7. Affordances wayfaring, alongside a paradigm of inhabiting disclosive spaces
Across and long the seven cases on open sourcing while private sourcing (OSwPS) from 2001 to 2011, affordances wayfaring emerges as the second of three theories, coming alongside a paradigm of inhabiting disclosive spaces.
Figure 7.1 Induction into an emerging theory of affordances wayfaring
This theory-building is based on the seven cases detailed in Appendix A (summarized in Chapter 4) and the five contexts detailed in Appendix B (summarized in Chapter 5).
7.1 A paradigm of inhabiting disclosive spaces can be seen as being-in-the-world with practice theory
OSwPS can be oriented philosophically towards living in an environment where change is a constant, influenced both by external forces and the actions of human beings inhabiting it.
Being-in-the-world221 is part of a practical holism that views explicit beliefs and hypotheses meaningful only in specific contexts and against a background of shared practices.
Practice theory222 emphases the social life of human beings in the context of the actions of others and themselves leading to reality in which they engage. As opposed to thinking about a social groups or individuals in terms of their intentions, attention is focused on their behaviour. This action-oriented view observes that the “purpose of the system is what it does”223 as potentially different from the espoused.
A disclosive space224 is an organized set of practices for dealing with oneself, other people, and things that produce a web of meanings. A community of practice is bound together through a shared style225. Most people engage with customary skills, in a style of organized pragmatic activity that interrelate equipment, purposes and identities. Innovators and entrepreneurs have cultivated history-making skills226 that change the style of a disclosive space.
Inhabiting a world227 is more than occupying a building. Dwelling228 dissolves distinctions between occupying and building. A task, as labour in a work practice, is carried out in a taskscape229 temporality, in the way that land is part of the landscape known to those who dwell within.
Do individuals share worlds? Each individual is a separate being, so the way that one experiences being-in-the-world varies. Individuals can share a disclosive space with common practices and compatible webs of meanings. However, open sourcing only (OSo) occurs in a disclosive space with a set of practices and meanings, private sourcing only (PSo) occurs in another disclosive space, and OSwPS can be in yet another disclosive space where the practices and meanings integrate differently. The customary skills in one disclosive space may or not be considered as appropriate in another.
7.2 A theory of affordances wayfaring emerges alongside inhabiting disclosive spaces
Based on the paradigm described above, the cases on OSwPS lead to proposing a theory of affordances wayfaring.
Affordances230 were originally defined as a complementarity of an animal and its environment, in which the environment offers, provides or furnishes an invariant meaning or value to the animal. Shifting the frame from zoology to anthropology, human beings are seen as handy in their environments, and world-forming in disclosing.231
Wayfaring232 is an embodied experience of living not inside places, but through, around, to and from them, from and to places elsewhere. A line of travel233 is an ongoing process of growth and development, or self-renewal. Transporting234, in contrast to wayfaring, moves the traveller from one location to another location, oriented towards a destination. While wayfaring in a labyrinth (i.e. a unicursal puzzle with a single non-branching path) is attentional in action, navigating in a maze (i.e. a multicursal puzzle with many branches, choices of path and dead-ends) is intentional.235 These lines characterize the enfoldings of a generative past, and a future potential in the present moment.236
Combining affordances with wayfaring amongst a group of fellow travellers has the potential to emerge an unfolding over time of collective disclosive spaces. For an individual unfamiliar with an environment, a substance, surface, object or place might not be perceived as an affordance with meaning or value. A companion more familiar with the line of travel may draw attention to a value-rich ecological object, and educate on its potential as an affordance. Additionally, collaboration amongst some pioneers may lead to the creation of new affordances, which could be selectively disclosed to others, or more obviously show up for everyone.
Across social worlds, a material entity may become recognized as a boundary object.237 A social life for boundary objects may be described in three phases: (i) an origin where locally tailored objects are interpreted similarly within a group; (ii) development of well-structured standards allowing different groups can work together; and (ii) the generation of residual categories (e.g. none of the above) that become inhabited by outsider who may start a new cycle.238 Depending on the range of the wayfarer, a boundary object may or may not hold the possibility for actions as an affordance.
7.3 Patterns concerns entailed by affordances wayfaring include enskilling equipping and legitimating
In considering along and across the seven case studies from 2001 to 2011 within the paradigm of inhabiting disclosive spaces, some pattern that emerge include (i) enskilling, (ii) equipping and (iii) legitimating.
