More Tools

Open Source culture is based on sharing: if something is made, it is presumed worthwhile to others and so is shared without restraint. This spreads the availability of tools—tools which can be used to build new things.

It could be said that any thing in itself is a tool: something which can inspire or be re-worked into something new could be labelled a tool; something which is built on, not necessarily built with. Regardless, the sharing and availability encourages development, experimentation and improvement. It seems to be a natural and straightforward model.

Capitalism and Socialism: Crash Course World History #33 is a very quick introduction to Capitalism, Socialism and Communism but it do it quite well. John Green does speak of how Marx believes Socialism is a very natural thing for humans. We inherently work together towards a a common goal, but capitalist structures introduce conflict and struggle which undermine this very humanist nature. Open Source culture is far from a capitalist ideal: it functions without hierarchy; it is very organic and is based on sharing and common interest without conflict. As Open Source projects are becoming more abundant, the benefits of this way of working are becoming quite clear. How Linux is Built introduces some of the many systems which rely on the collaborative development project that is Linux:

Although I find this area of thought extremely interesting, for the sake of my dissertation and the nature of the degree I am studying for, I think I will venture away from this comparison between open source and socialism, and focus more on how the designers working in the realms of open source and functioning. Perhaps compared to designers* whom work for large capitalist companies, such as banks…

Josh

*I think of a designer, now, as a very multifaceted word. Very rarely do I mean “visual communicator” (or something like that) when I use the word designer.