Dr Laura James's writings

Turns out having a new job significantly delays writing things. But here we are, with a backlog. http://catandgirl.com/at-work-in-the-content-mines/ I've been reading a recent issue of the Journal of Peer Production , which focusses on open (starting with some reflections on the journal's development).  One article dives into open hardware , and particularly looks beyond the common forms (electronics, mechanical) to see what open means in other areas - such as larger scale equipment, or architecture - and how you might assess and reason about this. Sadly doesn't dive down to the silicon layer... In software --- Analytically, the more distributed, informal and open organizations tend to produce the more modular codebases. On the contrary, the more centralized, hierarchical and closed organizations produce more monolithic software.  What does this mean for hardware? Francesca Pick writes about the tensions between chaos and order for emerging organisations . ...

On Tuesday I was up at the University of Manchester for the first meeting of the 2019 Fellowship. The Institute gave us a great introduction and it was good how much they were keen to hear from us what we needed by way of support. 2019 event Most of the day was taken up with short talks from all the Fellows.  Some particular highlights for me: Lucy Whalley talked about getting research software published, as a way to get recognition for coding and raise the importance of software outputs. The Journal of Open Source Software  is designed to support both good software practice and good research. Ben Krikler has coined the term "hackshop" for a combined workshop and hackathon, taking place over a few days, with mixed ability attendees. He's been thinking about doing one on FPGA programming, and also about remote hackshops to reduce carbon emissions. I'd love to see more remote events - not just because of carbon-intensive travel, but also because in person ev...