Free Software And The University

The Story of the CUNY Academic Commons



Boone B Gorges · boone.gorg.es · @boone

BuddyCamp Vancouver · 14 Oct 2012

Hello

About Boone

The Gist

Free software is a social good

Universities are a social good

Free software <3 universities

Five Cs

1. Cost

2. Community

3. Customizability

4. Control

5. Contribution

commons.gc.cuny.edu

1. Cost

1. Cost

The City University Of New York · cuny.edu

1. Cost

"Use these"

1. Cost

1. Cost

Build it and they will fund.

2. Community

2. Community

2. Community

People first, content second

Social to the core

Adaptable for many uses

2. Community

Courses

2. Community

Interest groups

2. Community

Committees and workgroups

2. Community

Journals

3. Customizability

3. Customizability

As long as it's black (photo)

3. Customizability

System

User

3. Customizability: System

add_action()

add_filter()

3. Customizability: System

BuddyPress Docs · wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-docs

3. Customizability: System

BP Better Directories · wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-better-directories

3. Customizability: System

Group Email Subscription · wordpress.org/extend/plugins/buddypress-group-email-subscription

BP Reply By Email · github.com/r-a-y/bp-reply-by-email

3. Customizability: User

4. Control

4. Control

4. Control

Flexibility to self-host

Export features allow user-level control

Soon: APIs for BP federation

5. Contribution

5. Contribution

profiles.wordpress.org/cuny-academic-commons

5. Contribution

Upstream contributions

5. Contribution

Knowledge sharing · dev.commons.gc.cuny.edu

5. Contribution

commonsinabox.org

5. Contribution

Commercial software:
users vs creators

Free software:
users
are creators
are users

5. Contribution

Universities:
learners
are citizens
are teachers
are learners

Thanks!

Boone B Gorges · boone.gorg.es · @boone

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