This is a comment Mark Tribe (Professor at Brown University) left earlier: I posted "Open-Source Museum Opens in Second Life" from 3pointD to the New Media Curating list, and Andreas Broeckmann replied: "can anybody who is closer to this project explain how its 'open source' aspect relates to the license agreement that people admit to before getting busy in SL? can there be something 'open source' (as in _source_) in SL?" Whaddya say?
This is our response ("our" being OSMOSA founders Deborah Abramson, Kiera Feldman, and Davis Jung):
Dear Andreas,
Thank you for your question about how the open source aspects of OSMOSA relate to the Second Life Terms of Service.
We are aware of the limitations (or potential for limitations via interference) placed by Linden Labs over all aspects of Second Life. For example, see item 4.2 from the Terms of Service: "you may not modify, adapt, reverse engineer (except as otherwise permitted by applicable law), decompile or attempt to discover the source code of the Linden Software" ( http://secondlife.com/corporate/tos.php). Item 3.2 also limits the open source nature of the project, in that Linden maintains the non-exclusive, sublicensable right to exercise the copyright of content in our accounts. We understand the implications of such terms of service and bear witness to the gravity of working within a system essentially owned and controlled by another entity.
We are neither interested in nor capable of working with the source code of software within SL. Rather, we are fostering open source culture, meaning technology-enabled practices like appropriation, remixing, mash-ups, and collage that challenge traditional ideas of authorship. Given the Terms of Service, can there be a public domain within SL? We find that, within the limited world of SL, there is a public domain of sorts. This is the domain of objects that have been set to be copyable, modifiable, and free (not for sale). We are enabling a community of people who are interested in producing, transforming, and sharing work within this domain.
We chose Second Life as a platform for our project because no equivalent environment exists. SL is a simple interface in which to create content – factors crucial to a student project such as this one. More importantly, SL already engages a large and vibrant community.
We believe that we can adhere to the spirit of open source within this system. We have adopted the Open Source Definition as a metaphor for cultural production. For example, item two of the definition states, "The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code" ( http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php). If we think of a work of art as the coded object, then what is the source code? In open source cultural practices such as appropriation and remixing, the source code is the original work that is being transformed. In SL, we are able to provide not just a copy of the original work, but the original itself, endlessly replicable and always/never original.
In addition to being a forum for open source art, the structure of OSMOSA is also open source. Curating and architectural design are open: any SL participant can alter the museum building, the selection of works included, the text describing these works, and the arrangement of these works within this space. Just as Wikipedia is an open source encyclopedia, so OSMOSA is an open source museum. The crucial difference is that Wikipedia is built on open source wiki software, while OSMOSA operates within a proprietary system. We acknowlege that Linden Labs has the ultimate authority over the source code of SL as software. As such, the museum is limited but functional as an open source project. Importantly, OSMOSA contributes to the SL version of the public domain and invites new conceptions of art, culture, artist, curator, museum, and open source.
We look forward to further engagement with these issues. Our ideas about open source art and culture are evolving through dialog such as this.
Thanks again for your interest,
Deborah Abramson
Kiera Feldman
Davis Jung
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18 comments:
Marc Garrett posted two replies on the New Media Curating list serv. In the interest of opening up this discussion, you'll find them below.
-Kiera
--------------
Hi Kiera & all,
On and off, I have been following Patrick Lichty's adventures 'the
Second Front Performance Art Collective' in SL. And have been intrigued
on various levels, how it has been working out. He is a multi-talented
individual, an academic, artist, tech-geek and curator. It would be
interesting to know what skills, such as curating come into play when
engaging in such an environment, and to what extent does SL itself
either limit or offer flexibility when creating an art project?
But I would also still, like to hear from Kiera or collegues regarding
the questions I originally proposed, it is all very fascinating :-)
wishing everyone well.
marc
> Hi Kiera,
>
> I've got few questions that to me, are quite important and I hope
that you and others on this list will find them as equally interesting,
as I find them :-)
>
> >We understand the implications of such terms of service and bear
witness to the
> > gravity of working within a system essentially owned and controlled by
> > another entity.
>
> If this is understood, in what sense and with how much gravity?
>
> What values and critical perspectives and ideas have been shared and
discussed to deal with the nature of being controlled by another entity?
>
> I really find the recent fascination with SL very interesting. I must
admit I do have misgivings regarding, various creative minds (many who I
respect) spending so much time in supporting this platform, which as far
as I can see is really a business that accumilates more publicity for
its brand, as the energies of those participating within it become more
appropriated, mediated and consumed - special or not.
>
> I see SL as a digested system, as opposed to a learned one. Where
reasoning exists within a framework, systematically demanding a
concentration based around a limited set of behaviours, patterns or
rules. I perceive this as a psychological restriction, reflecting a
position of submission where the mechanisms in put place offer a
paternal bond between user and the omni-present father.
>
> >owned and controlled by another entity.
>
> This suggests a relatonship that proposes that responsibility lies
not in the user but with the greater forces at work, the owners of the
game. A power-based consciousness, a hierarchy who's main goal is to
consume all energy whatever that is. A spectre rests, lurking behind all
the play at hand, declaring a looming negativity that, perhaps is aleady
sub-consiously considered; yet not fully realised. This looming question
asks, why are there so many willing to be subsumed by SL rather than
invent their own worlds, outside of its own, ever expansive, virtual arenas?
>
> Where is the DIY essence if 'open source' is proposed?
>
> > We are neither interested in nor capable of working
> >with the source code of software within SL.
>
> >Rather, we are fostering open source culture, meaning
> >technology-enabled practices like appropriation,
> >remixing, mash-ups, and collage that challenge
> >traditional ideas of authorship.
>
> How can an open source culture be fostered if it remains within the
limitations of SL? Surely this is a contradiction to the spirit of open
source. I really find it hard to see where the open source really exists
in this activity. Isn't this a misuse or a redefining of the term?
> >We are enabling a community of people who are interested
> >in producing, transforming, and sharing work within this domain.
>
> This is an honourable notion, but why in SL? Wouldn't it be more
critically engaged if it was outside of such a hierarchy?
>
> > We chose Second Life as a platform for our project
> >because no equivalent environment exists.
>
> So the lesson for the students is that they do not need to build
their own communites and independent, creative infrastructures because
it is better to rely on structures that already exist.
>
> I am also wondering how much an influence is the SL brand and profile
behind the decision making of this projeect.
>
> marc
This is cool stuff, I'd love to play around with this.
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