7.3.1 Enskilling entails affordances wayfaring
Enskilling239 continually embodies capacities of awareness and response across generations of individuals and group situated in their environments. In unfamiliar environments, affordances may become salient while wayfaring, so unconscious competences may rise in importance for further honing as part of a journey. Generative patterns of enskilling are shown in three concerns in Table 7.1.
| Pattern label | (b) Leaving complexities to specialists | (a) Accessing the smartest people working elsewhere | (c) Leaving breadcrumbs for followers | ||
|
(i) Voices on issues (who and what) |
(a.i) For an organization leader, what frontiers of knowledge can be nurtured for societal and commercial gains? while (b.i) For a typical user, are basic functions accessible immediately, with assistance for advanced features available on demand? while (c.i) For a self-reliant tinkerer, can an assembly be deployed, modified and/or repaired without unnatural effort? |
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(ii) Affording value(s) (how and why) |
(b.ii) Reducing effort through privileges of an offering in exchange for monetary and/or non-monetary compensation | (a.ii) Seeing history and progress of successes, errors and fixes, so that concerns and defects are acknowledged and prioritized | (c.ii) Building on the work of others without worrying about future constraints, so that some hard problems are already solved | ||
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(iii) Spatio-temporal frames (where and when |
(b.iii) Customers trust the offering provider for quality and satisfaction as long as the relationship continues | (a.iii) Gradient of expertise is appreciated, and collaboration is not seen as collusion | (c.iii) Community has benevolent leaders and moderators who include and develop contributing participants | ||
| (iv) Containing systems | ← | (a.iv) For participants in a socio-technical system, are additional features of an offering worth updating platforms and practices? | → | ||
| (v) Contained systems | → | (a.v) For an offering provider, in which activities do we lead, and in which do we only participate? | ← | ||
| Concern | Private sourcing only | Open sourcing while private sourcing | Open sourcing only | ||
For enskilling, let’s focus first on OSwPS, informed by cases from Chapter 4.
(a) Accessing the smartest people working elsewhere240 is a generative pattern significant along and across all seven cases for the concern of OSwPS. When pioneers explore practices and technologies that are new-to-the-world, establishing features that eventually become common sense may come from sources outside organizational boundaries. This is illustrated in the case study on blogging, where conventional ways of online authorship and commenting in serialized form was at first an unusual way of publishing that eventually became popular. Blogging platforms and authors often start in a tentative style, and learn from responses and interaction with their audiences. The behaviour of blogging can be supported through alternative technology platforms, either open sourcing or private sourcing in nature.
(a.i) For an organization leader, what frontiers of knowledge can be nurtured for societal and commercial gains? is a driving issue. Innovations based on science may originate from public universities or private research divisions that publish findings and experiences in academic journals. Many advances are unconstrained from derivative use in applied ways, yet many discoveries are not commercially viable. Organizations with a reputation of sharing and contributing to public bodies of knowledge will be welcomed more than those who take without giving.
(a.ii) Seeing history and progress of successes, errors and fixes, so that concerns and defects are acknowledged and prioritized is an affording value. Private sourcing providers can hide their mistakes, as relatively few customers will go through the effort of diagnosing and reporting defects. Software users have unfortunately become accustomed to rebooting their computers to clear potential interactions between applications, and hoping that they can avoid crashes. When a commercial provider contributes both to open sourcing and private sourcing asset bases, defects that appear in their offering but not the pure open sourced version have to be acknowledged. The commercial provider may offer a revision to open source components, but if they are not accepted by the community, a change to the private sourcing components is the alternative.
(a.iii) Gradient of expertise is appreciated, and collaboration is not seen as collusion are spatio-temporal frames for the pattern. While open sourcing means that anyone can join a project, private sourcing resources often bring more highly-educated and better-trained professionals. Self-funded participants may be suspicious of the motives of corporate developers, but open sourcing somewhat levels the playing field by allowing everyone to examine and criticize contributions. At the same time, the prevailing socio-political environment has to support corporate interests participating the commons, in the context of independent foundations that see many organizations working on shared issues.
(a.iv) For participants in a socio-technical system, are additional features of an offering worth updating platforms and practices? is a containing system for the pattern. Keeping up to date with an evolving system brings the burden of upgrading skills continuously, as technologies and the world changes. Those feeling overburdened may decide newness is not worth the effort, or rely on services to care of details for them.
