This session at January 2006 HICSS-39 conference is being co-sponsored by two minitracks within the Internet and the Digital Economy track:

• Open Source Software Development: Kevin Crowston and Hala Annabi, co-chairs
• Standards and Standardization: Joel West and Rolf Wigand, co-chairs

To satisfy the conference administrative rules, the papers will be formally submitted through one of the minitracks, but all editorial decisions will be made jointly by session chairs representing each minitrack.

Contents

• Session chairs
• Abstract
• Subject Domain
• Key Dates
• HICSS Submission Policies

Session Chairs

If you have any questions about the suitability of a given topic to the session, feel free to contact either co-chair.

Joel West College of Business San José State University jwest2@mail.sjsu.edu

Kevin Crowston School of Information Studies Syracuse University crowston@syr.edu

The session is part of the Internet and the Digital Economy track, chaired by David King and Alan Dennis.

Abstract

Both compatibility standards and open source software are crucial artifacts mediating interfirm cooperation in IT. Both artifacts can coordinate the joint production by users of a solution to a common requirement, or between users and IT vendors, or enable intraindustry collaboration focused on the requirements of a specific industry.

Subject Domain

This session will focus on the overlap between the issues of open source and IT standards.

Possible theoretical lenses for comparing these two artifacts are:

• role of user innovation in the creation and re-invention of the artifact
• technical communities as a means for organizing production of the artifact
• variation in the multidimensional degrees of openness to stakeholder participation
• application of Actor-Network Theory explaining the relationship of individual firms and technologies

Examples of empirical phenomena that relate open source and standards include:

• use of IP by firms to undercut or extract rents from communities, producers and users
• the relationship of open source implementations and formal de jure standardization
• the role of open source implementations as de facto standards

Other topics at the intersection of standards and open source are also encouraged.