Hot Ink's project page at github.com, a social open source development site
The first decision we made when starting Hot Ink was to keep the project “open source.” We mention it everywhere, so that’s probably no surprise. Maybe you’ve even heard of it before. So, you’re entitled to ask: what specifically does “open source” mean, and why should I care?
If you’re anything like me, the first place you’ll look is the wikipedia page. That’s interesting, sure, but it’s also a little bit long and both too general and technical for our purposes. Instead, let’s keep it simple. To us “open source” will mean software development where the both final code and ongoing development are transparent (i.e. viewable and trackable online.) This is the opposite of traditional “closed-source” development, where only the final product is available and the code running it is completely hidden.
Open-source reporting?
A good way to understand the differences, from a software developer’s point of view, is to consider what it would be like to write a news article in an open-source environment. Currently, most campus newspaper articles are “closed source.” Reporters gather some primary and secondary sources, write up an article, then pass it off to their editor as a more-or-less complete package. That editor may have access to the primary sources but readers generally don’t. Readers get the final product, read it and live with it.
In an open-source reporting environment, the early stages would be very similar. A reporter would collect information from sources, write up an article, and then submit it to an editor for publication. However, readers would be given access to the reporter’s copy, notes and source materials. If a reader was confused by a clause in the article they could refer to the sources (or the notes) and determine the author’s true intent. Then, if the reader is motivated enough, he or she can update the story to read a little clearer. Expand this on a massive scale and what do you get? Wikipedia, more or less.