OPENNESS IN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGYFREDRICK W. BAKER III
RESOURCES PAGE
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PLAN
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
• Assumptions• Philosophy of
Technology• Technology
Issues• Alternatives• Current Efforts
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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
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
Determinsim
Dystopian
Utopian
1Utopian
Determinist
3Dystopian
Determinist
2Utopian
Social Constructivist
4Dystopian
Social Constructivist
Social Construction
PHILOSOPHY OF TECHNOLOGYI 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 ISSUESIssues of:• Empowerment or Restraint,• Ownership or Lease,• Equality or Preference,• Oppression or Freedom,• Open or Closed.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
TECHNOLOGY ISSUES
And
Choice & Availability of Alternatives
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
Freedom & Ownership
Restriction & Lease
Boils down to:
vs.
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
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin** Links to Sources available at:
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.
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
• Freedom• Accessibility
• Sharing• Inclusiveness
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 & ALTERNATIVESTools with great open source options:
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
• Operating systems: • Linux (Ubuntu,
Linux Mint, Trisquel)• Web Browsers:
• Chromium• Firefox
• Office Suites:• Open Office• Libre Office
• Web Search: • Duck Duck Go• Startpage
• Photos & Graphics: • GIMP• Inkscape
• Website Platforms:• Wordpress
CHOICE & ALTERNATIVES
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwinhttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Ubuntu_11.10_EO.png
CHOICE & ALTERNATIVES
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwinhttp://farm3.staticflickr.com/2472/3581622563_2e9e69be73_o.jpg
CHOICE & ALTERNATIVESTools with problematic/difficult open source options:
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
• Phone OS: • Android (Google Dominated)• Ubuntu (new)
• Social Media: • Diaspora • GNU Social (know anyone here?)
• Twitter • Computer/phone Hardware
• Statistics Programs: • R Statistics(Huge learning curve)
• Email: • Self-hosted (requires know-how)• Obscure services
• Social Bookmarking?• Dropbox/cloud services?
• Ubuntu one
CHOICE & ALTERNATIVES
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#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 BelshawOne 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 RECLAIMNSA 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
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
RECLAIM OPEN
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
CONCLUSION
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
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwinhttp://elsilenciero.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/buckminster-fuller_dymaxion.jpg
PLAN
www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
• Assumptions• Philosophy of
Technology• Technology
Issues• Alternatives• Current Efforts
http
://up
load
.wik
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ia.o
rg/w
ikip
edia
/com
mon
s/f/f
6/P
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You can connect with me at:
Twitter: @fredwbakerEmail: [email protected]
RESOURCES:www.fredwbaker.com/2013usabaldwin
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