Symposium Report

Seneca's annual Symposium seeks to bring together major players in the open source community for a day of dialogue, debate, and learning. Open source is about code, but also much more. This year's speaker list reflects this:

Open Source is changing the way we think about computers, culture, education, and even politics. We invite you to join the discussion about open source and its derivatives, as we gather the architects of this change at Seneca College for the 5th annual Free Software and Open Source Symposium.

(FSOSS home page)

Every student in the course is asked to attend the Friday talks. While you are attending, you should also be taking notes for at least two talks. After the symposium, you are responsible to write a four page report, which should include the following:

• Briefly summarize both presenter's talks. What was each talk about? What were they trying to say? What were their main points? etc.
• Describe the two presenter's views on open source as revealed in their talks
• Compare and Contrast the points made by the presenters. What can you say about open source in the light of the points they made? Do the two speakers have similar views of open source or do they disagree? How so?
• Does the picture of open source you've seen presented in these two talks challenge or confirm your own views about what open source is and how it functions?
• What, if anything, has changed about your ideas concerning open source after attending the symposium?

Due Date Friday November 3rd.

Please submit a printed copy in class (i.e., not in the wiki)