[Air-l] 7 new papers, 1 Book and 2 MS Theses on opensource.mit.edu

[Karim R. Lakhani]

Dear All,

Please find below the latest additions to our knowledge repository.
Many thanks to the authors for their submissions.  Please provide
feedback to the authors directly.

Until next time....


Warmly,

Karim


Paper 1
Author:
FRANCESCO RULLANI

Title:
The debate and the community. The "reflexive identity" concept and the
FLOSS community case
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rullani.pdf

Abstract:
The empirical studies relative to the Free/Libre/Open Source Software
(FLOSS) case stress the important role played by psychological and
social motivations. However, the theories elaborated to cope with this
dimension, such as "gift economy", "epistemic community" or "community
of practice", are not combined into a unique structured framework. It is
possible to draw inspiration from philosophical studies about language
and from sociological studies about collective action in order to
construct a mechanism here called "reflexive identity"- able to bridge
the analyzed theories and to explain the empirical evidences left aside
by self-supply, reputation and signaling.  The reflexive identity
mechanism is triggered by the dialog between the members. In order to
simply communicate, in fact, members have to "negotiate" the system of
meanings they use to interface with the world and with the communitarian
environment. But this means reshaping also their own vision of the
world, redefining their identity. Community aims, principles and ethos
act directly on members' identity, making them internalize the
communitarian structure of rules. The reflexive identity principle,
then, merges the psychological and social dimension of the FLOSS
phenomenon with the structure of rules adopted by the FLOSS community,
and thus it constitutes together with self-supply, signaling, reputation
and peer regard the basis upon which the FLOSS community is built.


Paper 2

Authors
de Souuza, Cleidson, John Froehlich & Paul Dourish

Title:
Seeking the Source: Software Source Code as a Social and Technical Artifact
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/desouza.pdf

Abstract
In distributed software development, two sorts of dependencies can
arise. The structure of the software system itself can create
dependencies between software elements, while the structure of the
development process can create dependencies between software developers.
Each of these both shapes and reflects the development process. Our
research concerns the extent to which, by looking uniformly at artifacts
and activities, we can uncover the structures of software projects, and
the ways in which development processes are inscribed into software
artifacts. We show how a range of organizational processes and
arrangements can be uncovered in software repositories, with
implications for collaborative work in large distributed groups such as
open source communities.


Paper 3
Author
Beussi, Lorenzo

Title:
Analysing the technological history of the Open Source Phenomenon:
Stories from the Free Software Evolution
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/benussi.pdf

Abstract:
The Free Libre Open Source Software represents an outstanding example of
open development model of technological knowledge. It has been studied
in several researches that produced valuable illustrations of the way it
works. Our understanding of its principal features is growing
exponentially and an entire new literature on open source has been
created. However there appears to be an important gap in the literature:
the origin of the phenomenon. The paper attempts to tackle this issue by
analyzing the long-term technological history of Free Open Source
Software; the main research questions at stake are: is the phenomenon
completely new? and if it is not totally new, where it comes form? and,
more generally, how open source software developed over time? As a
consequence the present work focuses primarily on the analysis of the
fee/open source software history of technological change over a period
of almost sixty years. I adopted a multidisciplinary approach to analyse
the network of relations emerging between inventions and technological
innovations, as well as economic determinants and intellectual property
rights regimes throughout the period considered. Thus, I attempt to
investigate the origins of the phenomenon as a way of understanding its
evolution.


Paper 4
Author:
Watson, Andrew

Title:	
Reputation in Open Source
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/watson.pdf

Abstract
The 1990s and early 2000s have seen the dramatic rise of open source
software, with the Linux operating system as the most salient example.
This article focuses on the role of reputation in open source. It
describes the importance of the reputations of hackers, software
vendors, open source projects, and the open source movement. Although
reputation has long been used as an explanation of hacker motivation,
this article applies the concept of reputation at multiple levels, and
identifies the inter-level relations.

Paper 5
Author:
Arti K. Rai

Title"
"Open and Collaborative" Biomedical Research: Theory and Evidence


Abstract
Although a few commentators have discussed briefly the application of
open source-type principles to biomedical research, they have not
analyzed carefully how the model is actually being used.  In this paper,
I draw upon an ongoing, multi-year empirical inquiry into the role of
intellectual property in computational biology and associated efforts to
evaluate the extent to which the open and collaborative research model
may promote socially desirable biomedical innovation – that is,
innovation that produces marginal health benefits in excess of its
marginal costs.


