Open collaboration
{{Short description|Collaboration with a result open to all}}
Open collaboration refers to any "system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who cooperate voluntarily to create a product (or service) of economic value, which is made freely available to contributors and noncontributors alike."Sheen S. Levine; Michael J. Prietula (2014). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263545221_Open_Collaboration_for_Innovation_Principles_and_Performance Open Collaboration for Innovation: Principles and Performance] It is prominently observed in open source software, and has been initially described in Richard Stallman's GNU Manifesto,Lakhani, Karim R., & von Hippel, Eric (2003). How Open Source Software Works: Free User to User Assistance. Research Policy, 32, 923–943 {{doi|10.2139/ssrn.290305}} as well as Eric S. Raymond's 1997 essay, The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Beyond open source software, open collaboration is also applied to the development of other types of mind or creative works, such as information provision in Internet forums, or the production of encyclopedic content in Wikipedia.Yochai Benkler, Benjamin Mako Hill and Aaron Shaw (2015). Peer Production: A Form of Collective
Intelligence. In Handbook of Collective Intelligence, edited by Thomas Malone and Michael Bernstein. MIT Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.[https://mako.cc/academic/benkler_shaw_hill-peer_production_ci.pdf]
The organizing principle behind open collaboration is that of peer production.Yochai Benkler (2006). The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. Yale University Press,
New Haven, USA.[https://www.benkler.org/Benkler_Wealth_Of_Networks.pdf] Peer production communities are structured in an entirely decentralized manner, but differ from markets in that they function without price-based coordination, and often on the basis of volunteering only. Such communities are geared toward the production of openly accessible public or "common" goods, but differ from the State as well as charity groups in that they operate without a formal hierarchical structure, and rest solely on the construction of a rough, evolving consensus among participants.Yochai Benkler (2002). Coase's Penguin, or, Linux and The Nature of the Firm. Yale law journal, pp. 369-446 [https://www.yalelawjournal.org/pdf/354_t5aih5i1.pdf]Faraj, S., Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Majchrzak, Ann (2011). [http://www.adaptivecycle.nl/images/Knowledge_Collaboration_in_Online_Communities.pdf Knowledge Collaboration in Online Communities]. Organization Science, 22(5), 1224-1239, {{doi|10.1287/orsc.1100.0614}}
Definition
Riehle et al. define open collaboration as collaboration based on three principles of egalitarianism, meritocracy, and self-organization.{{Cite journal |doi= 10.1109/MS.2009.44| issn = 0740-7459| volume = 26| issue = 2| pages = 52–58| last1 = Riehle| first1 = D.| last2 = Ellenberger| first2 = J.| last3 = Menahem| first3 = T.| last4 = Mikhailovski| first4 = B.| last5 = Natchetoi| first5 = Y.| last6 = Naveh| first6 = B.| last7 = Odenwald| first7 = T.| title = Open Collaboration within Corporations Using Software Forges| journal = IEEE Software| date = March 2009|url=https://dirkriehle.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/open-collaboration-within-corporations-using-software-forges.pdf}} Levine and Piretula define open collaboration as "any system of innovation or production that relies on goal-oriented yet loosely coordinated participants who interact to create a product (or service) of economic value, which they make available to contributors and noncontributors alike."{{Cite journal|last1=Levine|first1=Sheen S.|last2=Prietula|first2=Michael J.|date=2014|title=Open Collaboration for Innovation: Principles and Performance|url=https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/full/10.1287/orsc.2013.0872|journal=Organization Science|volume=25|issue=5|pages=1414–1433|doi=10.1287/orsc.2013.0872|issn=1047-7039|arxiv=1406.7541|s2cid=6583883}}Levine, Sheen S., & Prietula, M. J. (2013). [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1096442 Open Collaboration for Innovation: Principles and Performance]. Organization Science, {{doi|10.1287/orsc.2013.0872}} This definition captures multiple instances, all joined by similar principles. For example, all of the elements — goods of economic value, open access to contribute and consume, interaction and exchange, purposeful yet loosely coordinated work — are present in an open source software project, in Wikipedia, or in a user forum or community. They can also be present in a commercial website that is based on user-generated content. In all of these instances of open collaboration, anyone can contribute and anyone can freely partake in the fruits of sharing, which are produced by interacting participants who are loosely coordinated.{{cite book|author1=Dariusz Jemielniak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yLDMDwAAQBAJ|title=Collaborative Society|author2=Aleksandra Przegalinska|date=18 February 2020|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-35645-9}}{{rp|17}}
Academia
An annual conference dedicated to the research and practice of open collaboration is the International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym, formerly WikiSym).{{Cite web |url=http://www.opensym.org/about-us/ |title=About |website=The International Symposium on Open Collaboration|date=15 June 2010 }} As per its website, the group defines open collaboration as "collaboration that is egalitarian (everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist), meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes)."".
{{Cite web |url=https://opensym.org/about-us/definition/ |title=Definition of Open Collaboration |last=Kenneth Pascal |website=The International Symposium on Open Collaboration |date=12 April 2013 |access-date=2018-03-26 |quote="Open collaboration is collaboration that is egalitarian everyone can join, no principled or artificial barriers to participation exist, meritocratic (decisions and status are merit-based rather than imposed) and self-organizing (processes adapt to people rather than people adapt to pre-defined processes)."}}
Since 2011, a peer-reviewed academic journal, The Journal of Peer Production (JoPP), is dedicated to documenting and researching peer production processes. This academic community understands peer production "as a mode of commons-based and oriented production in which participation is voluntary and predicated on the self-selection of tasks. Notable examples are the collaborative development of Free Software projects and of the Wikipedia online encyclopedia."{{Cite web |url=http://peerproduction.net/about/ | title=About |website=The Journal of Peer Production }}
See also
References
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