Why do more and more governments turn to policies supporting open source and open data? What can this trend tell us about the nature of the production model behind the adoption of such policies and the way in which information technology influences policy decisions, particularly in the face of a not so clear understanding of the ways in which Open Source and Data operate? Or seen from the perspective of sensemaking through narratives how can we understand the emergent meaning and becoming of open (source or data)?
This presentation explores two different cases, that of the UK’s open source and Greek Open Data Policies in order to understand the way in which they have emerged and the trajectory of their adoption. While in both cases open policies seem to be at the centre of an agenda and strong pro-initiative in the public sector, the degree of understanding of their actual content remains doubtful, and contested even. We offer two different explanations that aim not at comparing the two cases but rather on providing different methodological approaches and possible ensuing explanations as to why there is this contrast between understanding and implementation.
The two approaches to understand ‘open’ provide different explanations as to what this turn means, for whom, and its possible causes:
the UK case emphasizes the emergence of a strong narrative towards open source software adoption, but only it seems (purposefully even) at the expense of the becoming of open source software. In this study the code (software) is not heard, and is instead a silent actor that is interpreted by the policy makers and powerful private enterprises as an inscription to strengthen the status quo.
the Greek case emphasises the inner features of source and data, their regulatory capacities and the central role of Commons Based Peer Production.
Both approaches provide a view on how the turn to open in the context of the public sector can be understood and explained. They pose methodological as well as theoretical questions and contribute to the understanding of the open, the features of code/data and the process of ICT policy making in a post-fordist world.
Maha Shaikh is an assistant professor at Warwick Business School (WBS) in the Information Systems and Management Group. Her research interests revolve around an understanding of the phenomenon of open source, with a focus on the becoming of community, learning, forking, and business model innovation. Prior to her affiliation to WBS, Maha was a research officer in the Information Systems and Innovation Group at the LSE, and a research fellow at the LERO Research Centre at the University of Limerick with Professor Brian Fitzgerald. She holds a PhD in Information Systems from LSE.
Prodromos Tsiavos is the legal project lead for the Creative Commons -England and Wales (CC-EW) and Greece (CC-Greece) projects, and an associate in Avgerinos Law Firm in Athens. He is a research officer at the Innovation and Information System Group, Management Department of the London School of Economics. Prodromos has worked for the European Commission, Oxford and Oslo University and as a lecturer in the Greek National School of Public Administration teaching the course "E-Government and Open Data Management". He is an adviser on legal issues of open data to the Greek Special Secretary for Digital Planning. Prodromos is also consulting various public sector organisations in Greece and the UK, such as the National Archives, the Greek National Documentation Center and the National Cadastre Service. He read law in Athens and London and holds a PhD in Information Systems from LSE.
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