University of the Incarnate Word The Athenaeum Theses & Dissertations 8-2014 Expanding Human Capabilities Through the Adoption and Utilization of Free, Libre, and Open Source Software James D. Simpson University of the Incarnate Word, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://athenaeum.uiw.edu/uiw_etds Part of the Economic Theory Commons, Education Commons, and the Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons Recommended Citation Simpson, James D., "Expanding Human Capabilities Through the Adoption and Utilization of Free, Libre, and Open Source Software" (2014). Theses & Dissertations. 23. https://athenaeum.uiw.edu/uiw_etds/23 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Athenaeum. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Athenaeum. For more information, please contact [email protected]. EXPANDING HUMAN CAPABILITIES THROUGH THE ADOPTION AND UTILIZATION OF FREE, LIBRE, AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE by JAMES DANIEL SIMPSON A DISSERTATION Presented to the School of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF THE INCARNATE WORD August 2014 ii Copyright by James Daniel Simpson 2014 iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity, guidance, and wisdom to navigate this journey. Without You, there is nothing. Without your creation, there is nothing. I would like to thank Brandi Simpson, my wife, my partner, and my best friend. You have given me the strength to venture when afraid. You have provided me comfort when no one would. You are an angel. Little did I know that in being uprooted, I was being grounded. It is because of you that I am here. It is because of you I will venture to places yet unknown, side-by- side with you. To Women's Global Connection (WGC), you are the reason that this journey, that this idea began. Little did I know that you would take raw clay and fashion something malleable out of it. Thank you for the kindness that you have shown. To Sr. Dorothy Ettling, you are the embodiment of the peace and joy of the Lord. Thank you for taking me into your fold and showing me a world much larger than me. Your guidance and wisdom are proof that our communities extend beyond the artificial borders that we erect. Thank you. To Ken Starks, thank you for providing me a glimpse into the good works that you provide to the world. It was not coincidence that we met. You have guided me and mentored me in ways unknown. Hearing your wizened voice brings peace to my heart knowing that I am doing the correct, moral, and ethical thing by giving to the community through service. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS—Continued To Bukoba Women's Empowerment Association (BUWEA), thank you for the kindness that you showed while in Bukoba, Tanzania. You took a broken soul and made it new. You taught me how to love again the things that are most important in life – God, family, friends, humankind, and community. I will never forget your voices or faces. I will always be indebted to you. God Bless, you all. I pray that we will meet again. I pray that I will return to continue learning from you all. To Dr. Norman St. Clair, thank you for all of the advice that you have shared with me. I hope to continue to learn from you. Thank you for putting up with me. You were never short of words, but they were important words. To the members of my committee, Drs. Antelo, Craven, and Özturgut, thank you for this opportunity. I learned from your guidance and the courses that I have taken with you. I do not know if this little study is of high importance in the grand scheme of things, but I do know that I have learned to learn and understand with greater clarity and purpose. Thank you for working with me. Finally, I would like to thank Rackspace Hosting for providing a place to write and study whenever the fancy came whether it was 1:00 AM or 5:00 PM. James Daniel Simpson v DEDICATION For my girls. I love you more than you could ever know. May your journeys take you places I could not. “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go; keep her; for she is thy life” Proverbs 4:13. vi EXPANDING HUMAN CAPABILITIES THROUGH THE ADOPTION AND UTILIZATION OF FREE, LIBRE, AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE James Daniel Simpson, Ph.D. University of the Incarnate Word, 2014 Free, libre, and open source software (FLOSS) is software that is collaboratively developed. FLOSS provides end-users with the source code and the freedom to adapt or modify a piece of software to fit their needs (Deek & McHugh, 2008; Stallman, 2010). FLOSS has a 30 year history that dates to the open hacker community at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where information and knowledge was freely shared among a community of programmers and end-users (Lessig, 2006; Stallman, 2010; Sullivan, 2011). The advent of a proprietary or closed software development model in the late 1970s and early 1980s prompted FLOSS advocates like Richard Stallman to develop tools to protect end-users' rights to modify, share, and create software (Lessig, 2006, Stallman, 2010). Since then, the FLOSS and proprietary software development models have become two diametrically opposed points-of-view with advocates and detractors on both sides. This qualitative case study sought to understand in which human spaces FLOSS helped promote sustainable human development by expanding human capabilities in accessing the world's knowledge and information in one community. It sought to answer: How has FLOSS helped to expand human capabilities by providing access to information? Amartya Sen's (1999, 2009) capability approach was used to explore Reglue, a non-profit organization in Taylor, Texas, whose mission is to close the digital divide by providing students and their families with vii Linux-based computers. Heuristic inquiry was used to analyze participants' experiences using or migrating to FLOSS to explore FLOSS' influence on human capabilities within the boundaries of the case (Moustakas, 1994). Creswell's (2008) qualitative data handling and analysis methodology was also used to identify themes. Five themes emerged from the data that included 14 sub-themes. The study's results revealed that FLOSS does promote sustainable human development by expanding human capabilities in accessing the world's knowledge and information. The results, however, indicate that continued training and guidance were needed to ensure that the participants' success with migrating to and using FLOSS were successful. Conclusions and recommendations were made within the framework of the capability approach that serve to inform practice and policy for future FLOSS ventures or studies as well as to fill a gap that exists within the corpus of current FLOSS literature by adding a human-based case study to the body of FLOSS literature. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1 Context of the Study............................................................................................................1 FLOSS and proprietary software.............................................................................3 FLOSS, the Free Software Foundation, and the Open Source Initiative.................4 FLOSS' existence and adoption...............................................................................7 FLOSS, social justice, and free culture....................................................................8 Free culture..................................................................................................9 The GNU GPL............................................................................................10 FLOSS and social movements...............................................................................11 Statement of the Problem...................................................................................................11 Purpose of the Study..........................................................................................................15 Research Question.............................................................................................................15 Theoretical Framework......................................................................................................15 On development and freedom................................................................................16 The capability approach.........................................................................................17 FLOSS and the capability approach......................................................................20 Definition of Terms............................................................................................................20 Methodology Overview.....................................................................................................23 Setting................................................................................................................................24 Reglue....................................................................................................................24 Background of the Researcher...........................................................................................26 ix Table of Contents—Continued CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Significance of the Study...................................................................................................27 Limitations