JITP 2010: Politics of Open Source May 6 & 7, 2010 University of Massachusetts Amherst http://politicsofopensource.jitp.net/ The Politics of Open Source is an interdisciplinary conference organized by the Journal of Information Technology and Politics (JITP) that examines the politics associated with the Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) Movement. Early registration is open until March 20. The conference features two keynote lectures: Eric von Hippel, Professor and Head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. Dr. von Hippel specializes in research related to the nature and economics of distributed and open innovation. He also develops and teaches about practical methods that firms can use to improve their product and service development processes. He is the author of Democratizing Innovation (MIT Press, 2005) and The Sources of Innovation (Oxford, 1988). Clay Johnson, Director of Sunlight Labs. Prior joining Sunlight, Clay was one of the four founders of Blue State Digital, the progressive left's premier technology and online strategy firm. This firm, which was born out of the Howard Dean campaign, was also responsible for Barack Obama's Web presence. At Blue State Digital, Clay was responsible for developing the organization's brand and building its initial client roster. He also had a hand at building some of the company's early technical tools. Before joining Blue State, Johnson was the lead programmer for Dean for America in 2004, overseeing the development of grassroots tools like GetLocal, DeanLink and Project Commons. Prior to entering politics, Johnson was a technologist at Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) where he helped to develop the company's Web syndication product. He also started the first Internet Knowledge Exchange, KnowPost.com, and worked as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a Venture Capital firm, but still claims that he learned the most from his first job -- as a waiter at Waffle House in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information and to register, visit http://politicsofopensource.jitp.net/ The conference is supported by Microsoft, Google, UMass Department of Computer Science, Texifter, the Qualitative Data Analysis Program, and the National Center for Digital Government.