], website tagging and bookmark sharing.
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* [http://www.technorati.com Technorati], a search engine for Blogs.
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* [http://googleblog.blogspot.com Official Google Blog], hosted on Google-owned Blogger.com.

Latest revision as of 05:11, 3 May 2006

Synopsis

My main interest is in open source software (OSS), and I will be speaking on lessons learned from OSS about privacy, truthfulness, independence, personalization, and cost. I will define the particular way in which I mean those words and how they re relevant to search engines, especially Google. I will also connect several ideas along the path(s) from OSS to search, including so-called Web 2.0 phenomena: blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, BitTorrent, and the long tail of niche markets. Finally, I'll summarize how Google and open source are related and use this to speculate on what Google's future plans may be.

I am not a lawyer, so I will concentrate on the social issues above with regard to web search and how we can achieve them to varying degrees with technology. Technical detail will be kept to a minimum in order to make it clear why everyone should care about these issues, not just computer scientists.

Slides

Readings

I'll assume a little previous knowledge: that you use the web almost every day and have at least heard of the buzzwords above. If you want a little more background information than I can cover in a 30 minute talk, here are some useful readings:

  • The Long Tail, a Wired article by Chris Anderson on how online businesses can make lots of money from niche markets.

References

I'll be summarizing the salient points of the references below in my talk, which are really too long and mostly too technical for a general audience. I only include the links here for completeness.

  • The Cathedral and the Bazaar, the most famous essay on how Linux changed the open source model, by Eric Raymond. Unfortunately lots of jargon and acronyms are used, since programmers are the intended audience.
  • Among the audience, a survey article by The Economist magazine that is extremely thorough and accessible. Only the first page is "necessary," although the other articles are also good reading.
  • Why Open Source? Look at the Numbers!, a quantitative analysis by David Wheeler of open source and its economic/commercial advantages. It contains many useful links to news articles and other reports, helps dispels many common misconceptions, and is fairly recent (April 2006).
  • The Open Source Initiative, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting open source software through standard licenses, definitions, and facts to combat misinformation.

Links

Useful links which contain too many resources or change too frequently for me to list as references above.

  • Google Code, the official clearinghouse for Google's open source software and APIs.
    • Organizations in which Google participates, which are all effectively open source.
    • Summer of Code, Google's annual summer "externship" program which pays students stipends to develop open source software with mentoring organizations.
  • Search Engine Watch, news site and watchdog organization for all issues related to search engines.
  • Delicious, website tagging and bookmark sharing.
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