The theme of the 4th FLOSS International Workshop on Free/Libre/Open Source Software will be "Business models, social networks and collaborative knowledge development".

The workshop will be organized by the GSBC and the Department of Economics at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) on July 1-2, 2010.

This fourth FLOSS workshop continues along with the tradition of the first three meetings (Nice Sophia Antipolis - 2007, Rennes - 2008, Padua - 2009). We propose to discuss the many debated issues related to Free/Libre/Open Source Systems.

The fourth FLOSS workshop will focus on research with respect to open source business models, social networks, and innovation. Thus, this year we would like to encourage contributions that relate open source business models and the role of firms in the OSS community, the organization of OS development communities and the dynamics of the links between their actors, as well as their capacity to innovate.

FLOSS embraces many dimensions and it is of interest for very different disciplines. We therefore welcome submissions from various fields: economics & management, sociology, law, information systems & computer science, etc… We will consider both empirical approaches (surveys and case studies, econometric or experimental methods) and theoretical approaches (modeling, simulations).

Papers may focus more particularly on the following (non exhaustive) list of issues:

1) Knowledge flows and network structure: Analysis of open source social networks and their joining scripts, functioning of open source development platforms, network structural approaches to roles in OS organizations.

2) Governance mechanism and incentive structures: Social and technical structures, coordination and division of labour, leadership and conflict resolution.

3) The role of licenses and of licensing strategies: Licenses and incentives for innovators, license proliferation and incompatibilities, mixed licensing, reforms in Intellectual Property Right.

4) Different innovation models: Open innovation, user innovation, public domain innovation. Project coordination, standards and interoperability.

5) Commercialization of OSS: Role of commercial players (e.g. firms) in the open source community, sustainability of commercial OS strategies and OSS business models, degree of openness of firm owned OS projects.

6) Hybridization and Interactions between open and closed source: Competition between open and closed source software, mixed strategies of firms (hybridization), co-existence and complementarity of open and closed approaches.

7) Open Source beyond software: Analogies with social networking, blogging and collaborative knowledge development, applicability of the open source model beyond software code (e.g. open source biology).

8) Taking stock of the field: How to combine different approaches to the understanding of open source development (experiments, simulations, case studies, empirics, theoretical modelling).

Keynote and invited speakers:

We are pleased to announce that the keynote speaker of this third workshop is Jürgen Bitzer, from the Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, who will present "Returns to Open Source Software Engagement: An Empirical Test of the Signaling Hypothesis".

We will also have a thematic presentation by Rebeca Méndez-Durón, from the Universitat de les Illes Balears, on "Returns from Social Capital in Open Source Software Networks".

Scientific committee:

The scientific committee will be composed of Jürgen Bitzer (Carl von Ossietzky University, Oldenburg), Stefano Comino (University of Udine), Jean-Michel Dalle (University Pierre-et-Marie-Curie (Paris VI)), Eric Darmon (CREM-CNRS, University of Rennes 1), Joachim Henkel (Technische Universität München), Thomas Le Texier (GREDEG - CNRS, University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis), Fabio M. Manenti (University of Padua), Alessandro Rossi (University of Trento), Cristina Rossi Lamastra (Politecnico di Milano), Francesco Rullani (Copenhagen Business School), Dominique Torre (DEMOS/GREDEG - CNRS, University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis) and Jean-Benoit Zimmermann (GREQAM - CNRS and IDEP).

Local organizers:

The local organizers are Alexia Gaudeul (Jena GSBC), Sebastian von Engelhardt (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena) and Kristina von Rhein (Jena GSBC). Monika Adler (Friedrich Schiller University, Jena) will take care of administrative issues.

Submissions:

Extended abstracts will be considered, yet a higher priority will be given to full papers. Electronic submission (in .pdf format) can be done at floss2010@gmail.com by March 31, 2010.

Important dates:

First announcement and CFP: November 2009
Deadline for submission: March 31, 2010
Notification of participation decision: April 20, 2010
Deadline for payment of registration fees at reduced rate: April 30, 2010
Normal rates (before April 30): 130€ (standard) and 80€ (students).
Majored rates (after April 30): 180€ and 120€ respectively.
Delivery of final papers: June 15, 2010
Workshop: July 1-2, 2010 (full days)

Contact and Website:

Updated information about this workshop will be available at the following URL: http://floss2010.pbworks.com
For any information, please feel free to contact us by e-mail at: floss2010@gmail.com