Open Source Art, Music and Culture

IHSS 1965 - Syllabus, Fall 2019

Lectures​: Friday, 10-11:50 a.m., West Hall 214

Studios​: Tuesday, 10-11:50 a.m., West Hall 214

Instructors​:
STS lectures: Christopher Tozzi (tozzic​@rpi.edu​). Office: 5112 Sage. Office hours: By
appointment (please email to arrange)
Arts sections: Robert Nideffer (nideffer​@gmail.​com). Office: 311 West Hall. Office
hours: TBD, and by appointment

Source: https://xkcd.com/743/

The concept of “open source,” once exclusively linked to a certain kind of politically and
economically engaged set of software production, has experienced a period of growth and
transformation in the 21st Century. “Open source” projects can now be found in disciplines and
activities ranging as wide as computer science, hardware development, artistic practice, design,
bio hacking, and social justice work, as well as in artistic and technological experimentations in
LGBTQ and racially intersectional communities. Though “open source” practices across all
these domains vary wildly, a common thread that runs through all these groups is the
commitment to collaboration and to distributed “making” tools.

Through a hybrid of readings, discussions, and collaborative papers and art projects, this class
will explore the dynamics and politics of Open Source knowledge, collaboration, and distributed
technical and artistic production.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

● Understand the origins of the “open source” concept and how it has evolved.
● Gain a basic understanding of the political and cultural history of the open source
movement and its fragmentations and transformations.
● Be able to articulate how different forms of “knowledge-making” work, and how those
forms can be culturally legitimized and de-legitimized through arts, computing, and open
source projects.
● Acquire a basic familiarity and skill with open source digital art and design tools.
● Be able to express social and political thought through those design tools.

Texts

Readings will be posted on the course’s LMS or are available from the links below.

Please complete each week’s readings ​before​ the Friday lecture for that week.

Grading:

Attendance and participation - 10 points

Studio Project 1 – 10 points

Studio Project 2 – 10 points
Studio Project 3 – 10 points
Studio Project 4 - 10 points

Group Paper 1 – 25 points

Group Paper 2 – 25 points

Note: The figures above are an approximate guideline only. Final grades will be determined by
the course professors in consultation with the TAs.

Grade scale
A = 90-100
B = 80-90
C = 70-80
D = 65-70
F < 65

Project Descriptions
All text portions of projects (papers, write-ups) must be submitted to the course’s LMS page by
midnight the night the assignment is due.

All Citations should use the Chicago Manual Of Style Guide:

(​http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html​)

Group Paper 1: Open Source Community Analysis

Minimum word count: 3000 words

Students will break into groups of 4 to 5 with other students in their studio section. Student
teams will then be assigned an open source group or collective—these collectives will vary in
their specific take on open source, and will range from anything from an open source software
community to a feminist hacker collective.

Working outside of class, student teams will then perform a social scientific analysis of that
group, through investigation of that group’s produced content and media. Through these various
data sources, students will then interpret and answer the following questions:

● What are the groups’ professed political goals? How do they aim to achieve them?
● How does that group disseminate knowledge—both ingroup and outgroup?
● How is group membership obtained? How is it maintained?
● What is the organizational structure of the group? Who decides what projects get worked
on? Are they largely individual projects, or collective projects?
● What materials are involved in the group production of knowledge. (Note: Software
counts as material. Also be sure to go beyond the constructed object when thinking
about what materials are used.)
● What roles do the group members say gender, race, and political orientation play in
community dynamics? What are the differences between the way groups talk about
themselves, and they way they act?
● How are they like or unlike open source groups that seem to construct themselves
around similar issues (i.e., other open source software privacy groups, other Feminist
collectives)? You should use peer-reviewed research to find information on other groups.

Students should upload an outline of their paper to LMS no later than one week before the
paper deadline, as indicated on the schedule below. The final paper should be submitted (via a
separate link) on LMS by the deadline indicated in the course schedule (see table below). All
references should be properly documented according to the guidelines of the ​Chicago Manual
of Style.​

Group Paper 2: Open Source Speculative Design Document

Minimum word count: 3000 words

Students will produce a speculative design document that describes how they would create and
operate an open source project designed to solve a problem of their choosing.
Students should begin the project by identifying a problem that they wish to solve through an
open source project. The problem could involve computers and software, but students should
by no means limit their thinking to this realm. They might also think about how they could create
an “open source” project to solve an issue in an area such as politics, economics, art, product
design or beyond. Creativity will be rewarded.

Once the group has selected a problem, students should write a paper that explains:

● Which problem their project intends to solve, and why their project is the right way to
solve it.
● Why and how the project adopts an open source model.
● Which specific activities and/or products the project will undertake or create in order to
solve the problem.
● Who will be allowed to participate in the project, and under what terms.
● How the project will disseminate information, both internally and externally.
● How their project will be organized and governed.
● How their project will be maintained over time, and/or when the project will declare its
goals met and dissolve.
● How the project will handle dissent within its community, as well as external criticism.
● Any other information relevant to explaining the project’s purpose, operations and
strategic vision.

