Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Case Study of How Consumer Innovations Disrupt Markets

该项目研究信息技术（IT）部门的社会运动和市场之间的相互作用。 本文以1998-2006年IT业采用自由开放源码软件（FOSS）为例，分析了FOSS从IT业的边缘到IT业发展的基石的三个过程：FOSS从IT业的边缘到IT业发展的基石的转变;（3）自由和开放源码软件对信息技术产业的文化影响。 调查结果将增进对消费者、创新者和大公司之间关系的理解。研究问题将通过分析与自由和开放源码软件运动和首先采用这一方法的公司有关的主要和次要文件以及通过访谈进行调查。 将收集、分类和分析与自由和开放源码软件历史有关的各种来源的各种文件，以及白色文件、广告材料和一家主要公司就其早期参与自由和开放源码软件编写的其他文件。文档分析将通过60次深入的半结构化访谈来补充，访谈对象是参与FOSS的管理人员以及选定的FOSS项目的参与者。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project studies the interaction between social movements and markets in the information technology (IT) sector. Using the specific case of the adoption of free and open source software (FOSS) by the IT industry between 1998-2006, three processes are investigated: 1) the transition of FOSS from the fringes of the IT industry, to being the cornerstone of IT development; 2) the reconciliation in companies of market motives with the morality often connected with FOSS; 3) the cultural effects of FOSS on the IT industry. Findings will increase understanding of the relationship between consumers, innovators, and large companies.The research questions will be investigated through analysis of primary and secondary documents associated both with the FOSS movement and the firms which first adopted the approach and through interviews. A wide assortment of documents from various sources related to the history of FOSS, alongside white papers, advertising materials, and other documents produced by a key firm regarding its early involvement with FOSS, will be collected, categorized, and analyzed. Document analysis will be supplemented by 60 in-depth, semi-structured interviews of executives involved with FOSS, as well as participants in select FOSS projects.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.