Image Re: hierarchy...was report from the field
Kaliya Hamlin
kaliya at mac.com
Sat Jul 14 14:58:17 PDT 2007
Here is a link to the graphic that is in this e-mail...
http://www.kaliyasblogs.net/images/OpenSource.tiff
On Jul 14, 2007, at 2:36 PM, Kaliya Hamlin wrote:
> Follow up.
>
> I was asked what does 'the right to fork' mean.
> Perhaps a step back and understanding what they are forking
> (dividing in two copies and code base diverges).
>
> I am not a coder - I have worked with communities and people who do
> code for several years know. My description is somewhat of a
> simplification but accurate enough for the purposes here.
>
>
>
>
> Open Source Code means that the Source Code is distributed with
> the binary (the part that makes the computer go) When you purchase
> proprietary software - you only get the binary (you don't get to
> see the 'human readable' code that if you could read it - you could
> change and improve it')
>
> So when a [source] code base forks it means that code 'splits' and
> two different versions evolve out of one ... like two branches of a
> tree that have the same trunk.
>
> Forking although a 'right' is NOT encouraged and can be very
> disruptive .... it is better to have one community of 1000 people
> working on one code base then two communities of 500 working on two
> separate code bases...
>
> The right to Fork creates a powerful dynamic tension that alows for
> cohesion but also requires the leaders in a community strive for
> inclusivity and doing the right thing for the whole. It forces
> responsiveness amongst the community 'leader(s)' (who are that
> because of their aquisition of community respect and their merit in
> coding and decision making (code either works or it doesn't, it is
> either fast or it is not - there are metrics that merrit is judged
> by that are not just subjective).
>
> This is a good article on the meatball wiki about what the Right to
> Fork is - it also puts the role of benevolent dictator in context.
> http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?RightToFork
>
> So you can see why I say it is similar philosophically but quite
> different practically.
>
> Open Standards ARE different then Open Source... mainly because
> they are about adoption and interoperability.
> They are more like rail road tracks having the same gauge and the
> electric plugs on our walls all having the same outlet (at least
> with in a country (or having the same voltage (at least within a
> continent). Or Containers for container-ships beings the same (few)
> standard size(s) [packets of information that travel on the
> interent are all standardized - you could think of containers on
> containterships as "physical packets" that contain goods while
> packets on the internet contain information]
>
> In the Technical world innovating in this area involved a lot of
> conversations with a lot of players and getting to consenses and
> implementation....
>
> FORKING doesn't work in Open Standards - you can't just build your
> own electric system with your own voltage and plug... You have to
> figure out how to cooperate on the base infrastructure stuff and
> then innovate on top of that. Standards evolve....new ones emerge
> as technology changes....Here are some technical standards
> outlined - http://www.openstandards.net/viewOSnet3C.jsp
>
> Guess what... I have found that Open Space Technology is a good
> method to getting the issues surfaced - concerns addressed and the
> social 'lubrication' needed to get to agreements that mean the
> adoption of Open Standards.
>
>
>
> On Jul 14, 2007, at 11:29 AM, Kaliya Hamlin wrote:
>
>> Sigh,
>> Human communities do this for good reason.
>> It works.
>> Everyone is not 'equal' in the sense that we all have different
>> experience and different knowledge. Some people are naturally
>> skilled at holding space and others well they haven't learned it
>> yet. Newbies to a practice, technique or skill and having an
>> arrogance of 'sameness' with practitioners who have been doing it
>> for years.
>>
>> Some how the 'groovy' green people (in the Spiral Dynamics sense)
>> have this belief their is no expertise, no years of skill
>> development, no level of maturity that comes from doing something
>> a long time and that the respect, knowledge and reputation that
>> someone might have because of this legitimate experience some how
>> 'wreaks of "hierarchy"' and that all hierarchy is BAD.
>>
>> There are important issues in our society around the abuse of
>> 'rank' and having power over people because of positional
>> authority that is abused...these are real issues. Robert Fuller
>> has spent a lot of time thinking about this issue and has two
>> books about the subject. http://www.breakingranks.net/ He does
>> not say that 'rank' and hierarchy are bad he says abuse within
>> this paradigm is bad.
