#comp 491

[cdbrainrecords]

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[dreamilygeneralpeach-blog]

My liberal arts education at Dickinson has given me the skills to not only succeed professionally, but to be a well rounded individual who is able to think critically and make well informed decisions, actions and statements. My time at Dickinson has taught me a number of life lessons as well, firstly, that it is okay to fail and make mistakes, it is how you react to that failure that will make either a positive or negative difference in your life. I did extremely poorly during my sophomore year as a result of mental health issues that were brought upon as a result of the pandemic. As a result I had to drop my Economics Major and focus on Computer Science, although it was difficult, I managed to catch up with my peers during my junior year and am set to graduate on time if all goes well this semester. 

As a Computer Science Major, I have been able to take introductory courses that delve deep into Python and Java, two of the most versatile and useful languages. After this, we took specific upper level classes that further enriched our knowledge in various aspects of Computer Science such as Computing Abstraction, Data Structures and Algorithms and Analysis of Algorithms to name a few, although these are challenging courses, we learnt a significant amount of relevant information as a result of these courses and were able to gain a deeper understanding of Computer Science. The choices we were given to take 3 elective courses was the most memorable aspect of the major for me as I was able to realize and pursue my interest in Data Science by taking Data Mining and Database Systems. 

Although all of the courses that the Computer Science Major at Dickinson entails have been beneficial to my learning process and have taught me a lot, I believe that the classes that have had the biggest impact on me have been COMP 190, 290, 491 and 492, through COMP 190 and 290 we were taught the necessary skills to make successful and meaningful contributions to humanitarian open source projects and were able to contribute to Dickinson College’s open source project, Farm Data 2, which helps support small scale organic farming operations. The Senior Seminar was a course that I was initially incredibly nervous about as it seemed to be an extremely challenging course with rigid requirements and difficult assignments, however, it has been one of my favorite Computer Science Courses, the ability to choose what Humanitarian Foss Project to work on has made the experience more meaningful as we are able to make a difference in a sector that we are passionate about. Educational Inequality is an issue that Is extremely important and the thought that our group has been able to contribute to Sugar Labs, a free learning platform for children has made us so much more passionate and involved in the process as we showed through our many meetings with the founder of the project, Walter Bender and our contributions to the project. Additionally, the in class discussions added a lot of valuable information that is vital for us to understand before we join the workforce.

Apart from Computer Science courses,  due to the broad graduation requirements that Dickinson has in place, I have been able to take intriguing classes in various fields such as Economics, History, Creative Writing, Spanish, Women and Gender Studies etc… All of which have taught me information that has allowed me to think critically regarding all aspects of life and have prepared me to be a well-rounded person in my future career. I planned to minor in Economics, however I was unable to fit the final course that I needed into my schedule for Senior Year. However, the classes that I was able to take such as Environmental Economics and Political Economy of gender have opened my eyes to many of the issues that will likely affect me and all of us in the workforce and in life. 

The small classroom size has allowed me to learn how to advocate for myself and for education and has allowed me to experience extremely enriching opportunities that I would very likely not have been given had I gone to a larger school. These roles have further allowed me to become a proactive and detail oriented individual and have expanded my knowledge and outlook on life.

 I have held an executive position on The Dickinsonian since my freshman year as I enjoy writing and am interested in social issues, currently I am The Web Editor and have been able to apply the frontend development skills that I have learned as a Computer Science Major. As a Helpdesk Technician at The User Services Office, I have been able to fix small scale software issues and have become accustomed to a variety of Interfaces, additionally I learnt how to use tools such as Kace and Active Directory. My experience working for CCLA as a Dialogue Facilitator has been one of the most profound experiences as we aim to incorporate dialogue and encourage individuals to listen to each other, I have been given many opportunities to apply the dialogue skills that I was taught by planning, facilitating and evaluating dialogues as well as the opportunity to meet influential figures in intimate settings such as our breakfast with Rami Khoury. Next week, I will be visiting The United Nations Headquarters in New York to attend a conference regarding The Abraham Accords. Additionally, I am the Treasurer of The Asian and Asian American Collective (AAAC) and have worked as a Community Service Aid. 

