Open source

The open-source model is a decentralized software development model that encourages open collaboration,[16][17] meaning "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and noncontributors alike."[16] A main principle of open-source software development is peer production, with products such as source code, blueprints, and documentation freely available to the public. The open-source movement in software began as a response to the limitations of proprietary code. The model is used for projects such as in open-source appropriate technology,[18] and open-source drug discovery.[19][20]

The open source model for software development inspired the use of the term to refer to other forms of open collaboration, such as in Internet forums,[21] mailing lists[22] and online communities.[23] Open collaboration is also thought to be the operating principle underlining a gamut of diverse ventures, including bitcoin, TEDx, and Wikipedia.[24]

Open collaboration is the principle underlying peer production, mass collaboration, and wikinomics.[16] It was observed initially in open source software, but can also be found in many other instances, such as in Internet forums,[21] mailing lists,[22] Internet communities,[23] and many instances of open content, such as creative commons. It also explains some instances of crowdsourcing, collaborative consumption, and open innovation.[25]

Riehle et al. define open collaboration as collaboration based on three principles of egalitarianism, meritocracy, and self-organization.[26] Levine and Prietula define open collaboration as "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and noncontributors alike." [16] This definition captures multiple instances, all joined by similar principles. For example, all of the elements — goods of economic value, open access to contribute and consume, interaction and exchange, purposeful yet loosely coordinated work — are present in an open source software project, in Wikipedia, or in a user forum or community. They can also be present in a commercial website that is based on user-generated content. In all of these instances of open collaboration, anyone can contribute and anyone can freely partake in the fruits of sharing, which are produced by interacting participants who are loosely coordinated.

An annual conference dedicated to the research and practice of open collaboration is the International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration (OpenSym, formerly WikiSym).[27] As per its website, the group defines open collaboration as "collaboration that is egalitarian (everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist), meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes)."[28]

Open source promotes universal access via an open-source or free license to a product's design or blueprint, and universal redistribution of that design or blueprint.[29][30] Before the phrase open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of other terms. Open source gained hold with the rise of the Internet.[31] The open-source software movement arose to clarify copyright, licensing, domain, and consumer issues.

An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified or shared (with or without modification) under defined terms and conditions.[32][33] This allows end users and commercial companies to review and modify the source code, blueprint or design for their own customization, curiosity or troubleshooting needs. Open-source licensed software is mostly available free of charge, though this does not necessarily have to be the case. Licenses which only permit non-commercial redistribution or modification of the source code for personal use only are generally not considered as open-source licenses. However, open-source licenses may have some restrictions, particularly regarding the expression of respect to the origin of software, such as a requirement to preserve the name of the authors and a copyright statement within the code, or a requirement to redistribute the licensed software only under the same license (as in a copyleft license). One popular set of open-source software licenses are those approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) based on their Open Source Definition (OSD).

Generally, open source refers to a computer program in which the source code is available to the general public for use for any (including commercial) purpose, or modification from its original design. Open-source code is meant to be a collaborative effort, where programmers improve upon the source code and share the changes within the community. Code is released under the terms of a software license. Depending on the license terms, others may then download, modify, and publish their version (fork) back to the community.

Free and open-source software (FOSS) or Free/libre and open-source software (FLOSS) is openly shared source code that is licensed without any restrictions on usage, modification, or distribution. Confusion persists about this completely unrestricted definition because the "Free", also known as "Libre", refers to the freedom or the product not the price, expense, cost, or charge. For example, "being free to speak" is not the same as "free beer".[12]

Conversely, Richard Stallman argues the obvious meaning of term "open source" is that the source code is public/accessible for inspection, without necessarily any other rights granted, although the proponents of the term say the conditions in the Open Source Definition must be fulfilled.[34]

"Free and open" should not be confused with public ownership (state ownership), deprivatization (nationalization), anti-privatization (anti-corporate activism), or transparent behavior.

• GNU
  • GNU Manifesto
  • Richard Stallman
• Gratis versus libre (no cost vs no restriction)

Open science is an antithesis to blind faith in Scientism, with inherent healthy skepticism and potential for practical defenses against proprietary (closed) pseudoscience in medicine and technology.

Open science uses the scientific method as a process of open discovery of shared verifiable knowledge. This contrasts with proprietary science, where the processes and research are not publicly shared, which means that others cannot be certain that rigorous studies have been and are conducted, proper precautions taken, and adequate warnings given; and "closed science", where papers are obscured behind paywalls or published in private journals. Open science uses the scientific method as a process of open discovery of shared verifiable knowledge. Open science is easier to distinguish from pseudoscience than closed science, and is therefore more resilient to manipulation by entities with a vested interest in research into a particular area showing certain results.

It has been argued that peer-reviewed science, even computer science, had already been open until Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corp. forced programmers to explicitly license products as Free or Open Source. As noted by Rob Landley, "The copyright issue changed in 1983, when the Apple v Franklin ruling extended copyright protections to binary code... Before that decision, source code was copyrightable but binaries weren't, so companies shipped source code to increase their ownership of the code in the eyes of the law. If you just shipped precompiled binaries, you had no rights the law would recognize".[35]

• Open science, the movement to make scientific research, data and dissemination accessible to all levels of an inquiring society, amateur or professional
  • Open science data, a type of open data focused on publishing observations and results of scientific activities available for anyone to analyze and reuse
  • Open Science Framework and the Center for Open Science
  • Open Source Lab (disambiguation), several laboratories
  • Open-Source Lab (book), a 2014 book by Joshua M. Pearce

  See also: The antithesis of open science is Scientism, a blind faith in profit driven proprietary (closed) science and marketing (ie. proprietary software, proprietary protocols, fields of private biomedical engineering, biological patents, chemical patents (drugs), minimal sufficiency of disclosure, etc.).

• Open-notebook science, the practice of making the entire primary record of a research project publicly available online as it is recorded
• Open Source Physics (OSP), a National Science Foundation and Davidson College project to spread the use of open source code libraries that take care of a lot of the heavy lifting for physics
• Open Source Geospatial Foundation
• NASA Open Source Agreement (NOSA), an OSI-approved software license
• List of open-source software for mathematics
• List of open-source bioinformatics software
• List of open-source health software
• List of open-source health hardware