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"The impact of technological change on culture, learning, and morality has long been the subject of intense debate, and every technological revolution brings out a fresh crop of both pessimists and pollyannas. Indeed, a familiar cycle has repeat itself throughout history whenever new modes of production (from mechanized agriculture to assembly-line production), means of transportation (water, rail, road, or air), energy production processes (steam, electric, nuclear), medical breakthroughs (vaccination, surgery, cloning), or communications techniques (telegraph, telephone, radio, television) have appeared on the scene. The cycle goes something like this. A new technology appears. Those who fear the sweeping changes brought about by this technology see a sky that is about to fall. These "techno-pessimists" predict the death of the old order (which, ironically, is often a previous generation's hotly-debated technology that others wanted slowed or stopped). Embracing this new technology, they fear, will result in the overthrow of traditions, beliefs, values, institutions, business models, and much else they hold sacred. The pollyannas, by contrast, look out at the unfolding landscape and see mostly rainbows in the air. Theirs is a rose-colored world in which the technological revolution du jour is seen as improving the general lot of mankind and bringing about a better order. If something has to give, then the old ways be damned! For such "techno-optimists," progress means some norms and institutions must adapt-perhaps even disappear-for society to continue its march forward. Our current Information Revolution is no different. It too has its share of techno-pessimists and techno-optimists. Indeed, before most of us had even heard of the Internet, people were already fighting about it-or at least debating what the rise of the Information Age meant for our culture, society, and economy."

does Kurtopia need someone to mow the lawn?

no, but we do need someone to take our throm-dib-u-lator apart though

[...Gleick: When people say that the Internet is going to make us all geniuses, that was said about the telegraph. On the other hand, when they say the Internet is going to make us stupid, that also was said about the telegraph. I think we are always right to worry about damaging consequences of new technologies even as we are empowered by them. History suggests we should not panic nor be too sanguine about cool new gizmos. There's a delicate balance. ...]

How to teach others about open source "Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Gina Likins from Red Hat at the 2015 Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC): South Central conference about teaching open source"

How to teach others about open source "Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Gina Likins from Red Hat at the 2015 Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC): South Central conference about teaching open source"

"Talking to developers and reading about open source I often get the feeling that the general notion is that open source is just about code and commits. Put another way, "If you don't make commits for a project you are not contributing to it." Or so they say. That notion is far from the truth in my eyes. Let me tell you why."

"Talking to developers and reading about open source I often get the feeling that the general notion is that open source is just about code and commits. Put another way, "If you don't make commits for a project you are not contributing to it." Or so they say. That notion is far from the truth in my eyes. Let me tell you why."

"Learning about Bolero's recent entry into the public domain made me think about the concept of "open music" in general. Where is it found? What characteristics define open music? And so I've let my favorite search engine help me do detective work to see what a hunt for open music turns up."

"Learning about Bolero's recent entry into the public domain made me think about the concept of "open music" in general. Where is it found? What characteristics define open music? And so I've let my favorite search engine help me do detective work to see what a hunt for open music turns up."

"But what about the kinds of jobs where measuring someone's "output" isn't about counting the number of widgets they produced, but rather it's about how they managed a team or influenced others or helped people collaborate better? While it might be easy to measure someone's output on an assembly line, how do we decide how well a manager manages or a leader leads?"

""This is a deeply thought-provoking book about the dramatic changes we must make to save the planet from financial madness" - Naomi Klein. Opening with Oscar Wilde's observation that "nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing," Patel shows how our faith in prices as a way of valuing the world is misplaced. He reveals the hidden ecological and social costs of a hamburger (as much as $200), and asks how we came to have markets in the first place. Both the corporate capture of government and our current financial crisis, Patel argues, are a result of our democratically bankrupt political system. If part one asks how we can rebalance society and limit markets, part two answers by showing how social organizations, in America and around the globe, are finding new ways to describe the world's worth. If we don't want the market to price every aspect of our lives, we need to learn how such organizations have discovered democratic ways in which people, and not simply governments, can play a crucial role in deciding how we might share our world and its resources in common. This short, timely and inspiring book reveals that our current crisis is not simply the result of too much of the wrong kind of economics. While we need to rethink our economic model, Patel argues that the larger failure beneath the food, climate and economic crises is a political one. If economics is about choices, Patel writes, it isn't often said who gets to make them. The Value of Nothing offers a fresh and accessible way to think about economics and the choices we will all need to make in order to create a sustainable economy and society."

[... It has been sixteen months since I retired - or thought I was retiring - from my monthly column. A lot has happened since. First, my company was purchased by Seagate, and I am now part of the Seagate Government Solutions organization. That, of course, now changes what I write about in this column a bit as I am now a vendor, but I am still going to deal with the big issues facing storage and data movement. I will do my best to continue to not mention vendors unless I am referencing things that are in the news. Secondly, this will not be a monthly column - I'll likely post something every few months. And lastly, I want to thank those who have written in and asked me to keep writing. Thank you! The topic this month is going to be rootkits, which are nasty security issues that I think we all need to start thinking about, as well as what to do about them. ...]