All of these experiences have shaped me both as an individual and as a student. I appreciate that I have always been given choices and have been encouraged to take courses that interest me as opposed to having a rigid set of general education requirements and having to take courses that are neither relevant to my major nor interest me. This has really been the most beneficial aspect of attending a liberal arts institution. Additionally, I have greatly appreciated the wisdom that our professors have provided us based on their own experiences and opinions.

[blogfroginspace]

Reflections from an almost graduated Dickinson College CS major

As Dickinson College’s class of 2024 approaches graduation, we start to reminisce on the last four years of our lives, our near-complete undergraduate experience. I learned in my senior seminar class COMP-491 that reflection is an important step in the development process, and that seems to apply to both program and human development. So, as I approach my upcoming status of full-fledged Dickinsonian, I look back on the goals set by both the Computer Science (CS) department and Dickinson College itself.

Priding itself on its liberal-arts status, Dickinson’s educational philosophy decidedly enabled me to discover my interest in Computer Science, shaping the trajectory of my future career. Dickinson’s overarching mission is to provide “a useful, innovative, and interdisciplinary education in the liberal arts and sciences to prepare students to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship.” To promote this interdisciplinary focus, all first-year students are admitted and enroll without a declared major, and broad distribution requirements encourage us to explore a wide breadth of classes and departments. Thus, my first semester at Dickinson I registered for the introductory CS class as a fun elective. I didn’t anticipate that I would later declare a CS major and now am pursuing a PhD and career in the field, so I am grateful for the educational philosophy of the Dickinson curriculum which spurred it. And the utility I’ve realized from these broad distribution requirements didn’t stop there. While an education in computer science inherently lends itself to global engagement since the internet forms a globally unified network, Dickinson’s goals encourage more from students. So, to work towards a better sense of global citizenship (and secondarily to fulfill the college language requirements), I spent multiple semesters learning German. Beyond briefly imagining moving to Germany, I never expected to have a real use for the language. But last summer, to explore further education in CS, I traveled to Germany for a week-long summer program to hear lectures and panels from prominent CS researchers. While the program itself was entirely in English, my basic German skills helped me navigate through my first visit to the country, and I personally felt the advantageous effects of Dickinson’s commitment to students’ global citizenship.

Somewhat unique to the class of 2024, we almost all started college in the midst of the global pandemic, our first college classes taught via Zoom. A full quarter of my time at Dickinson was completely virtual. We, as well as much of the world, got a hands-on education in technological literacy by navigating courses, group projects, and attempts to build a cohesive community entirely remotely. While perhaps unorthodox, I certainly made progress toward the CS major’s goal of making our skills adaptable, finding creative ways to communicate and work in teams across time zones, and developing technical skills with common applications like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. Moreover, the 2020 academic year exemplified the immense societal impact that computing and technology have on how our world operates. After I graduate, I will be better prepared to be adaptable and technologically competent in my future endeavors, whether that be collaborating with colleagues remotely across vast geographical distance, learning new applications and features for online collaboration, or adapting to a sudden life-altering pandemic.

Another goal of the CS major is for students to develop mastery in problem solving applicable to a wide variety of disciplines. Many of the courses I have taken have encouraged my progress toward this goal. One such course was Computability and Complexity, where I learned about the theoretical foundations behind the field of CS. I was particularly intrigued learning about the question of decidability, and especially Kurt Gödel’s incompleteness theorems. Discussing the ideas with the professor of the course and exploring further readings about the topic eventually led me to minor in Mathematics, which continues to widen my perspective and approach to CS and strengthen my problem-solving skills generally.  The experience is an example of the interdisciplinary education attainable and encouraged through Dickinson.