>>
>> I work a lot in Open Source and Open Standards technical
>> communities. It took me a while to get it but these 'open'
>> communities function on the scale they do because of repetitional
>> meritocratic hierarchy. To read more on the functioning of open
>> source communities read - Open Sources, OPen Sources 2.0 and The
>> Success of Open Source.
>>
>> Open Space Technology is fundamentally different then these to
>> community practices - it is about taking the agenda away from the
>> 'organizer' how ever the organizer of the event still creates the
>> invitation and invites the people and creates the space that is
>> possible for good things to happen. The Law of two feet is like
>> the right to fork... there are similarities at a philosophical
>> level...at a practical level... OST is not trying to build an
>> operating system or have 100,000 all collaborate on the same thing
>> - it doesn't 'need' the kind of hierarchy that technical
>> communities do.
>>
>> Having eldership and respect for experience is not a bad thing. If
>> this must be called 'heirarchy' so be it...I think it is legitmate
>> - and perhaps needs a different name.
>>
>> If it means new voices are shut out. Well perhaps some reflection
>> on the culture that makes people think that - perhaps some
>> introspection is needed to address that problem. They are not the
>> same problem.
>>
>> =kaliya
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Jul 14, 2007, at 11:07 AM, Raffi Aftandelian wrote:
>>
>>> Greetings friends and colleagues--
>>>
>>> Harrison you wrote:
>>>
>>> "The other day I got a note which said in part, "I was surprised to
>>> find out that there was a hierarchy in the OST community and
>>> everyone having
>>> a specific place to hold, voices are not equal and politics
>>> prevails in
>>> certain circuits Just the same old same old... I'm not sure this
>>> is what
>>> you envisioned with OST." I have no idea what the specific
>>> circumstances
>>> were, and less interest in finding out. But presuming that we
>>> have the
>>> creeping tentacles of elitism sneaking in - a good dose of the
>>> Law of Two
>>> Feet and a clear recognition of the Universal License of Open Space
>>> (everybody has one by birth) should do the trick. Or something."
>>>
>>> I would love to hear more from the person who wrote about
>>> hierarchy in the
>>> OST community. What is meant by "hierarchy" here?
>>>
>>> Isn't there hierarchy everywhere? Is it a bad thing? The question
>>> is what
>>> kind of hierarchy do we have in the OST community? Is it a
>>> hierarchy that
>>> feeds us, strengthens us? And how do we choose to engage with it
>>> as a
>>> community? Do we create the spaces to talk about the power
>>> differentials
>>> within our practitioner community in a way that, well, builds
>>> more capacity
>>> within us?
>>>
>>> Quakers, for example, acknowledge that voices are not equal
>>> within the life
>>> of a Monthly Meeting. They have the concept of "weightiness" or a
>>> "weighty
>>> Friend." In other words, these are the elders within the Quaker
>>> world.
>>>
>>> And doesn't the OST world have its elders and sages?
>>>
>>> I, too, have heard (and thought) that the OST community is the "same
>>> old...," - heck, some of that "same oldness" shows up on the list
>>> from time
>>> to time- *and* I do not know of a more generous, welcoming,
>>> inspiring
>>> facilitation community. We either choose to engage with the OST
>>> community as
>>> it is, or...well exercise the law of two feet.
>>>
>>>
>>> Raffi
>>>
>>> *
>>> *
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>>
>> Kaliya - Identity Woman
>> kaliya at mac.com
>>
>> http://www.unconference.net
>> http://www.identitywoman.net
>>
>> skype:identitywoman
>> Y!:earthwaters
>> AIM:kaliya at mac.com
>>
>> 510 472-9069 (bay area)
>> 415 425 1136 (on the road)
>>
>>
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>
> Kaliya - Identity Woman
> kaliya at mac.com
>
> http://www.unconference.net
> http://www.identitywoman.net
>
> skype:identitywoman
> Y!:earthwaters
> AIM:kaliya at mac.com
>
> 510 472-9069 (bay area)
> 415 425 1136 (on the road)
>
>
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> subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of
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Kaliya - Identity Woman
kaliya at mac.com
http://www.unconference.net
http://www.identitywoman.net
skype:identitywoman
Y!:earthwaters
AIM:kaliya at mac.com
510 472-9069 (bay area)
415 425 1136 (on the road)
*
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