This week, we explored famous figures in the world of open source and watched a presentation by Nick Vidal of the Open Source Initiative. During Monday’s class, I researched Limor Fried, an American electrical engineer and owner of the open-source hardware company Adafruit Industries. She stood out to me because she was the first woman to win an open-source award (O’Reilly Open Source Award, 2016). This is notable to me because women have been underrepresented in this field, though much progress has been made since 2016. Additionally, I found it fascinating that even hardware can be open-sourced.

On Wednesday, Nick Vidal gave a presentation about the Open Source Initiative, a nonprofit organization that promotes and protects open-source software. I had never considered how nuanced the definition of open source is, but the presentation changed my perspective on what it means for something to be “open” and the challenges that come with it. The examples he provided, such as open-source software being exploited for profit and the ethical concerns surrounding training data, piqued my interest. With the rapid growth of AI, I believe it is crucial to clearly define how data can be used to benefit all parties involved.