Free and Open Source Software in low-income countries: Emergent properties?

Abstract

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is becoming an increasingly important element in strategies for development and implementation of information and communication technologies (ICT) in low-income countries (LICs). Such initiatives often have strong public sector orientation, as government ICT policies are expected to shape and support further socio-economical development. The usual mismatch between bureaucracies and trajectories of development initiatives (mostly run by international agencies) provides a promising field for empirical research. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.