And ye shall uphold copyright unto the fifteeth year, and publish liberty throughout all the cyperspace unto the surfers and bloggers thereof; it shall be a time of rejoicing unto you; and ye shall unshackle every work from intellectual property, and ye shall return every work into the public domain. — Leviticus 25:10, out of context and twisted.
For anyone who might be reading along and wonder why I have the “No Copyright” page on my site, it’s because although I’m not actively campaigning for the end of copyright law, I definitely think that it’s beneficial for some types of information to be open: free for use, copying, and distribution by all. This concept of openness goes further than just making stuff available on the internet: the concept, although not fully ironed out, includes ideas about availability, accessibility of sources, etc. It is, in the best sense of the word “anarchy,” an informational anarchy characterized by collaboration, availability, and free choice.
Google is one of the pioneers of the open concept, and has used it to rapidly create one of the most effective massive companies in the world. They’re still struggling through the concept of openness, and recently they’ve published on a post on their blog about “the meaning of open.” If you’re interested in the concept of open software/standards/information, it’s a worthwhile read.
The open concept is also behind such useful and successful sites as Wikipedia, WordPress, OpenOffice.org, Open Library, Google Books, GNU, Creative Commons, Ubuntu, Mozilla, and others. If you are unfamiliar with any of those sites, I encourage you to take a look at their websites. These sites, along with many others, are changing the way information is used and distributed throughout the world, the end result being that it learning and using computers is more cost-efficient than ever before.
This site exists because I see the great things that openness is doing for students and computer users throughout the world, and I want to help move the Christian community towards the ability to reap the benefits of openness as well. And why should we not. Openness fits well with the ethos of the gospel: “Freely you have received; freely give.” The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which is smaller than all the herbs of the field. But when it is growns, it becomes a tree, and is larger than all the shrubs, and the birds of the sky come and roost in its branches.
On this site, I take a quite radical approach toward openness. Everything on the site, you may freely use. Everything I create and make available here is a gift to all (whether it is valuable or not, is for the reader to judge). On top of that, I try to keep track of the openness-oriented websites that are promoting the free use of information and software in the Christian world, so that the reader who is searching can easily find what he’s looking for.
If you’re not acquainted with the concept of openness, I encourage you to go read what’s on some of the links from this page. Another thought-provoking read can be found here, on the Christians Against Copyright webpage.
Related Posts:
why google is so successful, and why this site exists
And ye shall uphold copyright unto the fifteeth year, and publish liberty throughout all the cyperspace unto the surfers and bloggers thereof; it shall be a time of rejoicing unto you; and ye shall unshackle every work from intellectual property, and ye shall return every work into the public domain. — Leviticus 25:10, out of context and twisted.
For anyone who might be reading along and wonder why I have the “No Copyright” page on my site, it’s because although I’m not actively campaigning for the end of copyright law, I definitely think that it’s beneficial for some types of information to be open: free for use, copying, and distribution by all. This concept of openness goes further than just making stuff available on the internet: the concept, although not fully ironed out, includes ideas about availability, accessibility of sources, etc. It is, in the best sense of the word “anarchy,” an informational anarchy characterized by collaboration, availability, and free choice.
Google is one of the pioneers of the open concept, and has used it to rapidly create one of the most effective massive companies in the world. They’re still struggling through the concept of openness, and recently they’ve published on a post on their blog about “the meaning of open.” If you’re interested in the concept of open software/standards/information, it’s a worthwhile read.
The open concept is also behind such useful and successful sites as Wikipedia, WordPress, OpenOffice.org, Open Library, Google Books, GNU, Creative Commons, Ubuntu, Mozilla, and others. If you are unfamiliar with any of those sites, I encourage you to take a look at their websites. These sites, along with many others, are changing the way information is used and distributed throughout the world, the end result being that it learning and using computers is more cost-efficient than ever before.
This site exists because I see the great things that openness is doing for students and computer users throughout the world, and I want to help move the Christian community towards the ability to reap the benefits of openness as well. And why should we not. Openness fits well with the ethos of the gospel: “Freely you have received; freely give.” The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which is smaller than all the herbs of the field. But when it is growns, it becomes a tree, and is larger than all the shrubs, and the birds of the sky come and roost in its branches.
On this site, I take a quite radical approach toward openness. Everything on the site, you may freely use. Everything I create and make available here is a gift to all (whether it is valuable or not, is for the reader to judge). On top of that, I try to keep track of the openness-oriented websites that are promoting the free use of information and software in the Christian world, so that the reader who is searching can easily find what he’s looking for.
If you’re not acquainted with the concept of openness, I encourage you to go read what’s on some of the links from this page. Another thought-provoking read can be found here, on the Christians Against Copyright webpage.
Related Posts: