Fernando Pérez of IPython fame wins the Free Software Foundation Award

That's interesting - I've also noticed a big difference between 'release early, release often' in the open source world, and the long slow process of getting work reviewed and published in academia.

I've been wondering: could we run acadaemia without the stamp-of-approval that is publishing in a peer reviewed journal? I.e. like releasing open source software, when you've got something you're ready to share, you just publish it yourself, without having to get anyone's permission. Of course, there are other problems that would have to be overcome with that, but it could make things a lot more efficient. There are some moves in that direction - look up 'arXiv overlay journals' if you're interested.

This sounds extremely interesting. As an open source enthusiast I am impressed by the open source development methodologies. As a scientist (about to finish my PhD), I am surprised to see a chronic lack of openness, reproducibility, and transparency in my field (aerospace / wind energy engineering). I feel the new generation of scientists is becoming more aware of the shortcomings of the current closed access, closed source scientific research approach, and I would really like to raise awareness in my institute. Seeing how others are doing this is a great help! So Fenrando, apart for the obvious thumbs up for IPython, also thank you for sharing the slides on "Reproducible software vs. reproducible research"

I think I've only commented a handful of times, I'm not really a regular. But many thanks for the kind words, and to @profjsb for the generous writeup.

As I tried to say at the meeting, this really goes to the whole team. I may have started IPython, but it's the combined talent, energy and dedication of a big team that makes it what it is today. This award is a recognition of all that work, I'm just here to pick it up :)