The open source community is hard at work on something new. Visitors to Opensource.com may have recently noticed a distinct quietness across the platform. That collective pause is due to a brand-new project currently in the works behind the scenes. While specific operational details and feature rollouts remain under wraps for the moment, there is already plenty to discuss regarding the direction of the platform and the vibrant community that powers it. And what better way to begin charting a new course than by looking at the very fabric of the global network that connects us all: the entire internet itself.
The internet, and top-level domains
To understand where a community platform is heading, it helps to examine the infrastructure that makes digital communication possible. Most internet users know that the internet is fundamentally a network. By definition, a network is simply a group of interconnected connections. In fact, the very word "internet" is a portmanteau derived from "interconnected" and "network."
In its earliest conceptual and operational stages, the internet consisted of just two primary networks: a military network and an academic network. These closed environments served specialized researchers and defense personnel, operating under strict institutional parameters. However, once the internet began to gain widespread popularity and commercial viability outside of those initial, specialized groups, it quickly became apparent that different designations were desperately needed.
As the user base diversified, administrators needed a way to instantly differentiate between various types of entities inhabiting the digital space. For example, a commercial business entity required a different digital marker than a charitable organization, a university, or a governmental department. These critical designations eventually became known as top-level domains, commonly abbreviated as TLDs.
Today, there is a vast and sometimes overwhelming array of TLDs available to domain purchasers, ranging from industry-specific markers to geographic indicators. However, for a long time during the commercialization of the web, there were only a handful of foundational TLDs available. These original top-level domains remain remarkably popular and culturally embedded in the architecture of the web. Most internet users instinctively know that when they navigate to a ".com" address, they are visiting a commercial site, whereas visiting a ".org" address typically indicates a journey to a non-profit organization’s website. These suffixes serve as digital signposts, signaling the underlying purpose and governance of the digital space being visited.
Open source is a network
Just as the internet relies on a sprawling infrastructure of interconnected systems, open source can be many things. It is a philosophy, a methodology, and a practical approach to building technology, but it also takes on many institutional forms. Open source projects can be purely commercial ventures, backed by venture capital and enterprise support. They can operate as non-profit foundations dedicated to the public good. They can emerge from academic institutions as research projects, or they can form around cultural initiatives and creative collaborations.
No matter what form an open source project ultimately takes, or what business model supports its development, it is always, at its core, a network. Sometimes, that network consists of computers, servers, repositories, and distributed version control systems communicating across global infrastructure. But more importantly, and far more fundamentally, it is a network of people.
Whether individuals are gathering in person at a massive international developer conference, catching up informally at a local pub during a meetup, or collaborating asynchronously in an online chat room, open source is, above all else, a community of human beings working toward shared goals.
For the past twelve years, the website Opensource.com has been supported by a commercial entity, providing a dedicated digital space for stories, news, and commentary about the open source movement. Yet, the people who actually make up the Opensource.com community—the writers, editors, readers, contributors, and advocates—are not commercial entities themselves. They are human beings, driven by shared values of collaboration, transparency, and communal creation.
The structural tension between commercial backing and human-driven community forms the backdrop for the platform’s current transition. In just one month, Opensource.com is going to resolve that bug, ushering in a new chapter for the community and its digital home. Stay tuned as more details emerge about what is next for the platform and the people who power it.
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