Patrick, I agree with what you're saying but think that 'at cost access' is easier said than done. I'd imagine "cost" will become harder to quantify as 'market rates' for material and labor inputs become more obscure and less based in the conventional marketplace.<br>
<br>Sam, I agree that this situation looks "untenable." Each of us should cultivate a generalized knowledge of all the systems we use, but we should also celebrate elegant systems that fulfill our needs and allow us to use our favorite skills. In other words - and I'm not sure this will make a lot of sense - I'd like to code with watercolors. <br>
<br>On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 10:57 PM, Samuel Rose <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:samuel.rose@gmail.com">samuel.rose@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<div class="im">On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 12:31 AM, Devin Balkind<br>
<<a href="mailto:devin@sarapisfoundation.org">devin@sarapisfoundation.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> Open source CMSs allow people who don't code to earn a living building<br>
> websites, so in that case, free software benefits the 'users' more than it<br>
> benefits the coders, especially the coders who used to get paid to reinvent<br>
> the CMS over and over again.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>Even in the case of CMS's (like Drupal and Wordpress for instance) you<br>
have teams of people who program, maintain and configure the base<br>
applications. Millions of dollars and thousands of hours go into the<br>
CMS that makes it possible for a non-programmer to build a website.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
> I think the trend in open source projects is that the skill level of<br>
> developers/coers continues to increase while the skills level of<br>
> deployers/users continues to decrease. You'll earn the most money by<br>
> operating in between - as someone who spend most of their time deploying<br>
> systems but also spends time their time developing the code so they<br>
> understand the project's capabilities and trajectory.<br>
><br>
<br>
</div>I can agree that this could be a current trend. However, I think it is<br>
untenable (programmers do more and more, users learn less and less),<br>
and that we're still faced with an urgent need for a significant<br>
amount of people to obtain literacies of participatory media, abstract<br>
concepts of programming (people don't have to become programmers, but<br>
they will benefit from understanding how programs and computers work<br>
in an abstract way), literacies of cooperation and collaboration,<br>
commons concepts, knowledge about food and energy systems, etc.<br>
<br>
>From my perspective, access to tools and information is not enough of<br>
catalyze change. Schemes of wage and labor also generally spin their<br>
wheels in the mud of reality. People have to see how it applies to<br>
their daily lives, and it's gonna take more than just a few of us at<br>
the fringe.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
--<br>
--<br>
Sam Rose<br>
Hollymead Capital Partners, LLC<br>
Cel: <a href="tel:%2B1-%28517%29-974-6451" value="+15179746451">+1-(517)-974-6451</a><br>
email: <a href="mailto:samuel.rose@gmail.com">samuel.rose@gmail.com</a><br>
<a href="http://hollymeadcapital.com" target="_blank">http://hollymeadcapital.com</a><br>
<a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a><br>
<a href="http://futureforwardinstitute.com" target="_blank">http://futureforwardinstitute.com</a><br>
<a href="http://socialmediaclassroom.com" target="_blank">http://socialmediaclassroom.com</a><br>
<br>
"The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human<br>
ambition." - Carl Sagan<br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
_______________________________________________<br>
P2P Foundation - Mailing list<br>
<a href="http://www.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://www.p2pfoundation.net</a><br>
<a href="https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank">https://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Devin Balkind<br>Director, Sarapis Foundation<div><a href="mailto:devin@sarapisfoundation.org" target="_blank">devin@sarapisfoundation.org</a><br>@devinbalkind</div>
<br>