Why be humble? This is a matter of concern for more universities than MIT. It is easy enough to be an OpenSource preacher among the Linux masses. But Open Source is about more then linux, php, tcl, etc...
This initiative could be a new start at the universities, not only MIT. At a university the sources may be divided in four groups: people, paper, programs and PC's.
* There is no end to the lengthy meetings you can get with people
* You may burry yourself in paper
* You may build towers of old PCs
But ask the good people for a peek at their programs - and all you get is looks as if you asked for very personal information about a person. Obviously this is where we can move forward!
Therefore this initiative is great, and I really hope this idea can grow to something more than a class project.
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You make a good point about people not willing to show their programs. I know I always put extra effort into my work when I know it is going to be displayed.
We will be continuing this effort after the class and we have had thoughts about extending it to be something more general for all universities.
Thanks for your input.
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I think this is a good idea. I know in the Sloan Community there is a very ad hoc method of people sharing useful snippets of macros and code with each other that often have a very MIT centric use (think bidding optimization spreadsheet). This site could provide for a richer transfer and continuance of the code already developed.
One question though, to make this the most useful, you have to get a bunch of people on the site and using it. But most people won't use/contribute until there are a lot of people here (classic tipping problem). You need to advertise heavily on campus -- probably at the beginning of the semester -- to get a critical mass of people here.
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An open letter to all who visit here.
This community was begun as a class project. Do you think that the idea has value to the MIT community? If so, how can it be made better?
Why be humble? This is a matter of concern for more universities than MIT. It is easy enough to be an OpenSource preacher among the Linux masses. But Open Source is about more then linux, php, tcl, etc...
This initiative could be a new start at the universities, not only MIT. At a university the sources may be divided in four groups: people, paper, programs and PC's.
* There is no end to the lengthy meetings you can get with people
* You may burry yourself in paper
* You may build towers of old PCs
But ask the good people for a peek at their programs - and all you get is looks as if you asked for very personal information about a person. Obviously this is where we can move forward!
Therefore this initiative is great, and I really hope this idea can grow to something more than a class project.
You make a good point about people not willing to show their programs. I know I always put extra effort into my work when I know it is going to be displayed.
We will be continuing this effort after the class and we have had thoughts about extending it to be something more general for all universities.
Thanks for your input.
I think this is a good idea. I know in the Sloan Community there is a very ad hoc method of people sharing useful snippets of macros and code with each other that often have a very MIT centric use (think bidding optimization spreadsheet). This site could provide for a richer transfer and continuance of the code already developed.
One question though, to make this the most useful, you have to get a bunch of people on the site and using it. But most people won't use/contribute until there are a lot of people here (classic tipping problem). You need to advertise heavily on campus -- probably at the beginning of the semester -- to get a critical mass of people here.