FLOSSWorld: Free / Libre / Open Source Software

May 2005 - April 2007

Participants

• Professor Paul Allan David, Oxford Internet Institute

Abstract

The Oxford Internet Institute is participating as one of the four European research institutions involved in FLOSSWorld, a unique project funded as a Special Support Action under the EU's 6th Framework Research programme. Launched in May 2005, this 2-year project, involving 17 partners in 12 countries around the world, is designed to increase knowledge about the global phenomenon of Free / Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and application, thereby supporting further collaboration between the EU and developing countries, and contributing to informed public policy.

The focus of the research activities is the design and field implementation of a suite of surveys that will target for the first time software developers, business firms, government organisations, and institutions of higher education in eight developing countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, India, Malaysia and South Africa. The Oxford Internet Institute has special responsibility is the design and analysis of the global survey of the nature and extent of the use of FLOSS in higher education institutions, and it will collaborate with the other EU partners on the initial statistical analysis of responses to the entire suite of surveys.

Led by the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) in the Netherlands and involving researchers from MERIT and the United Nation University Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH), the project brings together major European research institutes and leading public research institutes in the target countries. FLOSSWorld is built upon the past research of its four EU partners - MERIT, the Oxford Internet Institute, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Madrid and FUNDECYT/Government of Extremadura, Spain - extending their research experience beyond the EU and embedding it in a high-profile global network.

Project website

http://www.flossworld.org/index.php.

Resources

• David, P.A. and Shapiro, J.S. (2007) Higher Education Institutions and the global role of Free/Libre and Open Source software (pdf, 536kb). Report on findings from the FLOSSWORLD Survey of developing and transition economies.

• David, P.A. and Shapiro, J.S. (2007) Who are the developers in FLOSS community-based projects? Why does that matter? (pdf, 104kb) Presentation to the OSSEMP 2007 Workshop (3rd International Conference on Open Source Software, Limerick 14 June 2007).

• David, P.A. (2006) A Multi-dimensional View of the 'Sustainability' of Free and Open Source Software Development: Sustaining Commitment, Innovation and Maintainability with Growth (pdf, 804kb). Notes and Slides for a Presentation for the OSS Watch Conference held at the Said Business School, Oxford 10-12, 2006.

Publications

• David, P.A. and Shapiro, J.S. (2007) Higher Education Institutions and the global role of Free/Libre and Open Source software. Report on findings from the FLOSSWORLD Survey of developing and transition economies.
• David, P.A. and Shapiro, J.S. (2007) Who are the developers in FLOSS community-based projects? Why does that matter? Presentation to the OSSEMP 2007 Workshop, 3rd International Conference on Open Source Software, Limerick, 14 June 2007.
• David, P.A. (2006) A Multi-dimensional View of the 'Sustainability' of Free and Open Source Software Development: Sustaining Commitment, Innovation and Maintainability with Growth. Notes and Slides for a Presentation for the OSS Watch Conference held at the Said Business School, University of Oxford, 2006.

Last updated on: 2 February 2010