Open Beyond Software

Article: Open Beyond Software. Sonali K. Shah, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

URL = http://faculty.washington.edu/skshah/Shah%20-%20Open%20Beyond%20Software.pdf

Published as a chapter in Open Sources 2.0: The Continuing Evolution. Edited by Danese Cooper, Chris DiBona and Mark Stone. O’Reilly Media: Sebastopol, CA. pp. 339-360. 2005.

Abstract

"The “community-based” model has generated many large and small innovations across a wide range of product classes, industries, and even scientific disciplines. The model is based upon the open, voluntary, and collaborative efforts of users – a term that describes enthusiasts, tinkerers, amateurs, everyday people, and even firms who derive benefit from a product or service by using it. In this paper, I describe and discuss three elements of the community-based model. First, users and manufacturers generate different sets of information. This allows users to develop innovations distinct from those typically developed within firms. Second, users often choose to share and improve their innovations within user communities. The structures of these communities vary, but those observed to date are built on the principles of open product design and open communication. Third, innovations developed by users and freely shared within user communities have provided the basis for successful commercial ventures. Data drawn from the windsurfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding industries illustrate these processes. Four additional examples of the community-based model - spanning fields and centuries - are then presented. I conclude by reframing our view of the innovation process as driven by the activities of firms and research institutions and discussing implications for firms and policy."

Cases

User Innovation in Sports

Click on the title just above

More Information

Author contact: sonali@uiuc.edu