Building Inclusive Digital Societies Through the Use of Open Source Technologies

Abstract

Digital convergence offers many new opportunities, but also poses architectural and structural issues. One of the most critical obstacles is the ‘vertical silos model’ that shapes much of today’s Internet. The accumulation of money, power and influence create further concern. We propose the use of open source technologies as a partial solution for the identified challenge. These technologies enable scalability of innovations and drive distribution wealth. Open source technologies have been studied extensively from technical view point, but less from adaptation side. Our research took customer view in technology sourcing. Data was collected in a survey and interviews with 120 companies in Europe. The enquiry revealed that open source technology adaptations were limited due to the uncertainties related to sustainability of communities, SLAs and regulations. The study implied that the industry needs to evolve toward increased customer orientation. The study contributes to adaptation of open source technologies.