(a.v) For an offering provider, in which activities do we lead, and in which do we only participate? is a contained system for the pattern. An open sourcing community has many contributors, so participants are free to choose their focuses. A corporate-backed resource may have the time and energy to tackle larger challenges, leaving minor bug fixes to those with shorter time horizons.
A generative pattern for the concern of PSo can be inferred from the research into OSwPS.
(b) Leaving complexities to specialists is a generative pattern significant for the concern of PSo. Much of the time, people don’t care or have the time to appreciate the inner working of systems. In 1999, blogger.com was a private sourcing web site from Pyra Labs that enabled authors to publish on the web for free. Since Pyra Labs was acquired by Google in 2003, the code base still bears a private sourcing copyright. While many open sourcing blog platforms have since become available (e.g. Wordpress since 2003; Movable Type since 2007) many authors are trusting commercial enterprises to continue to provide technologies without charge.
(b.i) For a typical user, are basic functions accessible immediately, with assistance for advanced features available on demand? is a driving issue. Busy people are willing to start off with basic no-charge offerings, recognizing that businesses may be supported by advertising revenue or premium charges for more advanced functionality. They don’t mind paying a reasonable fee for services, and may switch providers if further functionality is inadequate.
(b.ii) Reducing effort through privileges of an offering in exchange for monetary and/or non-monetary compensation is an affording value for a customer or client. Members of advanced societies rely on organizations and institutions to extend their capabilities. While cooperation has traditionally been common within families, clans and faith-based communities, commercial businesses exist to fulfill wants and needs of those who prefer to not "do-it-yourself".
(b.iii) Customers trust the offering provider for quality and satisfaction as long as the relationship continues is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. Most commercial enterprises rely on repeat business by customers who have enjoyed their products and services. A reputation is fragile, so a significant mistake may lead to customers migrating to alternatives.
A generative pattern for the concern of OSo is similarly inferred.
(c) Leaving breadcrumbs for followers is a generative pattern significant for the concern of OSo. A history of choices, decisions, and fruitful and fruitless results enables observers to assess the alternatives and options that might recur. Artifacts can be objectified, and communications between participations may provide additional insights into the trajectory that has led to the current state.
(c.i) For a self-reliant tinkerer, can an assembly be deployed, modified and/or repaired without unnatural effort? is a driving issue. Open sourcing should enable motivated parties to copy and derive similar results as the original authors, if sufficient diligence is applied. Open sourcing builds in open sourcing, so communities ensure that foundational tools (e.g. Linux) can be reproduced and recreated from scratch.
(c.ii) Building on the work of others without worrying about future constraints, so that some hard problems are already solved is an affording value for downstream participants. Assets with open source licenses already attached mean that reuse and derivation are permitted within the conditions expressed by the original authors. Distinctions between permissive (non-sharealike) and non-permissive (sharealike) conditions may influence architectural decisions, yet are clear from the outset.
(c.iii) Community has benevolent leaders and moderators who include and develop contributing participants is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. A community of active contributors keeps an open sourcing project alive. If new recruits are not welcomed, or a mutiny occurs, volunteers can easily move onto another community where they’re welcomed.
These three issues on (i) encouraging progress at the frontier of knowledge; (ii) deepening expertise through specialization, and (iii) broadening universal accessibility to tools incorporate concerns mixed across open sourcing and private sourcing programs. Having the skills to innovate around offerings, can be a challenge both from the perspectives of providers and of customers. Migrating from a prior way of doing things may be a minor adjustment that is easily accepted, or a drastic change that is reviled and criticized by the community.
7.3.2 Equipping entails affordances wayfaring
Equipping241 with tools, materials or dwelling, when available in an equipmental whole, enables everyday coping in order to situationally accomplish carry out a function. Generative patterns of equipping are shown in three concerns in Table 7.2.
