Open Source: Get Some Podcasted Perspective Courtesy Of UC Berkeley

If you’re like me, you can see the advantages of open source development in the digital media age and how we can all benefit, but some of the core ideas might still escape you. Perhaps they are the economic concepts or they’re legal stuff. This might only be evident when you try to explain open source to sceptics or maybe you’re finding yourself questioning the long term survivability of working with open source. Can you really make a go of it? Where does the rest of the world stand on all this?

It’s hard to find a place to start and suck it all in, and I’ve found myself wishing there was a class someone taught where I could get well-informed background info (and opinions) on open source…

…and so, I came across a class taught by Pamela Samuelson of UC Berkley : “Open Source Development and Distribution of Digital Information: Technical, Economic, Social and Legal Perspectives” (Course # IS 296A-2 ). I’ve been delving into Berkley’s library of podcasted classes over the last year and found hers while looking through the Information Science department. You can easily download the podcasts via iTunes or you can hop over to Berkley’s webcast page here and pick them up in MP3, podcast or RSS feed form.

You can also pop over to the course’s Blog page here

This is heavy stuff and the classes are, like any good class, long and full of information. The podcast format makes it easy to progress through the content and make pit stops along the way.

For other great Webcasts from UC Berkley, link here.