4 ms·

O'Reilly donating ebook "Open Government" as a tribute to Aaron Swartz

349 points by code_chimp 14y ago

ouroboros 14y ago
for a split second there I read this as Papa Bear O'Reilly donating the book. During that split second my brain was almost fried trying to make sense of how he could have written a book titled "Open Government"
- orionblastar 14y ago
  There are two O'Reillys, one good, another one evil. Papabear O'Reilly does not give out free ebooks. Tim O'Reilly gives out free ebooks and even gives out free ebooks if you own the old paper book and enter the ISBN number on his site. Also OReilly ebooks are DRM free as well.
  - sajes 14y ago
    I'm not seeing where to enter the ISBN. Could you point me in the right direction please? EDIT: I've found where you register print books, but it claims you have to pay $5 to "upgrade" to the ebook version.
    - orionblastar 14y ago
      It used to be free. I guess they added the $5 fee?
- mtgx 14y ago
  I don't think donating Killing Kennedy or Killing Lincoln to "honor" Aaron Swartz would be very appropriate...
juddlyon 14y ago
That's a nice gesture by O'Reilly. Salute.
LuisD 14y ago
Is it on ResearchGate? http://www.researchgate.net http://www.researchgate.net
thangalin 14y ago
I'd like to see more than an Open Government. I'd like to see a web site developed where people read about issues of interest, learn about the benefits and drawbacks to upcoming policies at a centralized location, see how those policies affect budgets (federal, provincial, or municipal), and provide a simple voting mechanism to get a general sense of how agreeable people find the policy. More than that, it would be amazing if people could contribute to the discussion in a moderated fashion (with moderators selected at random, for random intervals of time, to avoid herd-mentality). Something like this: 1. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Interests%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Interests%... 2. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Policy%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Policy%20P... 3. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Debate%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Debate%20P... 4. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Supporting%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Supporting... For anyone curious about the project, check out: https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/ https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/
- brian_cloutier 14y ago
  Being able to say "A small subset of the population is now informed and believes this way" doesn't seem quite like "more than an Open Government". What is so special about this website that it can bring such a positive change on how we are governed (while unaffiliated with the government) that it is "more" than changing the government itself?
- legutierr 14y ago
  There are screenshots but no source code in the repo. Are these just mockups?
  - thangalin 14y ago
    Yes, just mockups.
- saraid216 14y ago
  1) There are people working on that kind of thing. Start asking around, make your interest known, get people to tell you when they hear something. Look into things like Code for America, Make Your Laws, or Votizen; they're not precisely what you're looking for, but they've probably heard about things that are closer. 2) Build it. Get to know people who are involved in your local town's politics and build community support for such a web site. Figure out what the needs of the various subcommunities are, including the people who don't speak English, the people who have never used a computer, and the like and figure out how to account for them. Once you've got broad support, you can work on converting people into actually using your site. Yes, it's exactly like a startup. Except that you're not going to turn much of a profit and you can't pick and choose your customer base. 3) Keep in mind that any widely used system is going to become a target for optimization and exploitation. That's what government corruption is.
grogenaut 14y ago
They mean Bill not Tim.
wamatt 14y ago
Kudos for a thoughtful gesture from O'Reilly. It does make one wonder, has openness in Government increased under the current administration or not? While the reality might remain elusive, my sense is, at a minimum, the perception of openness, has strengthened with the public.
egeozcan 14y ago
This is such a nice gesture! However I have a (maybe small) concern: They use creative commons no derivative license. Doesn't that make forking pointless, if not a breach of terms?

349 points by code_chimp 14y ago

for a split second there I read this as Papa Bear O'Reilly donating the book. During that split second my brain was almost fried trying to make sense of how he could have written a book titled "Open Government"

orionblastar 14y ago
There are two O'Reillys, one good, another one evil. Papabear O'Reilly does not give out free ebooks. Tim O'Reilly gives out free ebooks and even gives out free ebooks if you own the old paper book and enter the ISBN number on his site. Also OReilly ebooks are DRM free as well.
- sajes 14y ago
  I'm not seeing where to enter the ISBN. Could you point me in the right direction please? EDIT: I've found where you register print books, but it claims you have to pay $5 to "upgrade" to the ebook version.
  - orionblastar 14y ago
    It used to be free. I guess they added the $5 fee?
mtgx 14y ago
I don't think donating Killing Kennedy or Killing Lincoln to "honor" Aaron Swartz would be very appropriate...

juddlyon 14y ago

That's a nice gesture by O'Reilly. Salute.

LuisD 14y ago

Is it on ResearchGate? http://www.researchgate.net http://www.researchgate.net

thangalin 14y ago

I'd like to see more than an Open Government. I'd like to see a web site developed where people read about issues of interest, learn about the benefits and drawbacks to upcoming policies at a centralized location, see how those policies affect budgets (federal, provincial, or municipal), and provide a simple voting mechanism to get a general sense of how agreeable people find the policy. More than that, it would be amazing if people could contribute to the discussion in a moderated fashion (with moderators selected at random, for random intervals of time, to avoid herd-mentality). Something like this: 1. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Interests%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Interests%... 2. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Policy%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Policy%20P... 3. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Debate%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Debate%20P... 4. https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Supporting%20Page https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/wiki/Supporting... For anyone curious about the project, check out: https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/ https://bitbucket.org/djarvis/world-politics/

brian_cloutier 14y ago
Being able to say "A small subset of the population is now informed and believes this way" doesn't seem quite like "more than an Open Government". What is so special about this website that it can bring such a positive change on how we are governed (while unaffiliated with the government) that it is "more" than changing the government itself?
legutierr 14y ago
There are screenshots but no source code in the repo. Are these just mockups?
- thangalin 14y ago
  Yes, just mockups.
saraid216 14y ago
1) There are people working on that kind of thing. Start asking around, make your interest known, get people to tell you when they hear something. Look into things like Code for America, Make Your Laws, or Votizen; they're not precisely what you're looking for, but they've probably heard about things that are closer. 2) Build it. Get to know people who are involved in your local town's politics and build community support for such a web site. Figure out what the needs of the various subcommunities are, including the people who don't speak English, the people who have never used a computer, and the like and figure out how to account for them. Once you've got broad support, you can work on converting people into actually using your site. Yes, it's exactly like a startup. Except that you're not going to turn much of a profit and you can't pick and choose your customer base. 3) Keep in mind that any widely used system is going to become a target for optimization and exploitation. That's what government corruption is.

grogenaut 14y ago

They mean Bill not Tim.

wamatt 14y ago

Kudos for a thoughtful gesture from O'Reilly. It does make one wonder, has openness in Government increased under the current administration or not? While the reality might remain elusive, my sense is, at a minimum, the perception of openness, has strengthened with the public.

egeozcan 14y ago

This is such a nice gesture! However I have a (maybe small) concern: They use creative commons no derivative license. Doesn't that make forking pointless, if not a breach of terms?