| Pattern label | (b) Organizing with the visible hand of managerial capitalism | (a) Practicising until they can’t get it wrong | (c) Gathering the volunteer army | ||
|
(i) Voices on issues (who and what) |
(a.i) For an organization leader, does bringing professional resources to a volunteer initiative accelerate a desirable outcome? while (b.i) For an entrepreneur, does capital investment prosper over grassroots alternatives? while (c.i) For a do-it-yourselfer, are processes and materials readily available and/or shared? |
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(ii) Affording value(s) (how and why) |
(b.ii) Funding from financial backers for acquiring talent and resources so that market wants and needs can be fulfilled | (a.ii) Accelerating commons initiatives with commercial resources, so that independent investments are reduced | (c.ii) Tapping pre-cleared assets and methods so that private pursuits can enjoy the fruits of collective wealth | ||
|
(iii) Spatio-temporal frames (where and when) |
(b.iii) Capital can be economically appropriated and deployed distinctively | (a.iii) Commercial contributions are unencumbered by licensing | (c.iii) Perquisite tools and equipment are generally available to participants | ||
| (iv) Containing systems | ← | (a.iv) For a governing leader, are non-commercial and commercial parties encouraged to participate fairly towards societal benefits? | → | ||
| (v) Contained systems | → | (a.v) For a business unit leader, does pooling resources with community lead to a surplus above going it alone? | ← | ||
| Concern | Private sourcing only | Open sourcing while private sourcing | Open sourcing only | ||
For equipping, let’s again focus on the concern of OSwPS, supported by the cases of Chapter 4.
(a) Practicising until they can’t get it wrong reflects professionals learning-by-doing as a significant pattern across and along all seven cases for the concern of OSwPS. The case of podcasting illustrates an organization supporting the distribution of prerecorded audio, video and presentation slides across the full range of employees. Uploading and downloading files has been a feature of computing since its early days, but the advent of the iPod and MP3 players set new expectations that anyone who missed a teleconference should be able to catch up later, practically as simply as dialling in on a telephone. When a project evolves casually without deadlines or clear purpose, wayfaring discloses history-making affordances as "amateurs practice until they get it right".242 When commercial resources are engaged and plans become formalized, "professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong".
(a.i) For an organization leader, does bringing professional resources to a volunteer initiative accelerate a desirable outcome? is a driving issue. Not every project needs to be someone’s full-time job. Open sourcing is often done on "hobby" time, where an individual has a pet peeve that he or she solves for personal reasons, and then shares with others. In some cases, the informality amongst a group of volunteers is creative, and having management bring in professional resources can crush the spirit.
(a.ii) Accelerating commons initiatives with commercial resources, so that independent investments are reduced is an affording value for the pattern. Open sourcing can lead to many alternative projects headed in the same general direction, competing for recognition. When one or more commercial organizations begin to contribute to an open project, attention gets drawn so that one project gains momentum and/or features from other initiatives get added to the scope.
(a.iii) Commercial contributions are unencumbered by licensing is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. When a private sourcing version is offered in the marketplace, there must be at least one alternative open sourcing alternative that is practically viable. Customers may prefer a reputable private sourcing vendor to the dynamics of multiple open source contributors, but shouldn’t feel locked in to only one provider.
(a.iv) For a governing leader, are non-commercial and commercial parties encouraged to participate fairly towards societal benefits? is a containing system for the pattern. At the level of policy-setting, laws and industrial policy should see a role for commercial businesses to work with not-for-profit organization towards advancing societal goals. Encouragement and constraints can be in force at a variety of levels of legislatures, and across jurisdictional boundaries.
(a.v) For a business unit leader, does pooling resources with community lead to a surplus above going it alone? is a contained system for the pattern. A manager in a commercial enterprise has responsibility to the company shareholders, and thus finds himself or herself with a private sourcing offering in competition with an open sourcing alternative where the acquisition price is zero. In order to be compensated for the offering, the value that is captured by the enterprise has to be greater than the cost for the company in employing both private sourcing and open sourcing resources.
A generative pattern for the concern of PSo is inferred from behaviours around OSwPS activities.
(b) Organizing with the visible hand of managerial capitalism is a generative pattern motivating business enterprise. While projects initiated by volunteers are laudable, professional managers ensure that market opportunities are met with talented people well equipped to serve customers. They can act with speed and decisiveness in the face of competitive tensions and economic pressures.
(b.i) For an entrepreneur, does capital investment prosper over grassroots alternatives? is a driving issue. Many businesses remain as small enterprise (e.g. mom-and-pop shops) because scaling up is not economically viable. Some businesses can benefit from entrepreneurs taking financial capital to invest in serving more customers and/or providing a broader range of offerings.
(b.ii) Funding from financial backers for acquiring talent and resources so that market wants and needs can be fulfilled is an affording value for the entrepreneur. Cash flow enables an organization invest in resources and operate to serve its customers. Success leads to greater success, so that wealth is available to expand the business.
(b.iii) Capital can be economically appropriated and deployed distinctively is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. An entrepreneur may succeed by bringing together social capital, cultural capital and financial capital in ways that others do not. The business does have to retain some distinction as a differentiation, so that competitors and/or copycats don’t steal away all of the customers.
