[Discussioni] [FLOSS] The Politics of Open Source Adoption 2.0

[Andrea Glorioso]

Ciao a tutti.

L'SSRC (Social Science Research Council - http://www.ssrc.org/) ha
pubblicato il testo " The Politics of Open Source Adoption":

  http://www.ssrc.org/programs/ccit/publications/POSA1.0.pdf

Il testo e` stato trasposto su un wiki, con l'invito di collaborare
alla versione 2.0 dello studio:

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http://www.ssrc.org/wiki/POSA/index.php?title=Main_Page

This wiki  is an invitation to  collaborate on a real-time history and
analysis of the politics of open source  software adoption. The Social
Science Research Council is pleased  to offer a  first version of this
account - POSA 1.0.  For our purposes,  understanding the `politics of
adoption' means    stepping   back from the   task    of explaining or
justifying Free and/or  Open Source Software (F/OSS)  in  order to ask
how  increasingly    canonical  explanations and   justifications  are
mobilized in  different political contexts. POSA  1.0 tries to map the
different kinds  of political and institutional  venues in which F/OSS
adoption  is at stake. It  tries to understand important institutional
actors within those  venues, and the ways  in which  arguments for and
against  F/OSS are  framed  and  advanced. It  seeks  to  clarify  the
different  opportunities  and   constraints facing  F/OSS adoption  in
different sectors and parts of the world.  It is an inevitably partial
account   that--we hope--can  be   extended  and  deepened by    other
participants in these processes. We would like  your help in preparing
POSA 2.0

Our  project began with  the  observation that  accounts of  the F/OSS
movement, to date, have been oriented mostly by the improbable fact of
F/OSS's   existence.   We  propose  that,  at  this   stage  of  F/OSS
development  and  advocacy, we can begin  to   ask a different  set of
questions -  not   how open source works   as  a social and  technical
project, or  whether  open source  provides benefits   to a  range  of
constituencies (in terms of cost, security, etc.), but rather how open
source is becoming embedded in  political  arenas and policy  debates.
The  political  success of  open source reflects  diverse practices of
issue  entrepreneurship    and evangelization:  at a  basic   level by
building awareness of open source options, by broadening understanding
of  the ways  in  which software choice  embeds  social  and political
values, and by framing  discussions of cost or  security in ways  that
take into account  complex hypotheticals about  the future. We want to
learn more about the thick social dimensions  of this process as F/OSS
advocacy develops  within commercial,  technical, and NGO communities;
as it succeeds or fails in building workable alliances; as it founders
on or overcomes internal differences; and ultimately as it bridges out
to other communities   with less  stake in  the   technical values  or
development process of open source. It is our argument that the limits
of  F/OSS adoption  reflect, in part,  a  limited capacity within  the
F/OSS  movement to document, compare,    and draw lessons from   these
processes.

In keeping  with the open structure and  spirit of wiki collaboration,
we invite you to build out this account  of F/OSS politics - adding to
or revising the existing accounts, branching  out into new accounts of
other  contexts  and  processes,  or   linking   to relevant  external
sources. We would ask that  you follow the  few principles that guided
the preparation of POSA 1.0:

    * To repeat,  the key gesture of this  report is to step back from
      the task  of explaining or justifying  F/OSS in order to ask how
      increasingly  canonical    explanations and  justifications  are
      mobilized in different   political contexts.  For example:  this
      wiki is not the place for a  debate over the names, definitions,
      or  merits of different open  source models. It is (potentially)
      the  place for  accounts   of how those  differences  have  been
      deployed and how  they have mattered  in particular institutions
      and debates over software policy and adoption.

    * We  have no  strong view of  how this  report should develop but
      offer the following thoughts, based on our work to date

          o Our main objects have  been venues and  institutions, such
            as  municipalities, international governance organizations
            like the  UN, and state actors like  Brazil and  Kenya. We
            believe the report is highly extensible in this direction,
            and invite elaboration and accounts of other venues.

          o We have  made an  effort  to describe  movement strategies
            developed  in  the face of  certain  pervasive challenges,
            such as licensing    and patent uncertainties.  We   would
            welcome additional accounts  of cross-cutting problems and
            strategic responses. (We are less interested, in contrast,
            in the internal politics of the F/OSS movement, which have
            been ably recounted elsewhere).

          o We   have   (barely)   begun   an   account   of  sectoral
            opportunities and challenges distinct from the usual focus
            on servers and desktops - here, the health care sector.

We welcome other directions and issues.

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Ciao,

--
Andrea Glorioso             sama a miu-ft.org         +39 333 820 5723
        .:: Media Innovation Unit - Firenze Tecnologia ::.
	      Conquering the world for fun and profit
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