The CS major also sets forth the goal for students to acquire multiple perspectives of the value of computing, including its role in generating commercial value. While we’re all aware of the commercial value generated by big tech companies, not all CS curriculum shows hands-on ways of applying specific skills beyond programming. But my experience in the Operations Research course last semester included applying specific mathematical algorithms with programs for real-world case studies and logistical scenarios. We discussed many real-world situations and business examples of how Operations Research is used every day, which showcased a specific way computing provides commercial value, previously unbeknownst to me.

Another aspect of the value of computing emphasized by the CS major goals is in driving social change. Contributing to my progress on both this goal and the milestone of acquiring technical skills “relevant to contemporary computing infrastructure, including large-scale and open source projects” were two courses, namely COMP-190 and COMP-290. Together, these courses included student contributions to the FarmData2 open-source project for the Dickinson College Farm. Working on an open-source project over the course of several weeks certainly improved my technical and teamwork skills, but it also highlighted the social impact of computing. Dickinson has a strong commitment to sustainability, directly reflected in the operations of the organic college farm, and the project allowed all of us CS students to personally support that commitment. Learning about the entire HFOSS (Humanitarian Free and Open Source Software) community effectively demonstrated the immense social good that computing can achieve. I’ve come to further appreciate this by seeing my classmates contribute to other HFOSS projects in our year-long senior seminar course, like projects developing free educational platforms.

Though I’ve seen the transformational power of computing in driving social change, I’ve also learned about several accompanying social, legal, and ethical issues. We’ve all seen the immense social impact of recent technologies like AI in Chat-GPT, and it’s been important to discuss the subsequent concerns. For example, some of my classes included readings about how biases can be indirectly learned by AI models from unbalanced training data. This is perhaps indirectly perpetuated by the lack of diversity across the technology sector. As my peers and I enter the workforce and other areas of the field, it’s our responsibility to continue increasing awareness of these issues and actively work on addressing them. For example, if I continue working on research involving AI, it’s imperative for me and my collaborators to be aware of and account for biases in those models and consider diverse perspectives, especially if our work could impact human lives. Another area of issues has been with current legislation, and lack thereof, for emerging technology and tech companies. We’ve seen numerous lawsuits against big corporations surrounding issues of monopolies, privacy, and liability, many of which are representative of larger moral and ethical questions that current legislation fails to address. For example, what are the ethical and legal boundaries defining what content social media platforms can censor? While this question, like many others, has no realistic unanimous answer, our senior seminar class has discussed several ethical frameworks that can direct ethical decision making in our day-to-day lives. We even read the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) code of ethics for aspiring and current professionals in the field of computing as a resource for making such decisions. As my peers and I become participants in a global society increasingly governed by emerging technology and take on roles that shape such technology, we can keep in mind the implications of computing, both beneficial and prudent, and use it to inform our future careers.

I’ve mentioned several goals set forth by the Dickinson CS department, and both my personal experience and witnessing the successes of my classmates has demonstrated the importance of progressing on them. But the goal on which I expect most of us are fixated as we approach graduation is our preparation for graduate study or a professional career in computing. Reflecting on my progress toward this goal made me realize how much I’ve grown while completing theCS major. As a freshman, I had zero coding experience and was completely unaware of the existence of CS research. Now, I have worked on two significant research projects that involved creating a large software system from scratch as well as understanding, modifying, and using large, existing code bases. One such project is my Honor’s Thesis, a current year-long research project which I’ve worked on for the last two semesters, and it’s been pivotal in furthering my progress. For example, it’s strengthened my skills in project planning, code maintenance and refactoring, and addressing complex programming challenges. I’ve also gained valuable experience in technical writing while drafting my proposal and thesis and in presenting technical information to different audiences. The preparation I gained through the CS curriculum has definitely readied me for graduate school in computing, as I now weigh multiple offers to top CS and Software Engineering PhD programs.

Furthermore, being a CS major provided me the chance to work as a tutor in Dickinson’s CS help room (a drop-in style tutoring hours for students in lower-level CS courses) and to work as a grader for a course called Computing Abstractions for three semesters. These experiences strengthened my interest in tutoring, especially for CS, as I found it rewarding to share the excitement and realizations that stem from successful coding projects with younger students. It encouraged me to continue pursuing this area of work, so this summer before I start a PhD program, I will be working as a lead teaching assistant for a virtual summer program run by Girls Who Code to teach high school students about computing and invite them into the field of CS. I’m very excited to be able to share my academic passion with young women who may not have been otherwise introduced to CS, and this is only possible because of the experience I gained as a Dickinson CS major.