A generative pattern for the concern of OSo is similarly inferred.
(c) Gathering the volunteer army is a generative pattern significant for the concern of OSo. In addition to bringing their skills and reputations to a community, members usually bring their own tools. The falling price of computer hardware has lowered the barrier of access to tools for software development. In other domains, hardware tools and environments either have to be pocket change for authentic open sourcing, or local collectives (e.g. fab labs) may have emerged as makers pool their resources locally.
(c.i) For a do-it-yourselfer, are processes and materials readily available and/or shared? is a driving issue. Joining and participating in an open source community is based on transparency. Individuals self-assess their qualifications, preparedness and willingness to engage with others. Expectations of members increases with their involvement (e.g. becoming a committer is generally regarded as prestigious).
(c.ii) Tapping pre-cleared assets and methods so that private pursuits can enjoy the fruits of collective wealth is an affording value for the open source community member. Participants can focus on their tasks at hand without having to deal with bureaucracy or contracts. Contributors certify that their donations are authentically created by themselves, or have been obtained with appropriate clearances.
(c.iii) Prerequisite tools and equipment are generally available to participants is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. Open sourcing presumes that individuals have access to basic platforms as foundations. Rather than specifying requirements of the latest and highest performing infrastructure, older and cheaper technologies and institutions are accommodated. When newer technologies are required, older versions of open source offerings often have a following until total obsolescence is reached.
These three issues on (i) professional resources on volunteer initiatives; (ii) profitable capital investment, and (iii) ready accessibility to materials and tools, incorporate concerns mixed across open sourcing and private sourcing programs. Better equipped individuals may have a larger set of tools, materials or dwelling available, so that additional history-making affordances are disclosed. Greater interoperability of additional affordances with the prior equipment customarily available can lead to greater commonality in practices.
7.3.3 Legitimating entails affordances wayfaring
Legitimating243 objectivizes distinctions over a social space, by lending higher prestige to some identities over others. While species of capital244 include (i) economic capital (i.e. materials that can be exchanged), (ii) cultural capital (i.e. abilities and talents embodied), and (iii) social capital (i.e. obligations or rights through relationships), those three lead to forming (iv) symbolic capital (i.e. honour, prestige or recognition) that can be converted into advantage in social and/or political spheres. Generative patterns of legitimating are shown in three concerns in Table 7.3.
| Pattern label | (b) Building a brand with prestige | (a) Being on the right side of history | (c) Doing trumps talking | ||
|
(i) Voices on issues (who and what) |
(a.i) For an offering architect, which emerging directions will converge to become standards both for society and our participation? while (b.i) For an offering adopter, does the provider have an identity with value(s) worth affiliating? while (c.i) For a commons contributor, is the collective credible as a living initiative aligned with personal interests? |
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| (ii) Affording value(s) (how and why) | (b.ii) Enjoying respect gained through customer endorsements to extend profitable patronage in continuing relationships | (a.ii) Aligning foresight with evolving public specifications so that investments realize into mainstream everyday ways | (c.ii) Reusing and extending work products proven by others in practice, so that the load is lessened for everyone | ||
|
(iii) Spatio-temporal frames (where and when) |
(b.iii) Markets are complete and efficient, with customers discerning on preferences | (a.iii) Standards committees are independent and inclusive | (c.iii) Artifacts are shared in the commons, and constructive criticism is welcomed transparently | ||
| (iv) Containing systems | ← | (a.iv) For a market participant, which organizations have reputations with whom association is desirable? | → | ||
| (v) Contained systems | → | (a.v) For a platform adopter, which standards have an implementation practical for application? | ← | ||
| Concern | Private sourcing only | Open sourcing while private sourcing | Open sourcing only | ||
For legitimating, the concern of OSwPS can be reviewed first, following from the cases in Chapter 4.
(a) Being on the right side of history is a generative pattern significant across and along all seven cases for the concern of OSwPS. After an episode where a variety of innovators compete and one party emerges as dominant, history gets rewritten as a prescience by the eventual winner. The case of mashing-up shows the interplay between developing standards, building technologies, and guiding non-programmers to assemble web content for themselves. Providing early access to product prototypes and hosting competitions to create exemplars for later promotion represent "right ways" to lead in the marketplace towards launching a new class of offerings. The technologies of mashing-up unfortunately were not as big success due to timing (with a product release in midst of the 2008 financial crisis), so legitimacy could be seen as necessary condition that is not sufficient by itself. The learning and product features were eventually repackaged into other offerings.
