Here Comes Everybody

Open-source work is a phenomenon. Whether it be Linux, Wikipedia, or a small project that fails, open-source work shows the human desire to contribute. An innate part of being human is love and care for the welfare of others. Although, admittedly, this attribute doesn't always shine in human beings, this idea of love for the community and things created by the it drive the development of amazing tools like Linux and Wikipedia. Shirky speaks of failure for free in regards to open-source work; I would add to this idea success for free. Whether a project succeeds or fails really is trivial; what matters is the united endeavor to contribute and create. This deep-seeded desire to create and share brings to mind the implementation of the Law of Consecration, or even a Socialist-run government. Unfortunately, we have seen that with too much freedom and too little governing, groups of people become destructive and unfair. The remarkable characteristic of open-source work is that destructive work is nearly immediately eradicated and repelled. The sense of camaraderie and well-being in a community of contributors is nearly impossible to restrain or destroy, and thus astounding works such as Linux and Wikipedia are created.    

Techies and the Church

Technology is a powerful tool to the Church; it is also a major distraction. Computers are used at temples for records and have drastically increased the rate at which ordinance work can be performed. Computers used for genealogy allow members to find and ensure temple work is performed for loved ancestors. Computers also play a large role in welfare management, materials management, and record keeping. However, technology has become a huge distraction in the Church as well. A Sunday School teacher sharing a lesson while 4 or 5 students play games, text, or check sports scores on iPhones has become a frequent occurrence. The Spirit has a hard time teaching when these things are going on. I personally am a fan of physical scriptures, because it removes the temptation of opening an app or game on a phone. It even feels a bit strange for me to see a bishop carrying around an iPad. I hope that technology can continue to be a powerful tool for the Church, while the distraction component can be minimized.    

How Many Eyes Does a Box Jellyfish Have?

More eyes means faster debugging and more efficient use of resources. Take the theoretical development plans of company A and company B for example. Company A hires a handful of highly-trained and experienced software testers to gut out bugs and find solutions in the commercial software being constructed. These experts spend months pounding through source code hunting for bugs. Eventually, the software is deemed satisfactory for release. This plan is fine but has significant drawbacks. Once the software is released, it will  be stretched and strained by thousands of users and more bugs will inevitably arise. The experts then have to find and fix the bugs. This process is slow and requires paying the experts a lot of money. Now lets consider Company B's development plan. Company B plans to release beta versions of its software and allow users, along with experts of their own, to help co-develop the software. With a thousand more sets of eyes, bugs are found and dealt with quickly. This plan is faster and more efficient.

Family History

The internet is a powerful and enabling tool in the hands of LDS members for family history work. Family history is a principle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it is as important as paying tithing or following the Word of Wisdom. Fortunately, the internet provides a simple and feasible way for anyone with access to a computer to add personal ancestral information into a database. Thousands of people use the internet to further the work each day. It only makes sense that the internet is a great tool for family history work. Both use massive data bases and intricate connections so linking the two together is like putting wheels on a car and telling the driver to hit the gas. One issue to keep in mind, however, is that giving this power to all ordinary people means that errors will arise so a system of verification is needed.

Copyright

File-sharing is not all bad for musical artists. The radio increases record sales by allowing free access to music. Likewise, artists gain popularity through file-sharing. They make money from this in other ways. I will use myself as an example. I discovered the band Silverstein through friends and file-sharing. I liked their music so much that I paid $25 to go see them live and even bought a t-shirt. Let me do some math. Buying Silverstein's CD would be around $12; what they got from me was around $40. Had I not discovered this band through file-sharing, I would not have bought their CD, gone to their concert, or bought a shirt. Companies can complain about copyright infringement but it honestly is not the artists pushing these laws, it is the company executives who want to continue to rule the industry.