On Nov 6, 2007, at 5:01 PM, Joseph Lucia wrote:
> I have initiated a number of conversations within the mid-Atlantic
> region about the very real potential for a shift of those
> investments from commercial software support (and staff technical
> support for commercial products) to a collaborative support
> environment...
There are so many good points here I don't know where to begin, and I
had to resist the desire to quote the whole thing. [1] Very nice!
I recently read a book called The Success of Open Source by Steven
Weber. It outlines much of what is outlined in the thought
experiment. With the advent of the Internet it is more than possible
to develop rich, robust, and fully functional software applications
even though there is no centralized authority. This is the power of a
network. The key is community building.
Joseph's comments also echo the engineering side of software
development in a networked environment: 1) write programs that do one
thing and do it well, 2) write programs that work well together, and
3) write programs that handle text streams because it is a universal
interface. Software adhering to these principles is typically
considered more useful than software trying to be all things to all
people. Such software is modular, portable, easy to create and
maintain, and can be applied in any number of settings. The process
is not about building programs that do everything. It is about
building a system of much littler programs that do very specific
things very well and at the same time adhere to standards and
community-driven practices, not vendor specific
I'd like to emphasize one more thing mentioned in the experiment.
Libraries have a tradition of collaboration and sharing. We were
building networks long before networks became a global reality. By
building on this tradition we can see that everybody has something to
offer. Everybody. This includes collection developers and
bibliographers. It includes reference librarians and public access
personnel. It includes catalogers and metadata specialists. It
includes systems librarians and hackers. It includes library
administrators and resource allocators. It includes vendors and
commercial institutions. Last but certainly not least, it includes
students, instructors, researchers, school-aged children, and
everybody who patronize public libraries.
Again, I sincerely believe we all have more things in common than
differences. By emphasizing our similarities and learning to exploit
the network practical and cost-effective solutions to many of our
issues can be implemented.
[1] http://article.gmane.org/gmane.culture.libraries.ngc4lib/3424
--
Eric Lease Morgan
University Libraries of Notre Dame
Received on Wed Nov 07 2007 - 08:59:33 EST