Nicole Engard of LibLime Twittered that she was reading an article called "Open Source and Social Media: Community, Collaboration, Freedom" by Ravit Lichtenberg on the Read Write Web blog/web site.  I clicked on the link Nicole provided and immediately got a chuckle out of Ravit’s first paragraph. 

…McDonald’s remains strewn across the desk, and 42 oz sodas within arms’ reach — coding away at their computers, listening to Linkin Park or a game soundtrack

The description of programmers is what made me chuckle because our own web programmer, who is a fan of open source, does listen to Linkin Park (the rest probably doesn’t apply to him).  Hopefully after reading this article, people who don’t understand exactly what open source encompasses will have a better understanding of what it is and can do.  So for all you Mountain Dew drinking, Linkin Park listening, McDonald’s eating programmers out there – this one’s for you!  Thank you for contributing to the community, thank you for making the code better for all of us, thank you for being you.

One of the things I really love about Fridays, other than they herald the weekend, is #followfriday on Twitter.  Many folks join Twitter and don’t understand what it’s all about.  Or maybe it would be more accurate to say they don’t know who to follow.  The #followfriday trend is about those who use Twitter recommending to new people, as well as long standing users, someone new to follow. 

Here is my personal list of folks and businesses that are open to open source or free software.  I’ve included in parenthesis their specialty.

ranginui / Chris Cormack- (Koha – open source ILS)

joetho / Joe Tho- (Koha – open source ILS)

wizzyrea / Liz Rea- (Koha – open source ILS)

Miromurr / Thomas Brevik- (Koha – open source ILS)

gmcharlt / Galen – (Koha – open source ILS)

magnusenger – (Koha – open source ILS)

corephp / ‘corePHP’ (PHP – scripting language that is free software)

nirak / Karin Dalziel- (Linux – open source operating system)

LinuxVoices

galaxiecruzin / Alex B – (Linux – open source operating system)

nengard / Nicole Engard – (Koha – open source ILS)**

linuxjournal

Linux

But these people are far from the only ones out there on Twitter.  You can use Twitter search directories to find other like minded people.  On WeFollow, I found 220,545 Twitters  who have used the words open source in their profile.  On Twellow, I found 89 Twitters.  On JustTweet It you can find Linux users, Joomla  (open source CMS ) Tweeters, Wordpress Tweeters, and even Drupal (open source CMS) Tweeters.

So no matter what open source avenue you want to pursue, there is probably someone on Twitter who you’d want to follow.  Great thing about the open source community, most folks are eager to lend a hand.  So ask away on Twitter, you’ll find folks happy to answer your open source question or point you in the direction of a great resource.

** nengard posted on Liblime’s Open Sesame blog other social web sites associated with Koha

When I think of Open Source, I generally think of adults who contribute to communities to build and modify software that anyone can use.  It has never really triggered the thought of kids, classrooms or education, though… until now.

Sugar Labs, a company founded by the former software president of the One Laptop Per Child project, has released a product called Sugar on a Stick.  It’s a "Linux-based learning environment" that boots from a USB drive and is designed for children’s ease of use.  All a child has to do is plug in the USB drive to any computer, boot it, and they’ll be working in the same computing environment they’re used to with all their own files. 

What does this mean?  It means that a child can go to school, work on classwork, homework, notes, etc, with the ability to complete those same exact tasks in any location.  It meants that parents will no longer be tasked with buying expensive software. It means that school systems can use older, slower computer systems and can upgrade less, which frees up money for other initiatives.  It means that same student could come to the library and work in the computing environment that they’re used to.  It means that libraries like Howard County, who are partners in education with the local school systems, could potentially further integrate and provide seamless interaction from school to the library.

It means that more resources will be available to more children.

Learn more about the role free and open source software will play in educational institutions, including libraries and schools, for years to come by reading about Sugar-on-a-Stick

Sounds delicious, no?

Photo courtesy of miss_curse_10        

Taking a page from our successful Highly Recommended blog, Open Source is heading down a new path with an updated name – Open Source: Collaborative Suggestions. The very heart of open source is about collaboration, participation, and giving back to the open source community.  We feel this new name reflects those values.

Just as Highly Recommended suggests books, music, movies, and events to our customers, Open Source: Collaborative Suggestions will highlight interesting people in the open source community, materials in our collection about open source, and open source web sites. We will encourage our readers to interact and collaborate with us.

We hope the new path will produce value for the community by generating conversation, educating those who maybe unfamiliar with open source, connecting people with resources, and encouraging folks to try open source products.