The classic speculative fiction story, "The Long Rain" by Ray Bradbury, tells the story of astronauts who visit the planet Venus, where it is always raining and a few special domes provide a place for people to rest and recover. The crew members desperately travel from one shelter to another to find that they have all been completely destroyed and no longer provide protection. One by one they die or go insane under the bombardment of the rain. Article by Gabriela De Cicco, Translation by Nicole Lisa

Globalisation, Global warming | post a comment

Le 17 et 18 septembre 2007 : Dans le cadre de l’édition 2007 de la Semaine québécoise de l’informatique libre, le Laboratoire de communication médiatisée par ordinateur (LabCMO) et le Laboratoire de recherche en gestion du logiciel (LRGL) de l’UQÀM invitent les chercheurs et les praticiens à soumettre une proposition de communication sur le thème « cultures libres, innovations en réseau ».

Logiciels libres, CMO, UQAM | poster un commentaire

It is a great cartoon drawing by Andy Singer showing the "history of humanity" - it is all about technology, and it is all about happiness. In t he end of the day, is there happiness in technologies?

Source: Neatorama

Globalisation, Images, Технологии | post a comment

What is the status of the Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) revolution? Has the creation of software that can be freely used, modified, and redistributed transformed industry and society, as some predicted, or is this transformation still a work in progress? Perspectives on Free and Open Source Software brings together leading analysts and researchers to address this question, examining specific aspects of F/OSS in a way that is both scientifically rigorous and highly relevant to real-life managerial and technical concerns.

The book analyzes a number of key topics: the motivation behind F/OSS — why highly skilled software developers devote large amounts of time to the creation of "free" products and services; the objective, empirically grounded evaluation of software — necessary to counter what one chapter author calls the "steamroller" of F/OSS hype; the software engineering processes and tools used in specific projects, including Apache, GNOME, and Mozilla; the economic and business models that reflect the changing relationships between users and firms, technical communities and firms, and between competitors; and legal, cultural, and social issues, including one contribution that suggests parallels between "open code" and "open society" and another that points to the need for understanding the movement’s social causes and consequences.

Editors:
 Joseph Feller is Lecturer in Business Information Systems, University College Cork, Ireland.
 Brian Fitzgerald holds the Frederick A. Krehbiel II Chair in Innovation in Global Business and Technology, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems, University of Limerick, Ireland.
 Scott A. Hissam is Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Software Engineering Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.
 Karim R. Lakhani is a doctoral candidate in management at the MIT Sloan School of Management, strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, and cofounder of the MIT Open Source Research

Download the entire book

More information: The MIT Press

Free Software, Books | post a comment

Les femmes comptent pour seulement 1.5% du nombre total des développeurs de logiciels libres. Une étude ethnographique récente de l’Université de Cambridge montre que la dynamique culturelle au sein de la communauté du logiciel libre est elle-même responsable de cet écart énorme entre les genres. Dans la communauté du logiciel libre, dominée par les hommes, la technologie occupe une place centrale et les femmes sont assimilées au monde social, moins valorisé. La norme consiste à apprendre par soi-même et à pouvoir jongler avec l’informatique. Dans ce milieu, les nouveaux venus sont refoulés, la communication agressive est applaudie et le sexisme, toléré. Bien que toutes les opportunités soient ouvertes en termes de participation, les femmes préfèrent ne pas prendre part à un projet qui leur semble hostile.

L’article complet : Hacker ou macho alternatif ?

Pour lire plus, voir le site ADA, du nom d’Ada Lovelace, première femme programmeuse en informatique, est né de la constatation que les femmes sont sous-représentées dans le secteur des NTIC, les Nouvelles Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication.

TIC et genre, Logiciels libres, CMO | poster un commentaire

On ne peut apprivoiser la société émergente par l’étude des phénomènes pris un à un, mais plutôt par l’analyse de l’ensemble des tendances à partir de ses trois dimensions.

Les passages produisent des effets qui sont le reflet des grandes batailles que les mégamajors et les États-nations se livrent actuellement pour le contrôle de l’accès à l’information (contenus et services), de la nouvelle économie (marchés et territoires) et de l’imaginaire des gens (langue et culture).

Pour savoir plus : Michel Cartier

Globalisation , CMO | poster un commentaire

CNET.co.uk has published in November an entertaining article about the Top ten geek girls in the history of humanity. I was thinking there were more interesting and impressive characters (these look only Britsh and American), but I like to share it.

The most impressive for me is Marie Cury who "used to walk around with her pockets stuffed full of test tubes containing radioactive isotopes." And who died by a massive radiation exposure. I have always studied about her in school, but in a much more "respective" way ;-)

On the other hand, I am pleased to hear about Valentina Tereshkova, who was also a great star in my school (I was in a Russian school then). We studied a lot about the "fist woman in Space", and 12 of April, the day when the first astronaut (Jurii Gagarin) stepped on the Moon was a school holiday.

Here is the whole article: Top ten girl geeks

Gender and ICT | post a comment