[JoPP-Public] New report: The coproduction of open source software by volunteers and big tech firms

Fri May 28 05:30:31 CEST 2021

***Apologies for multiple exposure***

The News and Media Research Centre is pleased to announce the launch of the Digital Commons Policy Council’s inaugural report.

DATE/TIME

Wed, 9 June 2021

10:00 – 11:00 CET (Paris)

18:00 – 19:00 AEST (Canberra)

REGISTER FOR ZOOM LINK

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/news-media-research-centre-report-launch-tickets-157144935733

TITLE

The coproduction of open source software by volunteers and big tech firms

AUTHORS

Mathieu O’Neil, Xiaolan Cai, Laure Muselli, Fred Pailler and Stefano Zacchiroli

SUMMARY

This report maps how firms are collaborating with communities of unpaid volunteers to produce open source code, used in most IT applications and infrastructures. We map firm employee contributions to top GitHub repositories, and analyse how the IT press portrays this coproduction. We also show how IT firm and foundation employee presentations at open source conferences reveal contrasting visions of digital infrastructure, business models, and the firm-community relationship. Big tech firms such as Amazon are using cloud computing and Software as a Service to transform open source software, which is intended to be shared and modified, into closed assets. The report outlines strategic responses to big tech appropriation and reviews current debates about the recognition of volunteer work, money in FOSS, software licenses and universal basic incomes. The report also features invited comments exploring alternative perspectives by French open source specialists from the fields of academia, industry and activism.

SCHEDULE

18:00-18:05 (10:00-10:05 CET Paris)

Introduction and launch

Prof. Kerry McCallum, Director N&MRC, University of Canberra

18:05-18:15

Firm-volunteer coproduction on GitHub and in the IT media

Dr Mathieu O’Neil, University of Canberra

18:15-18:25

Firm discourses about open source, ongoing research

Dr Laure Muselli, Telecom Paris

Dr Stefano Zacchiroli, Université de Paris / Inria

18:25-18:30

Some strategic responses to big tech appropriation

Dr Mathieu O’Neil, University of Canberra

18:30-19:00

Debate, Q&A

The coproduction of open source software by volunteers and big tech firms report was made possible by the support of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Ford Foundation’s Critical Digital Infrastructure fund (2019-2020).

THE COPRODUCTION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE BY VOLUNTEERS AND BIG TECH FIRMS

Mathieu O’Neil, Xiaolan Cai, Laure Muselli, Fred Pailler and Stefano Zacchiroli

1.THE INTEGRATION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE INTO THE IT FIRM ECOSYSTEM

Time for public authorities to stop blindly supporting big tech, by Sébastien Broca

2. FIRM EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS TO TOP GITHUB REPOSITORIES

The ethics of open source must be enacted across the online service economy, by Hervé Le Crosnier

3. COPRODUCTION AND VOLUNTEER LABOUR IN THE IT MEDIA

Predation is not sustainable, so give big tech a chance, by Thierry Carraz

4. DISCOURSES ABOUT OPEN SOURCE IN THE IT SECTOR

Building common knowledge: The science commons, by Daniele Bourcier

5. STRATEGIC RESPONSES TO PREDATION AND FREE RIDING

Framasoft, a pluralist alternative to big tech, by Pierre-Yves Gosset

6. DEBATING THE RECOGNITION OF UNPAID VOLUNTEER LABOUR: UBIs, MONEY IN FOSS, LICENCES

Federated responses to big tech monopolies, by Celya Gruson-Daniel, Benjamin Jean and Camille Louis

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