Though leaving the comfort and support of the Dickinson campus is intimidating, I feel confident in my preparation for the future, including both my summer job and my pursuance of higher education in CS research. Reflecting on my progress toward the goals set by Dickinson College and the CS major have solidified this confidence, and I now look forward to seeing how my peers and I leverage our Dickinson education in the future!

[johnchu]

Reflective Blog Posting (Comp 492)

I have been privileged to acquire expertise in various avenues of computer science through Dickinson’s computer science curriculum. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life which is crucial to be prepared as a computer science (CS) professional after graduation. Recalling my experiences in computer science courses, I have successfully achieved the goals of the computer science major and the mission of Dickinson College education in multiple aspects.

First, I successfully accomplished my academic goal as a CS major by understanding core computer science concepts such as data structures, algorithms, and computability and complexity theories. To major in computer science, I should master core concepts of computer science such as data structures, algorithms, computational computability and complexity theories, software development, computer architecture, and distributive systems. I successfully acquired them via CS courses that are represented as CS major requirements. I earned 3.92/4.00 on my Computer Science major GPA which provides empirical evidence that proves my qualitative understanding of core computer science concepts.

Furthermore, I successfully acquired the ability to recognize, design, apply and implement abstractions in complex computing systems. In Dickinson CS education, students must complete the Computing Abstractions course, represented as Comp 256. Through this course, I acquired knowledge about system abstractions and absorbed them via a heavy homework workload and lab for system abstraction. Then, I brought the skills and knowledge I acquired from this course to Operating Systems (OS) course which requires Comp 256 as a prerequisite. In this course, I learned specifically about the mechanisms and algorithms of OS and applied them to design my own operating system for Spring 2022 semester.  With Adia Wu and Amir Zawad, I was able to implement an operating system that behaves as an open-source operating system such as Ubuntu and CentOS which enables concurrent execution of multiple commands. I am grateful for this semester-long OS project. It was the most critical factor in obtaining my internship at Reeplayer in the summer of 2022, and this internship has behaved one of the most critical roles in securing my internship at the University of Washington in the summer of 2023 .

Second, I would like to describe the progress to achieve a goal to improve project proficiency that has a real-world impact as part of the learning goals of the computer science major. To complete such a goal, I acquired a technical computing skill set applicable to open-source projects. In the Dickinson CS curriculum, every student must complete a yearlong CS senior seminar, and I am completing this requirement at the end of the current semester. As part of the CS senior seminar, I have been contributing to an ML open source, Hugging’s Transformers since the fall of 2022. My responsibilities in Hugging’s Transformers open source include creating GitHub pull requests to troubleshoot software defects to improve the quality of software products. I have created pull requests that append new Transformer features to the existing models. The majority of those pull requests were merged by continuously integrating, deploying, and verifying the software product features and passing all automated pipeline tests. To accomplish those features, I performed a capstone project in Comp 491 course to familiarize myself with a technical computational skill set for Hugging’s Transformers. Since Hugging’s Transformers is a collection of deep learning libraries that primarily use PyTorch, TensorFlow, and Jax/Flax, I decided to deepen into one of these three frameworks.  Since Pytorch was the most frequently used deep learning framework in the research community, I decided to deepen my learning in PyTorch. After taking PyTorch online courses that are freely provided on YouTube, I was able to implement a PyTorch model that predicts the COVID-19 infection rate based on 746 chest CT-scan data. This has been my crucial experience to explore PyTorch which resulted in successfully adding the “BetterTransformer” API into Tapas Model which is mainly designed with PyTorch.

