Unlike the Open Source Initiative (OSI), GitHub do not define open source as a software topic.
This definition follows a discussion where they end up with this conclusion : « What we’ve been calling open source, may in fact be something else, especially when we start to use those workflows to collaborate on things beyond code. »
10 years ago, the organization tried to define the concept of open source for a new glossary as there is no definition of the concept to which we can refer (the OSI's "Open Source Definition" not being a definition).
Their initial definition was criticized by Karl Fogel, one major open software author who wrote the book « Producing Open Source Software ».
It started with some debates around the right to contribute.
In the meantime, Ben Balter a worker at GitHub was writing a blog post on his website around the issue.
The following question come up : « Can we call this blog post open source? ».
The blog being published on his personal website with markdown source files edited (collaboratively) trough GitHub.
Karl Fogel's answer: « Well, I think that's an easy one: yes, it's open source. »
The title of the article reflect the conclusion : « Open source, not just software anymore » : https://ben.balter.com/2014/01/27/open-collaboration/
For the author, this represents the collapse of an entire belief system, which has led to the largest open software hosting platform not considering open source as a software subject.
Since then we see this idea of open source beyond software being more formalized like with the notion of « open source educational resources », these open educational resources (OER) that would provide their source files. [https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.14330 + https://jose.theoj.org/about]
In fact, outside the popular belief there is no evidence that open source is a software topic. « The internet has noticed that you tried to define “open source” », but not the Open Source Initiative.
Do you believe that the « open source community » understand « open source » ? It's probably just an illusion driven by the OSI, the reality is surely that nobody clearly understands this concept.
Towards open source 2.0, from open source software to open source resources ? Liberated from the irrelevant Open Source Definition and its broken lighthouse.
Github's glossary: https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/learning-about-github/github-glossary#open-source
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