Dissertation Research: The Open World - The World of Open Systems

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This Science and Society Dissertation Improvement Grant in the Social Studies of Science, Engineering and Technology uses ethnographic and historical research methods to trace the emergence and characterization of what we call 'open' systems. These systems are driven by groups of diversely-motivated, self-organizing volunteers who forge large-scale collaborations and take up alternative approaches to the design, production, exchange, deployment and use of information technology. Examples of open systems from recent years include robust computer operating systems and infrastructure (e.g. Linux, Apache), sizeable scientific publication databases (e.g. arXiv, PubMedCentral), and safe systems and methods for genetic organism modification (e.g.TransBacter). The implications of open systems and their departures from closed systems are not yet well understood. This dissertation explores the contested promises and perils of such open systems. The research will investigate claims that open systems represent significant departures from nationalistic modes of social organization, a transformation of neo-liberal economic logic and a sustainable alternative to traditional models of technological innovation. Drawing from several methodological traditions (including science and technology studies, information science, innovation studies, and social history) and building on detailed field work, this dissertation aims to develop a comprehensive theory that can assess the potential long-term effects of open systems. The primary objective of this project is to understand the continuities and discontinuities between older systems and the world of open systems and to document transitions where they exist. The aim is to scrutinize, evaluate and explain potential transformations within larger historical contexts while considering their implications for the law and public policy. Fieldwork for this project will focus on three contemporary case studies in different domains: free and open source software, open scholarly publishing, and open information systems in the biotechnology arena. By selecting cases from different domains the researchers hope to establish a basis for comparison that would go beyond information technology per se, the area of most focus until now. In addition, a set of smaller, historical case studies will serve as a baseline for comparison. NSF funds will support fieldwork in the United States, Europe, India and Australia that includes interviews and participant observation within developer and user communities, participation in actors' conferences, and research in governmental and private archives. In these sites open systems are being designed, built, negotiated and contested. The researcher will observe and interview developers, users and public administrators in each of the sites and collect and analyze documents. The intellectual merit of this dissertation is primarily in its contribution to the area of social studies of technology. Through detailed case studies the work will explore the connection between technology and ideology, and scrutinize the idea of 'closure' in technological systems, closed or open. The broader implications and impact of this project derives from the timely contributions that it will offer to political and technical debates about openness and its role in the information society. This work offers a critical examination of a process by which values like participation, equality, access, freedom, and justice may be beginning to displace the predominant values of the military-industrial-complex across multiple domains. This work will explore the dynamics of these transitions to the extent that they exist, and their potential long-lasting effects, which are not yet well understood.