8<-----------------
JITP 2010: The Politics of Open Source
A two-day University of Massachusetts Amherst conference jointly sponsored by:
Google
Department of Political Science
Science, Technology, and Society Initiative (STS)
Journal of Information Technology & Politics (JITP)
Qualitative Data Analysis Program (QDAP)
National Center for Digital Government (NCDG)
KEYNOTE & DISTINGUISHED SPEAKERS
Eric von Hippel is Professor and Head of the
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Group at the
Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology and Fellow at the
Berkman Center for Internet and Society at
Harvard Law School. He specializes in research
related to the nature and economics of
distributed and open innovation. He also
develops and teaches about practical methods
that firms can use to improve their product and
service development processes. He is the author
of Democratizing Innovation (MIT Press, 2005)
and The Sources of Innovation (Oxford, 1988).
Clay Johnson is Director of Sunlight Labs. Prior
joining Sunlight, Clay was one of the four
founders of Blue State Digital, the progressive
left's premier technology and online strategy
firm. This firm, which was born out of the
Howard Dean campaign, was also responsible for
Barack Obama's Web presence. At Blue State
Digital, Clay was responsible for developing the
organization's brand and building its initial
client roster. He also had a hand at building
some of the company's early technical tools.
Before joining Blue State, Johnson was the lead
programmer for Dean for America in 2004,
overseeing the development of grassroots tools
like GetLocal, DeanLink and Project Commons.
Prior to entering politics, Johnson was a
technologist at Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) where
he helped to develop the company's Web
syndication product. He also started the first
Internet Knowledge Exchange, KnowPost.com, and
worked as an entrepreneur-in-residence at a
Venture Capital firm, but still claims that he
learned the most from his first job -- as a
waiter at Waffle House in Atlanta, Georgia.
Christopher M. Kelty is an associate professor
at the University of California, Los Angeles. He
has a joint appointment in the Center for
Society and Genetics and in the department of
Information Studies. His research focuses on the
cultural significance of information technology,
especially in science and engineering. He is the
author most recently of Two Bits: The Cultural
Significance of Free Software (Duke University
Press, 2008), as well as numerous articles on
open source and free software, including its
impact on education, nanotechnology, the life
sciences, and issues of peer review and research
process in the sciences and in the humanities.
APPROACH
Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS) has
made significant advances, both technically and
organizationally, since its emergence in the
mid-1980s. Over the last decade, it has moved
from a software development approach involving
mostly volunteers to a more complex ecology
where firms, nonprofit organizations, government
agencies and volunteers may be involved.
Moreover, the production paradigm continues to
expand to other areas of digital content (e.g.,
Creative Commons, Wikipedia, Connexions, etc.).
In this conference we use the phrase ?open
source? to capture this broader phenomenon. The
Program Committee encourages disciplinary and
interdisciplinary approaches to the study of open source, broadly defined.
"Politics" in the conference title, can have
many interpretations. Political issues closely
tied to the free and open source software
movement(s) include: national government
policies related to the adoption of open source
technologies or questions related to
interoperability and open standards, software
patents, vendor lock-in, and copyright. These
are central themes we expect may be discussed in
this forum. In this context, we welcome
international submissions since differences in
the political perspective appear in
international contexts. However, topics related
to how the concept of openness has led to
various interpretations, adaptations, and
applications of ?open source? in other domains,
and political issues that surround these broader
innovations, are also welcome. Specific topics
might include, but are not limited to:
General topics related to the politics of open source
? How open source software or its principles are changing politics
? Emerging transparencies in software, systems and society
? Open source in the developing world and other international contexts
? The political economy of open source
? Digital divides and open source
Open source and the public sector
? Open source software and transparency in government
? Government policies toward open source and open standards
? Regulation and open source
Open source and democracy
? Open source and democratic engagement
? Open source voting systems
? Activism, political mobilization and open source
The expansion of open source into other domains
? Understanding how open source collaboration
works and how it can be extended into other areas of collective action
? Policy areas, such as the effects of free
textbooks on education policy or the politics of "One Laptop Per Child"
? The political implications of open source in other cultural domains
PAPER SUBMISSIONS
Authors are invited to prepare and submit to
JITP a manuscript following one of the six
submission formats by January 10, 2010. These
formats include research papers, policy
viewpoints, workbench notes, review essays, book
reviews, and papers on teaching innovation.
Proposals for full panel presentations will also
be accepted. The goal is to produce a special
issue, or double issue, of JITP with a wide
variety of approaches to the broad theme of "The Politics of Open Source."
Everything you need to know about how to prepare
and submit a strong JITP paper is documented at
<http://www.jitp.net/>http://www.jitp.net/.
Papers will be put through an expedited blind
peer review process by the Program Committee,
and authors will be notified about a decision by
March 10, 2010. A small number of papers will be
accepted for presentation at the conference.
Other paper authors will be invited to present a
poster during the Friday evening reception. All
posters must include a "YouTube" version of their research findings.
BEST PAPER AND POSTER CASH PRIZES
The author (or authors) of the best research
paper will receive a single $1,000 prize. The
creator (or creators) of the best
poster/research presentation will also receive a single prize of $1,000.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Ezendu Ariwa, London Metropolitan University
M.V. Lee Badgett, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Paul M.A. Baker, Georgia Institute of Technology
Deborah Bryant, Oregon State University Open Source Lab
Andrea Calderaro, European University Institute
Mark Cassell, Kent State University
Edward Cherlin, Earth Treasury
Gabriella Coleman, New York University
Doug Downham, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Robert English, Daystar Computing & University of Massachusetts Amherst
Joseph Feller, University College Cork
Jelena Karanovic, Rutgers University
Dave Karpf, University of Pennsylvania/Miller Center for Public Affairs
Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech
Jose Marichal, California Lutheran University
Jens Hardings Perl, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Charlie Schweik, University of Massachusetts Amherst, co-chair
Stuart Shulman, University of Massachusetts Amherst, co-chair
Megan Squire, Elon University
Krishna Ravi Srinivas, Research Information System For Developing Nations
Louis Suarez-Potts, Sun Microsystems, Inc. & OpenOffice.org
Anas Tawileh, Cardiff University & Meedan.net
_________________________________
Andrea Calderaro
Department of Social and Political Sciences
European University Institute
Italy
