Ethics Online: A Plea for Open Source

Abstract

Our ability to shape online learning communities in the humanities is, I argue,
needlessly constrained by commercial course management systems. I explain
how using alternative Open Source Software to create an online environment
for actively learning the principles of moral deliberation afforded novel
opportunities to unobtrusively manipulate the environment and thereby
improve community members' interactions. Given the effectiveness of these
changes, I conclude that the Humanities must be careful to observe an
important distinction between the relatively inferior autonomy gained from
using technology and the vastly greater autonomy of controlling technology, a
distinction which can be acknowledged by embracing Open Source Software.