Volunteers build the internet: Linux to Wikipedia
The gist
An MIT Press Reader essay traces how Linux and Wikipedia grew from volunteer projects into internet fixtures.
It argues peer production still depends on nonmonetary incentives and self-governance.
How it unfolded
- 1991Linus Torvalds, a Finnish graduate student in computer science, announced on an online discussion group that he had been working on parts of a new operating system in his spare time, calling it "just a hobby" that would be free to use, study, modify and distribute.
- End of the 1990sLinux's high quality and growing market share had become undeniable, according to the essay.
- Jan 15, 2001A small nonprofit launched "an encyclopedia that anyone could edit," with Wikipedia beginning as an open call for volunteer contributions.
Key terms
- commons-based peer production
- A model of socio-economic production in which large numbers of people work cooperatively, usually over the Internet, with less rigid hierarchies than traditional business models.
- public commons
- Cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, held in common and often governed by community norms rather than state or market.
- proprietary software
- Software whose creator or rightsholder holds a legal monopoly, restricting recipients from freely sharing or modifying it.
Source: Wikipedia