(a.i) For an offering architect, which emerging directions will converge to become standards both for society and our participation? is a driving voice on issues. Establishing an open industry standard requires cooperation with customers and amongst competitors, although deliberation tends to slow down progress. Offering leaders have to find ways to release a distinctive product, while embracing the will of the marketplace with "not invented here" innovations.
(a.ii) Aligning foresight with evolving public specifications so that investments realize into mainstream everyday ways is an affording value for the offering architect. Innovating can follow the maxim that "the best way to predict the future is to create it".245 Participation on industry standard committees while developing a distinctive implementation enables legitimacy on claims of interoperability and clear paths for relevance of offerings in the future.
(a.iii) Standards committees are independent and inclusive is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. Ongoing participation in an industry collaboration requires credible governance that maintains neutrality.
(a.iv) For a market participant, which organizations have reputations with whom association is desirable? is a containing system for the pattern. There are a variety of standards organizations at national and international levels, for technologies and practices. Gaining the endorsement of a standards body requires both effort and time. Some bear greater legitimacy than others.
(a.v) For a platform adopter, which standards have an implementation practical for application? is a contained system for the pattern. A community or organization that can claim compliance with a standard has table stakes as a credible alternative. Long term viability and responsiveness to change may influence the reputation on which an implementation is selected.
The concern of PSo has a generative pattern inferred from behaviours around OSwPS activities.
(b) Building a brand with prestige is a generative pattern for PSo. A pursuit of excellence can lead to an innovator forging ahead in a heroic effort that should be rewarded with recognition.
(b.i) For an offering adopter, does the provider have an identity with value(s) worth affiliating? is a driving issue. Customer adoption of an offering is the measure of success. While superior products and lower price can lead customers to narrow a consideration set for transactions, a strong company reputation and admirable history play larger in decisions related to long-term relationships.
(b.ii) Enjoying respect gained through customer endorsements to extend profitable patronage in continuing relationships is an affording value for the offering adopter. A well-reputed company and/or brand will benefit by repeat business. "If you lie down with dogs, you will get up with fleas".246
(b.iii) Markets are complete and efficient, with customers discerning on preferences is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. For private enterprise to work well, customers are presumed to have easy access to vendor offerings. In addition, customers have to care about differentiating features, beyond product commodities.
A generative pattern for the concern of OSo can be inferred similarly.
(c) Doing trumps talking is a generative pattern for OSo. Legitimacy is established through verifiable facts and body of work, rather than claims of a future to come. Public access to records enables transparency.
(c.i) For a commons contributor, is the collective credible as a living initiative aligned with personal interests? is a driving voice on issues. Open source communities show their orientations on a variety of philosophies. Attitudes can range from emancipatory to laissez-faire, personal to institutional, simple to sophisticated. Members volunteering in an open source community assume part of the identity shared by peers.
(c.ii) Reusing and extending work products proven by others in practice, so that the load is lessened for everyone is an affording value for the offering adopter. The authenticity in open source works is high, due to transparency. Individuals can self-select to try out and/or adopt stable releases that have been hardened, or less mature actively developed branches with additional features.
(c.iii) Artifacts are shared in the commons, and constructive criticism is welcomed transparently is a spatio-temporal frame for the pattern. A community thrives when mutual respect is shown. Open sourcing protects direct copying, but does not preclude any party from taking an idea and reinventing it elsewhere (e.g. rebuilding in another language or context).
These three issues on (i) backing the eventual industry standard, (ii) building a prestigious organizational identity, and (iii) showing tangible signifiers of progress, incorporate concerns mixed across open sourcing and private sourcing programs. Offerings and organizations embody their identities in continual evolution, with skills, equipment and legitimacy changing to match societal wants and needs and environmental conditions.
7.4 Hypothesizing for a theory of affordance wayfaring
One hypothesis for a descriptive theory for OSwPS within the paradigm of inhabiting disclosive spaces can be constructed:
- Hypothesis: Open sourcing while private sourcing enables affordances wayfaring through enskilling, equipping and legitimating. This is possible in ways that neither open sourcing only nor private source only allows.
The seven cases and the context of IBM between 2001 and 2011 support this hypothesis. Additional hypotheses within this paradigm could be developed. This hypothesis could be tested beyond IBM with contemporary cases, as OSwPS has become more commonplace.