TY - JOUR T1 - Opening the Source of Art JF - Open Source Business Resource Y1 - 2009 A1 - John Bell AB - The open source community has developed a number of tools and philosophies to assist in distributed software development. The Still Water Lab at the University of Maine believes that these tools and philosophies can be adapted to facilitate other forms of distributed creative endeavours. It has developed two tools that reinterpret the ideas used in open source software through the lenses of artistic creation and preservation: The Pool and the Variable Media Questionnaire. This article discusses how several of the ideas used in software development have influenced Still Water's approach to making tools that support artistic production. PB - Talent First Network CY - Ottawa UR - http://timreview.ca/article/294 IS - October 2009 U1 - University of Maine John Bell is a web application developer, data artist, and adjunct faculty at the University of Maine New Media department. He has contributed to the development of The Pool, a system for fostering and documenting distributed creativity in digital arts; the Variable Media Questionnaire, a tool used in the recreation of technologically obsolete artwork; released several open-source web authoring tools; and given birth to an artificial intelligence that accidentally committed suicide. Many of his projects focus on trust in online communities and maintaining intellectual integrity in environments where there are few consequences to ignoring it. His work has been featured in Wired online and at Ars Electronica's Electrolobby Kitchen. ER -