Homesteading the Noosphere
Encyclopedia
"Homesteading the Noosphere" (abbreviated HtN) is an essay
written by Eric S. Raymond
about the social workings of open-source
software development
. It follows his influential piece "The Cathedral and the Bazaar
" (1997).
The essay examines issues of project
ownership and transfer, as well as investigating possible anthropological
roots of the gift culture in open source as contrasted with the exchange culture of closed source software. Raymond also investigates the nature of the spread of open source into the untamed frontier of ideas he terms the noosphere
, postulating that projects that range too far ahead of their time fail because they are too far out in the wilderness, and that successful projects tend to relate to existing projects.
Raymond delves deeply into the contrast between the stated aims of open source and observed behaviors, and also explores the underlying motivations of people involved in the open source movement
. He seems to settle on the idea that open-source practitioners find striving for a great reputation
within the "tribe" a key motivational feature.
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
written by Eric S. Raymond
Eric S. Raymond
Eric Steven Raymond , often referred to as ESR, is an American computer programmer, author and open source software advocate. After the 1997 publication of The Cathedral and the Bazaar, Raymond was for a number of years frequently quoted as an unofficial spokesman for the open source movement...
about the social workings of open-source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
software development
Software development
Software development is the development of a software product...
. It follows his influential piece "The Cathedral and the Bazaar
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
The Cathedral and the Bazaar is an essay by Eric S. Raymond on software engineering methods, based on his observations of the Linux kernel development process and his experiences managing an open source project, fetchmail. It examines the struggle between top-down and bottom-up design...
" (1997).
The essay examines issues of project
Project
A project in business and science is typically defined as a collaborative enterprise, frequently involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. Projects can be further defined as temporary rather than permanent social systems that are constituted by teams...
ownership and transfer, as well as investigating possible anthropological
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
roots of the gift culture in open source as contrasted with the exchange culture of closed source software. Raymond also investigates the nature of the spread of open source into the untamed frontier of ideas he terms the noosphere
Noosphere
Noosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
, postulating that projects that range too far ahead of their time fail because they are too far out in the wilderness, and that successful projects tend to relate to existing projects.
Raymond delves deeply into the contrast between the stated aims of open source and observed behaviors, and also explores the underlying motivations of people involved in the open source movement
Open source movement
The open source movement is a broad-reaching movement of individuals who feel that software should be produced altruistically. Open source software is made available for anybody to use or modify, as its source code is made available. The software use is subject only to the stipulation that any...
. He seems to settle on the idea that open-source practitioners find striving for a great reputation
Reputation
Reputation of a social entity is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria...
within the "tribe" a key motivational feature.
Citations
"Homesteading the Noosphere" has been referenced in various papers, including:- The impact of ideology on effectiveness in open source software development teams
- An Overview of the Software Engineering Process and Tools in the Mozilla Project
- From Planning to Mature: on the Determinants of Open Source Take Off, Discussion paper 2005-17, Università degli Studi di
- Open borders? Immigration in open source projects
- Public commons of geographic data: research and development challenges
External links
- The essay readable on the web, including a revision-history, 1998-2000.