Pamela Jones
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Pamela Jones is the creator of Groklaw (2003) and Grokline (2004). She is a journalist and a paralegal. Her purpose in doing Groklaw was to see if it would be possible to apply Open Source principals to the context of legal research.
The site has covered the SCO litigations in detail, but it now covers all legal news of interest to the Free Software and Open Source community. In response to legal threats against Linux and the open source community, Jones launched Grokline, a Unix ownership timeline project, in May, 2004.
Jones reveals very little personal information, as she considers her private information private and has expressed from the beginning a strong preference for avoiding fame. Groklaw is, in any case, a group project, to which thousands contribute, not an individual's blog. Here are the reasons she gave in the early days for using just her initials:
- "I originally wanted to stay anonymous, in a sense, by just saying PJ. Eventually media attention and other factors made it impossible to remain just PJ but I would have if I could have. I have no desire to be famous, for one thing. And I have been creatively influenced by Scott McCloud's work. He points out in Understanding Comics (p. 45-51) in a section on iconic representation that people respond most strongly to a drawing of a character that simplifies to the point that anyone can identify with the character. I guess I was hoping for that effect. In other words, I was hoping people could assume whatever they wanted and just focus on what I said, rather than on who was saying it. For that reason, I chose PJ, because it could be anyone, either sex, any nationality, anyone and no one in particular. I wanted participation by anyone interested in the SCO story. No politics. Nothing extraneous. Just an effort to locate and provide evidence that could be useful. I knew the community could answer SCO, if they just knew what was needed. And they have."
See also
External links
- Groklaw (http://www.groklaw.net/)
- Grokline UNIX Ownership History Project (http://www.grokline.net/)
- Linux Online interview with Pamela Jones (http://www.linux.org/people/pj_groklaw.html)
- terminaali.net Interview with Pamela Jones (http://www.terminaali.net/?action=showcol&id=17)