Open Source 2.0 Initiative: From Open Source Software to Open Source Resources

[AbcSxyZ]

Initiative to prepare (at first) a presentation on the meaning of « open source » during the Open Science FAIR 2025 at CERN. To support this research work, please consider making a donation on open collective.

Presentation validation : Rejected ❌

A Research On the Meaning of Open Source

What is open source ? The meaning of this concept remains unclear, open to interpretations and even a source of (political) conflicts. The confusion surrounding open source becomes a problem to provide education on open models and digital commons.

For several years now around this knowledge base, there has been an ongoing effort to understand open source. This questioning can be dated back to at least 2022 in a lonely (and still in French) discussion (#163) on this repository. An explanation of open source on the knowledge base was never created as it is a contentious term.

Today, I'm unable to clearly define the meaning of the term ‘open source’.
Me (@AbcSxyZ) in 2022

Since then, a citizen research has been conducted to try to clarify this concept. It was about an exploration of the history of software since the origins of computing, a dive into the history of free software, of open source software, of copyright and copyleft, an observation of the semantic debates around open source. Around the question of open source beyond software this was a consultation of many ‘definitions’ derived from the Open Source Definition or in dictionaries and glossaries, exchanges with researchers in open education, dozens of IT specialists interrogated, questioning the Open Source Initiative, a redefinition work with researchers involved in open science around The Turing Way, exchanges on social networks or at events, with hundreds of related articles and resources read and collected.

This does not lead to a precise meaning/definition, but it does help to provide clarifications that will need to be developed in the future.

With greater confidence in the understanding of the term, a brand new open source (2.0) page was created for the knowledge base: https://open-models.org/content/models/README.html

Some conclusions and discussions

We could be on the verge of a profound paradigm shift in the very meaning of open source, from a software subject to something that concerns various types of digital (and open) resources. Hence this idea of open source 2.0.

There are two key ideas that can be taken from this research:

• There seems to be unanimous agreement that open source is a term that goes beyond software to refer to any type of digital resource in which source files are provided (ex: odt/pptx/latex/markdown of a pdf, svg/psd of a jpeg/png, etc).
• The open source community needs to liberate itself from the Open Source Definition (and eventually the Open Source Initiative), which is more about a dogma than any rational "definition" of open source. They are off-topic.

Why would it be important to associate open source more with open source resources rather than open source software?

With the democratization of these other open models, it is common to publish open resources under an open license. However, it is common to focus only on this legal aspect without taking into account the availability of source files to enable these resources to be edited. It is a more technical aspect and not always facilitated by tools.

With open resources, it's then usual to have the right to modify resources without the ability to do so! This is a critical issue to enable collaboration around digital resources in various fields. Open licenses are almost useless when it comes to the modification of resources, we must go further.

The implications of this paradigm shift are diverse. This could, for example, influence the way in which infrastructures are built in openness movements to handle appropriately these source files in the development of different types of resources.

With the democratization of open models as a whole, « open source » could become a cross-cutting concept and qualifier. A different vocabulary may be needed to talk more specifically about open software.

The conception of open source influences in depth the way we manage digital and open resources.

Towards some (open) research outputs ?

The Open Source 2.0 Initiative would be about formalizing and spreading these insights to foster the understanding of open source. The question become to know what type of output, where and to whom.

This September is organized at CERN the event Open Science FAIR on the theme "Fusing Forces – Accelerating Open Science through Collaboration". Sounds like a good place to make a restitution to a community of researchers.

A way to conclude this first step around the meaning of open source and potentially legitimize these reflections at the root of the World Wide Web.

A proposal for a presentation entitled « Open Source 2.0: From Open Source Software to Open Source Resources » has been sent to the programme committee.

The challenge will be to prepare this major talk 😱 ! I have some good hope of being accepted to speak about this conceptual revolution (but I'm often wrong).

And there are in fact big challenges from an open science and open education perspective to think about how to disseminate this knowledge. Such as combining a research article or educational content with the presentation, to think about useful material for before, during and after the event.

It could be about producing:

• A presentation for the talk (required)
• A research paper to gather the details (if an academic researcher may be interested 🙏)
• Build the introduction to open source in the knowledge base (a basis for the article?)
• Identify other open educational resources where open source explanations can be improved (such as with the Turing Way)

Still not sure which process to follow (as it's also not even accepted), but it would require to think about how to articulate various elements together. The organization of the presentation can get really complex, getting organized as early as possible can help maximize the impact.

Looking for funding to support this process (everything has been done as unpaid volunteer for now): https://opencollective.com/open-models-education

The presentation at CERN could lead to other types of action to spread this Open Source 2.0 revolution.

The process will try to be as open as possible, looking for any type of contribution that could help prepare this work and move open source forward (help with research writing, graphic design, proofreading, inclusion of research in [your?] OER, open science/education strategy and so on). If you have any relevant skills to share, please let us know! Needs will become clearer over the time ❤️

Thank you for taking part in shaping open source 🙃

[AbcSxyZ]

The presentation proposal at CERN was rejected ❤️ This won't be the way, idk what will come next. The problem of open source confusion remain...