"October 7, 2016 Joe Collins 4 Comments How To There is much talk in the Linux world about the mythical "average user." There is no such thing with Linux. First off, people who use Linux usually are those who know a thing or two about computers to begin with and want to take advantage of all the choices Linux offers. "

"October 7, 2016 Joe Collins 4 Comments How To There is much talk in the Linux world about the mythical "average user." There is no such thing with Linux. First off, people who use Linux usually are those who know a thing or two about computers to begin with and want to take advantage of all the choices Linux offers. "

" More good reads linus keynote Linus Torvalds: Security is never going to be perfect Why did you start using Linux? OS X versus Linux: Which is more practical? on IDG Answers If I buy a Chromebook and can't get to grips with OS can I convert to windows? In today's open source roundup: Linus vents his frustrations about people who design "new and improved" interfaces. Plus: Ten Linux dream jobs. And five open source alternatives to Gmail"

| Eric McNulty at Cultivate OSCON | One of the most powerful tools you have as a leader is to be present." Eric McNulty opened up the first day of Cultivate this year, the annual pre-conference event before OSCON, with this quote. First, he asked the audience to think about the whys."

| Eric McNulty at Cultivate OSCON | One of the most powerful tools you have as a leader is to be present." Eric McNulty opened up the first day of Cultivate this year, the annual pre-conference event before OSCON, with this quote. First, he asked the audience to think about the whys."

"from the double-irish-with-a-dutch-sandwich dept For quite some time now, we've seen EU regulators talk fairly openly about their desires to harm American internet companies, mostly in a misguided attempt to boost local European companies (and to collect more money). It's why we keep hearing about weird, carefully targeted regulations designed to pump up how much money companies like Google, Apple and others pay. "

"In her Texas Linux Fest keynote, Joan Touzet talked to us about how to improve our open source communities. Joan's talk was a series of stories about communities who have faced a crisis and then rose above it."

Interview with Gina Likins and Donna Benjamin At OSCON in Portland this year, Donna Benjamin and Gina Likins are combining forces to talk about a topic that is sometimes easily dismissed: conflict resolution. Given the growing need to address conflict in technology, and that even popular projects like the Linux Kernel adopting codes of conduct, it's no surprise that conferences feature talks on human interaction."

Interview with Gina Likins and Donna Benjamin At OSCON in Portland this year, Donna Benjamin and Gina Likins are combining forces to talk about a topic that is sometimes easily dismissed: conflict resolution. Given the growing need to address conflict in technology, and that even popular projects like the Linux Kernel adopting codes of conduct, it's no surprise that conferences feature talks on human interaction."

[This Site was originally created by the UNESCO International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) as a place where members of the UNESCO OER Community can work together on questions, issues and documents. Over time we can build this site together. Useful pages * About the UNESCO OER Community o List of community members * About community discussions o Access to OER o UNESCO OER Toolkit o OER: Findings from an OECD study o Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) solutions for OER o Exploring the idea of a "DIY" OER development resource o Developing a research agenda for OER * Open Educational Resources useful links * Open Educational Resources glossary * Guide to using and contributing to this wiki * Guide to online translation tools]

"Erin Richey , CenturyLink Comment Now If you still think open source technology is less reliable than proprietary software, or less secure, it's time to learn more about the private sector's digital revolution."

T"he richest 10% of Americans earn half of all of income. In Britain, the top 10% hold 40% of all the income. Inequality is not just an issue for rich countries. A billion people have been lifted out of poverty since 1990, and inequality has been rising in many other countries too. So, how much inequality is too much? Many may recoil from such a question - inequality is a dirty word. But this programme isn't about fairness. This programme is about economics - and how far inequality affects growth and prosperity. Presented by Linda Yueh."

Techdirt will go beyond the talking points & fear mongering to bring facts to the debate - and we'll go even further, creating an ad campaign that reaches millions to better educate everyone about the importance of encryption. 95%funded so far23days left $9,504raised so far Back this work *This project will only be funded if $10,000 is raised by Mar 26th, 8:52pm CET

"Today marks 25 years of Linux, the most successful software ever. At LinuxCon this week, Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation spoke words of admiration, praise, and excitement from the keynote stage, saying "Linux at 25 is a big thing" and "You can better yourself while bettering others at the same time." To celebrate, we asked our readers what they love about Linux and rounded up 25 of their responses. Dive into the Linux love!"

"Phil Shapiro The Video Screening Room The DMCA doesn't just make it illegal for you to circumvent DRM to rip and burn a DVD of 'War Games' or to install a pirated copy of Windows. It also can make it illegal for you to repair or modify things you own. Public television and radio in the United States have been surprisingly shy about covering the open source movement, but this video by Mike Rugnetta at PBS Digital Studios shows that they may be waking up."

"Phil Shapiro The Video Screening Room The DMCA doesn't just make it illegal for you to circumvent DRM to rip and burn a DVD of 'War Games' or to install a pirated copy of Windows. It also can make it illegal for you to repair or modify things you own. Public television and radio in the United States have been surprisingly shy about covering the open source movement, but this video by Mike Rugnetta at PBS Digital Studios shows that they may be waking up."