Garden and Gardening

The hamlet of Loudonville, New York was named for John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun and was originally a 19th-century summer resort for many of Albany New York‘s well-to-do residents. Loudon Road, known as Old Plank Road in the early 19th century, is lined with several historic properties, extensively landscaped, representing a variety of architectural

Vly Creek Reservoir, New Salem, NY

Vly Creek Reservoir is a holding basin for fresh water upstream of the New Salem Water Treatment Plant constructed in 1958 to supply water to the Town of Bethlehem, NY. Directions, via Downtown Albany:Head Northwest out of downtown Albany on Washington Ave. Continue west onto Western Ave. (NY-20). Tune left onto Daytona Drive, then merge

Direction, Decisions, and the Role of Boards and Board Members

In 2015, I ran for my local school board. In truth, I never had any interest at all in holding public office, and I was generally pleased with the educational opportunities and services provided by my school district. I was also satisfied with the administrative staff and their dedication to creating an environment focused on

“Nope-in Source”

Main Entry: nope-in source Pronunciation: /nōp in sôrs/ Function: noun Etymology: a term invented by Patrick Masson for a presentation at The 15th International Conference on Open Source Systems. Date: 3 May 2019 : A description of software that invokes (or even claims to advance) open source software and/or development, the open source ethos, or

Do No Harm License Harms Open Source

I was recently made aware of the Do No Harm software license, which according to its authors is, “a license for developers who write open source code to make the world a better place.” The license is based on the BSD 3-clause license, but with specific exclusions for using the licensed code to promote or

Where are my blog posts?

Wondering why (grateful) I’ve gone silent? See here.

Comments to the FCC, RE: Protecting and Promoting the Open Internet, Proceeding # 14-28

Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street, SW Washington D.C. 20554 June 6, 2014 Dear Chairman Wheeler and Commissioners Clyburn, Rosenworcel, Pai, and O’Reilly: My name is Patrick Masson and for the past twenty years I have worked in various roles within Information Technology, including as Chief Information Officer at the State University of New York

OER Summit 2013

I recently presented at the OER Summit, sponsored by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium, UMassOnline, University of Massachusetts and Mass Colleges Online. Hosted by Dr. Cable Green, Director of Global Learning, Creative Commons, the panel included: Marilyn Billings, Scholarly Communication & Special Initiatives Librarian, UMass Amherst; Paul Dobbs, Library Director, Mass College of Art; Karin

More Starters…

Last week I posted a few comments pointing to a frustrating phenomena I’ve seen with the acceptance (dare I say popularity?) of open source software: we’ve got too many new projects (over a million) in categories already inundated with viable options. Rather than joining an existing project, folks are creating their own. I used 230+ open source learning management

Joiners, Not Starters

In an ongoing theme with this blog (I can’t help myself) I’ve lamented, while the acceptance of open methods for development and distribution has grown across a variety of sectors, the result has been an influx of new projects (i.e. starters), by well meaning converts/proponents, rather than the creation of broader communities of collaborators/contributors (i.e.