Students should upload an outline of their paper to LMS no later than one week before the
paper deadline, as indicated on the schedule below. The final paper should be submitted (via a
separate link) on LMS by the deadline indicated in the course schedule (see table below). All
references should be properly documented according to the guidelines of the ​Chicago Manual
of Style.​

Studio Projects
1. Image ​(Concept: Collage; Tech: Gimp and/or Krita)
2. Sound ​(Concept: Remix; Tech: Audacity)
3. Code ​(Concept: Patch; Tech: Three.js)
4. Object ​(Concept: Mod; Tech: Blender)

All work will be authored and delivered via CodePen, and made publicly accessible.

● Required Software:​ ​ Gimp (and/or Krita), Audacity, Blender

● Required Accounts​:​ CodePen, Cloudinary

Studio projects will be presented in class in a group critique format. Crit is a group discussion in
which students discuss each others’ work. Presenting your work and participating during crits is
mandatory to receive full credit for projects.
Academic Integrity

Trust: Student-Teacher relationships are built on trust. Students must trust that teachers have
made appropriate decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach. And,
teachers must trust that the assignments that students turn in are their own. Acts, which violate
this trust, undermine the educational process. The Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and
Responsibilities defines various forms of Academic Dishonesty and you should make yourself
familiar with these. In this class, all assignments that are turned in for a grade must represent
the student’s own work. In cases where help was received, or teamwork allowed, a notation on
the assignment should indicate your collaboration.

Plagiarism: All work produced in this course must be original and created by the student.
Incidents of academic dishonesty or attempted academic dishonesty will result in grade
penalties and may be referred to the Dean of Students. While the creation of digital artwork
may utilize prior works for inspiration, reference, and source material, assignments in this class
are expected to represent the student’s originality and technical ability through the creation of
substantially new works. When in doubt, ask your instructor.

Studio section: Digital artwork frequently involves using materials from many sources including
your own original work. This is particularly true in this course, where appropriation, collaging,
found images and sounds, sampling and remixing, and sharing code are a central theme
throughout the studio portion of the course. The essential distinction is that your work must
demonstrate significant transformation of the source material in conveying new meaning from
your own creative intent. It should say something new in your own words, not just repeat what
your source material is already saying.

Course Calendar

Week / Dates Theme Readings for lecture Assignments Due

(due by Friday, 10
a.m.)

1: August 30 Introduction

2: Sept. 6 What is open source? DiBona et al., ​Open

Sources,​ introduction​.
***No studio this
week because
Tuesday=Monday
schedule***
UNIT 1: Open
Source Past

3: Sept. 10-13 A brief history of Tara McPherson,

computing “​U.S. Operating
Systems at
Studio: HTTP/HTML Mid-Century​”
overview & setup

4: Sept. 17-20 A brief history of Christopher Kelty,

openness “​Conceiving Open
Systems​”
Studio: Image I

5: Sept. 24-27 Birth of free software Richard Stallman,

“​The GNU Manifesto​”

Studio: Image II

6: Oct. 1-4 Free software vs. Bruce Perens, “​The Studio: Project 1 Crit
open source software Open Source
Definition​” Group paper 1 outline
due by 5 p.m. on Oct.
Eric Raymond, 3.
“​Goodbye, ‘free
software’; hello, ‘open
source’​”

7: Oct. 8-11 Selling free software Michael Tiemann, Group paper 1 final
“​Future of Cygnus paper due by 5 p.m.
Studio: Sound I Solutions​” on Oct. 10.

Robert Young,
“​Giving It Away​”

UNIT 2: Open
Source Present

8: Oct. 15-18 Open source beyond Annalee Newitz, “​If

software Code Is Free, Why
Not Me?​”
Studio: Sound II
Coleman et al., “​The
Social Production of
Ethics in Debian and
Free Software
Communities​”
9: Oct. 22-25 Race, gender and Barnett et al., Studio: Project 2 Crit
code “​QueerOS: A User’s
Manual​”

“​Linus Torvalds on
Why He Isn’t Nice​”

10: Oct. 29-Nov. 1 The "new" open Yochai Benkler, “The

source New Open Source
Economics.” Watch
Studio: Code I video ​here

Stephen Voyce,
“​Toward an Open
Source Poetics​”

11: Nov. 5-8 Decentralization: Marco Iansiti and

from open source to Karim Lakhani, “​The
blockchain Truth about
Blockchain​”
Studio: Code II

UNIT 3: Open
Source Future

12: Nov. 12-15 Open source and the Debbie Chachra, Studio: Project 3 Crit
future of the “​Why I am Not a
information economy Maker​” Group paper 2 outline
due by 10 a.m. on
Nov. 12.

13: Nov. 19-22 Disciplines and open Andrew Russell and Group paper 2 final
source Lee Vinsel, “​Let’s Get paper due by 5 p.m.
Excited about on Nov. 19.
Studio: 3D I Maintenance​”

14: Nov. 26

***No lecture this

week (Thanksgiving
break)***

15: Dec. 3-5 Free software, free Schalk Neethling, “​A

societies Free, Open Resource
to Solve our Third
 Studio: 3D II World Problems​”

Francis Fukuyama,
“​The End of History​”

16: Dec. 10 Course conclusion Final studio class Studio: Project 4 crit