Paper 6
Author
Dafermos, George

Title:
The Critical Delusion of Immaterial Labour
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/dafermos4.pdf

Abstract:
There is an idea of immaterial labour: given that no worker is truly
autonomous, the working class formed around the abode of immaterial
labour edges in that direction. This idea enjoys a particularly strong
hold among people contemplating employment in industries radically
transformed or even spawned anew by digitisation, a fine illustration of
which is the new media sector comprising Website developers, and
e-marketers, to name but two of the more popular areas of
specialisation, yet the idea's underlying premises made their appearance
a long time before the digital condition ascended in the epicentre of
our technologically hypertrophic societies. However, not only this
rather ambiguous idea is not grounded in pragmatism, and is thus poised
to result in huge misunderstandings as to the social relations of
production that the hyped-up class of knowledge workers seems to be
defined by; but most importantly, it is also bringing into force a new
dialectic of hyper-exploitation in which a multitude of people, both
highly-qualified warriors of the digital revolution and deskilled,
underpaid manual labour destined to man the call centres in India, give
away (all or part of) their labour for free without demanding, or being
capable of demanding, anything in return. This essay sheds light upon
this multi-faceted problematic, and elucidates on the ends and means by
which this obscure master - slave dialectic is set in motion.

Paper 7
Authors
Jullien,Nicolas & Jean-Benoît Zimmermann
	
Title
New approaches to intellectual property : from open software to
knowledge based industrial activities
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/jullienzimmermann.pdf

We analyze the question of intellectual property in computer software,
showing that both copyright and patents do not fit to the specificities
and needs of this industry. The alternative model of Open Source
Software, based on a very new juridical concept called GPL "General
Public License", tends to take a growing importance. We explain its main
characteristics, which consist to impose to the producers to disclose
the source-code of the concerned programs and of any further improvement
if they re-distribute/resell it. We show that by doing that it
introduces a totally different approach of intellectual property within
industrial strategies, based on a weaker intellectual protection. We
discuss the consequences of such a movement in intistitutional and
public policy terms and we enlarge the approach to understand its
exemplariness, in the context of a knowledge based economy, for a
growing number of industrial activities.


Book
Title
How open is the future? Economic, social and cultural scenarios inspired
by Free and Open Source Software.  (Creative Commons License)

http://crosstalks.vub.ac.be/publications/index.html

Edited by Marleen Wynants & Jan Cornelis

Abstract of the book:
There are two reasons why the free and open-source software issue has
become such an inspirational and powerful force today: the rise of the
Internet and the growing tendency to protect all intellectual property.
Internet technology made it possible to handle massive decentralized
projects and irreversibly changed our personal communication and
information research. Intellectual property, on the other hand, is a
legal instrument which - due to recent excesses - became the symbol of
exactly the opposite of what it had been developed for: the protection
of the creative process. As a result, free-thinking programmers,
scientists, artists, designers, engineers and scholars are daily trying
to come up with new ways of creating and sharing knowledge.

MS Theses
Thesis 1
Author
Lindman, Juho

Title:
Effects of Open Source Software on the Business Patterns of Software
Industry
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/lindman.pdf

Abstract:
Open source software is a phenomenon that has potential to change the
traditional patterns of business behavior. Research committed so far has
not evaluated the entire scale of potential changes, which is the
purpose of this explorative thesis. Previous literature on the subject
can be divided into history of the phenomenon, explaining the nature of
the phenomenon, and a more general discussion about strategies and
business models in the software business. By using these theories this
thesis provides a framework for analysing the entire phenomenon. The
framework is put to use in the empirical part. Data consist of
interviews of experts in the field. An analysis of the data is done
using narrative methods. The analysis yield eleven narratives that
describe the phenomenon. Four of the narratives reveal effects. On the
basis of the responses gathered, open source software can change
competition environment, customer expectations, the importance of
competence, and platform thinking.

Thesis 2
Author
Cooksey, Robert
Title:
I Walk the Open Road: Toward an Open Source Philosophy
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/cooksey.pdf

Abstract
This paper addresses the concept of "Open Source" in a philosophical
way. It argues that open source is a virtual entity with ontological
significance beyond the realm of the software movement that granted its
naming. The paper includes an examination of the technical language
surrounding open source software, progresses through a philosophical
exploration of this language removed from the specificity of computer
languages and technologies, and then returns to an analysis of The Open
Source Definition in the light of the philosophical investigation.
-- 
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group
Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224
http://spoudaiospaizen.net
http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu
My *new* book: http://tinyurl.com/cjxj6