Furthermore, I would like to describe my capabilities to work and collaborate in a team through projects from Dickinson CS courses. I have conducted multiple team projects for Dickinson coursework such as constructing my own Database system that interacts with dynamic web pages, designing my own operating system that enables parallel execution of multiple programs, generating a FarmData harvest report, and Transformers open source project. Frankly speaking, I recalled myself being an intolerant partner in my introductory CS courses. I was ahead of most of the students in the classroom when working on lab work but was not able to wait for my partner to follow my pace. Instead of working together to complete a lab, I finished every task on my own and let my partner know that we completed a project. I did not notice the importance of collaborative work at that moment. However, I learned how to respect my partner and behave as a grown-up CS professional. For every project I conducted as mentioned above, I used to perform those projects in the following way. I always told my partner to have some personal time to work independently for the first few days and meet to share feedback from each of our independent work. Not only I earned very high grades on all those projects, but I am now acknowledged by peers and juniors as a person whom they want to work with the most.

Third, I accomplished my goal as a CS major by setting up essential fundamentals to initiate my professional career after graduation via Dickinson CS education. I am prepared for my potential Ph.D. program in computer science based on my development in problem-solving skills applicable to a wide variety of disciplines. Considering my goal to be a researcher by obtaining Ph.D. in computer science, it is essential to develop problem-solving skills because they are essential assets to complete the research successfully. I am grateful for my research experience acquired from Dickinson’s CS education that aims to assign Dickinson first-year students to First-Year Seminar courses with diverse classroom settings. My research specifically focuses on devising multiple approaches to identify if any of them better accomplishes the original research objective. The research is interdisciplinary because its tasks require proficiencies in operation research techniques and Python coding. It is very inspirational to apply my coding skill to solving a real-world problem using optimization techniques, and I learned both Python coding and operations research algorithms via Dickinson CS courses. This research will be presented in April 2023 targeting to open audience. This implies that I will present this research to non-CS majors also. Hence, such research experience helped me prepare both technical and non-technical aspects of this research that anyone can understand.  

As a senior at Dickinson, I was able to explore various liberal arts disciplines to fulfill my graduation requirements such as U.S. Diversity, Global Diversity, Art, Sustainability, and Humanity. Although I did not satisfy Global Diversity and Art requirements, I did take courses to fulfill the other requirements by taking courses in the liberal arts disciplines. Since I was a computer science and mathematics double major, I was well prepared for my professional career after Dickinson. However, as a future Dickinson alumnus, it is significant to lead rich and fulfilling lives of engaged global citizenship as clearly mentioned in the mission of Dickinson interdisciplinary education. To accomplish such a goal, I have taken courses that are hugely colossally writing-based. For example, I specifically want to exemplify the most significant course that improved my writing skills and critical thinking. First, I took my First-Year Seminar in the fall of 2017 whose topic is “Ideas that have Shaped the World.” In this course, I had an opportunity to read 9 different books from 9 different authors whose ideas contributed to shaping the world. Personally, I resonated the most with “Plato Republic” by Plato and “Discourse on Method” by Rene Descartes of those 9 books because I thought they were the most relevant to write my final essay. I had to discuss cosmopolitanism by making Plato and Descartes debate via their points, and this process was consequential in shaping my views toward “how I should think to live in a cosmopolitan world.” Before this class, I had never been educated under the U.S. curriculum, and I did not care about those critical thoughts. However, I learned how to hone my critical thinking via a wide range of books across many disciplines through this course, and I try to read more books even now after that course. Those critical thoughts are crucial qualities that leaders need, and therefore I should incessantly read more books on many different topics to know more a lot about various values in those disciplines, and those will be critical to leading fulfilling and enriching lives of engaged global citizenship.

In a nutshell, Dickinson education has been very crucial to me to improve my qualities in various aspects to prepare for my future professional career, and it has been rewarding for the last four years to accomplish the academic goal of a computer science major and Dickinson liberal arts education. If I become successful and influential in the community where I belong, I will be willing to share my valuable experience with future generations to contribute to shaping a better world tomorrow.  

[edwardsg491-blog]

COMP 491-01 [Fall 2019]

Welcome to my new blog!

