computer science

Homesteading the Noosphere

Homesteading the Noosphere is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Homesteading the Noosphere rather than just read about it. In short: "Homesteading the Noosphere" (abbreviated HtN) is an essay written by Eric S. Raymond about the social workings of open-source software development.

Key takeaways

Homesteading the Noosphere belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Homesteading the Noosphere to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Homesteading the Noosphere from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

"Homesteading the Noosphere" (abbreviated HtN) is an essay written by Eric S. Raymond about the social workings of open-source software development. It follows his previous piece "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" (1997). The essay examines issues of project ownership and transfer, as well as investigating possible anthropological roots of the gift culture in open source as contrasted with the exchange culture of closed source software. Raymond also investigates the nature of the spread of open source into the untamed frontier of ideas he terms the noosphere, postulating that projects that range too far ahead of their time fail because they are too far out in the wilderness, and that successful projects tend to relate to existing projects. Raymond delves into the contrast between the stated aims of open source and observed behaviors, and also explores the underlying motivations of people involved in the open-source movement. He notes that a key motivation for open-source practitioners is their membership of and reputation within each project's "tribe". In contrast, Microsoft's "embrace and extend" policy complexified and closed up Internet protocols with "protocol pollution."

Citations "Homesteading the Noosphere" has been referenced in various papers, including:

The impact of ideology on effectiveness in open source software development teams An Overview of the Software Engineering Process and Tools in the Mozilla Project From Planning to Mature: on the Determinants of Open Source Take Off, Discussion paper 2005-17, Università degli Studi di Trento Open borders? Immigration in open source projects Public commons of geographic data: research and development challenges

In popular culture In the Japanese novel series Log Horizon and its manga and anime adaptations, 300,000 Japanese players of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game suddenly find themselves transported into the game's world right as the game was being updated with an expansion pack by the name of Homesteading the Noosphere (ノウアスフィアの開墾, Nōasufia no Kaikon), which the author named after Raymond's essay. The first chapter of the novel series also bears the same name.

See also Calculation in kind, also known as a money-free economy

References Eric S. Raymond (1999). "Homesteading the Noosphere". The Cathedral & the Bazaar. O'Reilly. ISBN 1-56592-724-9. hardcover, October 1999; paperback, January 2001. — also includes "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", "The Magic Cauldron" and "Revenge of the Hackers"

External links

The essay readable on the web, including a revision-history, 1998–2000.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Homesteading the Noosphere

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Homesteading the Noosphere claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Homesteading the Noosphere before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Homesteading the Noosphere ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Homesteading the Noosphere

In research: Homesteading the Noosphere appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Homesteading the Noosphere in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Homesteading the Noosphere is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1998 essays, American essays, Books about free software, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Homesteading the Noosphere outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Homesteading the Noosphere” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Homesteading the Noosphere in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Homesteading the Noosphere means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Homesteading the Noosphere out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Homesteading the Noosphere in simple terms?

"Homesteading the Noosphere" (abbreviated HtN) is an essay written by Eric S. Raymond about the social workings of open-source software development.

Why does Homesteading the Noosphere matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Homesteading the Noosphere?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Homesteading the Noosphere.