Dreamwidth Studios: Bringing the Corner Store to Open Source Publishing

” Dreamwidth Studios’ co-founder Denise Paolucci remembers
growing up in a family-owned corner deli, some of whose customers
had been eating there daily for decades. “They’d become part of the
family, instead of faceless customers,” she says. “That’s stayed
with me for my whole life. It’s a business concept that you don’t
see much in today’s world” — and one that Paolucci and
co-founder Mark Smith decided would be part of Dreamwidth Studios’
open source publishing platform from the start.

“At a time when lack of privacy on social networking sites is
making mainstream headlines, Dreamwidth Studios stands out as an
exception. In contrast to the shifting policies on Facebook,
Dreamwidth promises its artistically-inclined users control of
their data and transparency, all build upon free and open source
software (FOSS) and transparent business models.

“So far, after two years of business, Dreamwidth is finding its
corner deli approach an advantage in both business and code
development. It also has the unexpected consequence of attracting
an unusually high percentage of women to the project.”

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