This blog will be used exclusively to post original writing for my Senior Seminar course by me, Gregory Edwards, Dickinson College Class of 2020 student. I will be posting reflective writing on reading and discussion topics from class related to free and open source software (FOSS), software engineering, and contemporary social and ethical issues in technology.

As of today’s post, I don’t have many plans for post-graduation. My hope is that I will be able to locate an internship or research opportunity to receive experience in a field that I develop an interest in over the coming two semesters. I, frankly, do not have a wealth of knowledge concerning possible career paths or graduate study after my time as an undergraduate.

- Gregory Edwards

Tuesday, 9/3/2019

[jccomp491]

Intro Post

This blog is being created for Comp 491 at Dickinson College and will be used to post reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to social, ethical and legal issues in computing. My plans after college are to hopefully find a job that will allow me to combine my interest in computer science and visual arts. That might mean graphic design, UI or UX design, or any number of other categories. I'd prefer to live in a city on the east coast like Philly or Boston.

What I hope to gain from this course is more experience with working on a large collaborative project, and to brush up on languages and skills that have gotten rusty over the last few years.

[dangeroustimemachinewitch]

Comp 491 First Post

Hi,

My name is Amelia, and this is my blog for course COMP 491 F21. This blog is used for posting reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to social, ethical and legal issues in technology.

My plans after college are to travel to different countries, improve my language skills, and work as a software engineer.

[chaoticnerdobject]

First blog post

This blog is being created for COMP 491 course and will be used to post reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to social ethical and legal issues in technology. 

My plans after college is to work as a software engineer for 3 years, then do masters in electrical engineering. While working I am hoping to get a good understanding of what software world looks like.

[eabcomp-491]

Initial Post

This blog is being created for COMP-491 and will be used to post reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to social, ethical and legal issues in technology. My plans after college are to move to southern California. I also am thinking that I want to go into backend software development. 

[raph-tech-blog]

First Post

First post! This account will be used for Dickinson’s senior seminar (https://dickinson-comp-491-492.github.io/website/01-BlogSlackWikiGit.html) to post reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to social, ethical and legal issues in technology.

For starters, my plan after college is to work in the industry for a few years. I am returning to the place I interned at and if I want, I will pursue grad school in the near future to expand my interests. 

[phampercy]

Hi, from Percy

This blog is created for COMP 491 class, Computer Science Senior Seminar, at Dickinson College. I will use this blog to post my assignments - reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to social, ethical and legal issues in technology.

My plans after college are to become a software developer, maybe with a backend system specialization. I hope to bring what I have learned from my COMP 491 and apply them to my future career

[shannonloughin]

Welcome!

This blog has been created for COMP 491, with the purpose to read and discuss topics pertaining to social, ethical, and legal issues in technology.

My plans after college are to pursue a Software Development position with a company that focuses on innovation and helping others, and to always continue learning (whether that be formally or through experience).

[tdedrickson]

Hello & Welcome to my Blog!

This blog is going to be a channel for me to share my reflections on reading and discussion topics as they occur in my Computer Science Senior Seminar (COMP 491). Topics will be related to free and open source software (FOSS), software engineering, and contemporary social and ethical issues in technology.

My plans after college have been changing rapidly. Over the past few years I have been pursuing a career as a developer. However, as my interests in medicine have grown, my career interests have evolved accordingly. After I graduate from college, I will be attending a year long post-baccalaureate program to complete my premedical requirements before applying to medical schools. I hope to be able to use my technical background in computer science and data science as a tool to supplement my future career as a doctor.

[dubravsm-blog]

First COMP 491 Blog Post!

This blog is being created for my senior seminar course and will be used to post reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to free and open source software (FOSS), software engineering, contemporary social and ethical issues in technology.

My plans after college are to find a job as a software engineer somewhere in the east cost of the United States. I love working with software and technology and want to build my career around that!

[hieutran-comp491f20]

Initial Post

This blog is being created by Hieu Tran for the course COMP 491 at Dickinson College for the Fall 2020 semester. It will be used to post reflective writing on reading and discussion topics related to free and open source software (FOSS), software engineering and contemporary social and ethical issues in technology.

