Myths and Metaphors of Open Source
summary
Examines how metaphors shape funding and behavior and gives concrete results from Clojurists Together: 15 grants totaling over $100,000, a funding experiment that compares paying $150/hour for 12 hours ($1,800) versus a flat $1,800/month, and why the flat grant framed value better. Covers platform effects like GitHub’s removed contribution streaks and the new GitHub Sponsors, plus practical differences between GitHub and JIRA issue workflows.
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chapters (20)
- 0:00Introduction to myths
- 1:14Burnout in open source
- 2:16Metaphors shape thinking
- 5:54Computing metaphors
- 7:57Myth of the UNIX hacker
- 9:02Open source competition
- 9:45Tragedy of the Commons
- 11:31Open source as infrastructure
- 12:56Patronage model
- 15:26Open source as vending machine
- 16:51Generosity of open source
- 17:32GitHub interfaces
- 18:56Contribution streaks harm
- 20:21Medium is the message
- 21:03GitHub Sponsors
- 21:44Funding communication issues
- 23:31Language shapes funding
- 24:33Proposing partnership metaphor
- 26:01What you can do
- 27:04Acknowledgments and thanks
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