[Discuss] BLU Desktop GNU/Linux SIG Meeting - When Peer Production Succeeds (Mako) - Weds, May 1, 2013

[Will Rico]

When: Wednesday, May 1, 2013 6:30PM

Location: Akamai, 8 Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA ­

Directions
http://www.akamai.com/html/about/driving_directions.html

Notes

        1) Please note the location is different from our
           standard MIT meeting location.

        2) Akamai has generously agreed to provide space
           and 'free as in food' for this meeting.
           Thank you to our sponsor!
           http://www.akamai.com/

Summary

        When Peer Production Succeeds
        presented by Benjamin Mako Hill

Abstract

        Why do some free software and
        free culture projects succeed where
        others fail?

        Hear Benjamin Mako Hill speak on a
        topic he has researched extensively.
        If you are involved in a free software,
        "open source," or free culture project,
        or simply want to know how they
        succeed (and why they sometimes
        don't), this is an amazing presentation
        you won't want to miss.

        Hill will refer to research on free software
        and free culture communities and suggest
        that the ideal of peer production is only
        rarely realized. He will show how
        free software, and free culture, only
        very rarely look like their poster children:
        the Linux kernels and the Wikipedias.

        Hill will present some of his research
        comparing failed free culture projects
        to successes to both suggest a
        methodology, and a potential set of
        answers, in order to answer the question:
        Why do peer production projects
        like Wikipedia work?

        Hill will suggest, and try to show, that by
        learning from our failures, instead of
        ignoring or sweeping them under the rug,
        we can make both free culture advocacy
        and free culture practice more effective.

Presentation Outline

        -- What is peer production?
        -- How does peer production work?
           e.g. in cases like Wikipedia
        -- Why does peer production work?
        -- Study peer production failures
        -- Learn about peer production success
        -- Q&A with Benjamin Mako Hill

About Our Speaker

        Benjamin Mako Hill (http://mako.cc/) is a
        scholar, activist, and consultant working on
        issues of technology and society.

        He is currently a researcher and
        PhD candidate in a joint program
        between the MIT Sloan School of
        Management and the MIT Media Lab,
        a fellow at the Berkman Center for
        Internet and Society, and a Research
        Fellow at the MIT Center for Civic Media.

        His research focuses on sociological
        analyses of social structure in
        free culture and free software communities.

        Hill has been a leader, developer, and
        contributor to the Free and Open Source
        Software community for more than a decade
        as part of the Debian and Ubuntu projects.
        He is the author of several best-selling
        technical books, and a member of the
        Free Software Foundation board of
        directors. He is an advisor to the
        Wikimedia Foundation and the
        One Laptop per Child project.

        Hill has a Masters degree from the
        MIT Media Lab.

Transportation & Parking

        The Akamai office is a short walk from the Kendall
        Square T stop and other public transportation.

        Metered parking should be available near our
        location.
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