My plans after college are to work as a software engineer for about 3 years and then maybe to apply for graduate schools after that.

[edwardsg491-blog]

H/FOSS Project Community (09/13/2019)

Note: Date formatted in MM/DD/YYYY

A positive effect from this round of reading material and discussion is that I have gleaned a seemingly more stable and detailed understanding of FOSS projects. The first round strived to establish understanding by distinguishing open source projects from proprietary software, develop the meaning of the term "free" and its relevance to this distinction, and the fundamental history of the FOSS movement. This time, we learned and spoke more about the infrastructure of FOSS projects and sought to answer fundamental questions to understanding them, such as "How do they work?", "What attracts developers to a project, and what makes them stay?", and "What are the structures that govern progress of a project like?". By exploring multiple different demonstrative, generalized situations and examples of such, I have gained a better understanding of the communication, responsibilities, and expected effects/outcomes of a FOSS project's developer base. This will be helpful when we begin joining developer bases for projects later in the semester.

Two concepts that, for me, I had trouble understanding prior to discussion and came out of the discussion with a much better understanding of were: the single vendor open source community type and development forks.

1. From the reading, I knew the definition of the single vendor community type, but it still confused me as it seemed to me like an outlier amongst the other described types. I had many questions about its structure and how it differed from the other types, and in the discussion we touched on that type directly and discussed it in length. This confirmed my intuitive suspicion that the single vendor type is likely one of controversy in the open source community because it might seem to defile “the spirit of OSS”. My group and I discussed in length about how a contributor might be deterred by this type because of the inherently different power structure and influence over intracommunal culture development, but on the other hand uniquely introduces reliable, referrable expertise and the ever-present dedication to brand loyalty. These arguments about the pros and cons of the structure really helped to fill out my understanding of this community type.

2. Development forks were something that I seem to have accidentally read over at some point, because I was wholly unfamiliar with the term at the start of the discussion. However, introducing the term in reference to its counterpart, hard forks, really helped to round out the overall concept of forking and its role in an open source development community. From that my group and I decided that we would have to move the definition of forking, which was more aligned with that of hard forking, away from that initial attempt and more towards a general idea that can be modified to provide the respective specific details necessary to convey the ideas of hard forking and development forking.

In both cases, I am glad that we touched upon these points during the discussion. The last point from the discussion that I would like to touch upon was that of the Contributor Mountain. We all agreed that this was a quite well-visualized concept and a good tool for future reference. The main conclusion that we were able to formulate from our discussion of the tool and how it was explored in the reading through the very specific example provided is that while it might at times seem optimistic, it is surprising when one realistically views every contribution from a community regardless of the contributor's location on the Contributor Mountain to be helpful and effective. It is easy to find value in contribution, no matter how futile it might seem to someone from the perspective of a developer or how indecipherable it might seem to someone from the perspective of a user.

The readings and preparation material from this round of discussion were:

Four types of open source communities by Matthias Stürmer

Teaching Open Source by Greg DeKoenigsberg, Ch. 2 - Introduction_to_Free_and_Open_Source_Software, Sections 2.5.1-2.5.4, 2.6 

Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel, Ch. 4 - Social and Political Infrastructure

Teaching Open Source by Greg DeKoenigsberg, Ch. 3 - The Lay of the Land, Sections 3.1-3.3

Producing Open Source Software by Karl Fogel, Ch. 8 - Managing Participants

The questions covered during class discussion were: 

What motivation do companies have to create single vendor open source projects? What motivation do developers have to join single vendor open source project communities? Can there be any possible reasons for a developer to avoid contributing to single vendor open source project?

What is forking? What is the difference between “development forks” and “hard forks”? In what situations do hard forks occur and what are its consequences? How does the potential for forks prevent true dictators in an open source community? Should companies that release open source projects be worried about forkability?

What qualities enable an open source community to thrive and be successful? What are the various levels of contribution to a FOSS project?