Evaluating the Potential of Free and Open Source Software in the Developing World

2011 ◽  
pp. 79-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor van Reijswoud
Keyword(s):  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
High Potential ◽  
African Continent ◽  
International Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Development Organizations

Development organizations and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been emphasizing the high potential of free and open source software (FOSS) for the less developed countries (LDCs). Cost reduction, less vendor dependency, and increased potential for local capacity development have been their main arguments. In spite of its advantages, FOSS is not widely adopted on the African continent. In this chapter the experiences of one of the largest FOSS migrations in Africa is evaluated. The purpose of the evaluation is to make an on-the-ground assessment of the claims about the development potential of FOSS and draw up a research agenda for a FOSS community concerned with the LDCs.

Evaluating the Potential of Free and Open Source Software in the Developing World

2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 38-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor van Reijswoud ◽  
Emmanuel Mulo
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Capacity Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
High Potential ◽  
African Continent ◽  
International Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Development Organizations

Development organizations and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have been emphasizing the high potential of free and open source software (FOSS) for the less developed countries (LDCs). Cost reduction, less vendor dependency, and increased potential for local capacity development have been their main arguments. In spite of its advantages, FOSS is not widely adopted on the African continent. In this article the experiences of one of the largest FOSS migrations in Africa is evaluated. The purpose of the evaluation is to make an on-the-ground assessment of the claims about the development potential of FOSS and draw up a research agenda for a FOSS community concerned with the LDCs.

Open Source Software Adaptation in Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 1708-1722
Author(s):  
Abubakar Diwani Bakar ◽  
Abu Bakar Md. Sultan ◽  
Hazura Zulzalil ◽  
Jamilah Din
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Global Network ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Software Adaptation ◽  
Proprietary Software ◽  
Wide Availability ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Software Practitioners

The African continent has long benefited from adopting OSS in its private and public organizations that have changed their way of development, the use and how to acquire proprietary software. This frequency of adaptation does not appear to be in balance with the contribution to the OSS community. Using views from experienced software practitioners working in different organizations across two African countries it has been observed that neglected infrastructure, a wide availability of proprietary software and misconceptions of a clear meaning of Open Source Software across Africa have been an obstacle towards the participation in the OSS technology in the global network.

Review of Open Source Software (OSS)

2012 ◽  
pp. 26-40
Author(s):  
Bhasker Mukerji ◽  
Ramaraj Palanisamy
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Source Code ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Large Pool ◽  
Public Sector Organizations

The popularity of Open Source Software (OSS) in developing countries is quiet evident from its widespread adoption across government departments and public sector organizations. The use of OSS saves economic resources of cash starved countries, provides an opportunity to promote e-government, and to utilize their resources in other sectors. Many developing countries have a large pool of skilled developers who can modify the source code of the OSS at a very low cost. Many governments in developing and developed countries have switched to OSS which probably encourages others to follow the trend. It was not possible to follow the adoption trend in all the developing countries but the usage of OSS in countries like India, Brazil, and Venezuela provides us an insight. The successful adoption of OSS requires thorough analysis of its advantages as well as the issues associated with it. This chapter will provide an overview of OSS, characteristics of OSS developers, and their motivation to volunteer by contributing in OSS projects, followed by the advantages and issues associated with OSS.

Reflections on the Role of Science and Technology in Development

1979 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-93
Author(s):  
Thomas F. Malone
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
International Symposium ◽  
Third World ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Cooperative Action ◽  
International Nongovernmental Organizations ◽  
Industrialized Nations

The International Symposium on Science and Technology for Development, held in Singapore from 22–26 January 1979:(1) Demonstrated that cooperative action could be taken by international nongovernmental organizations which are concerned about the role of science and technology in the UN Conference on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD);(2) Caused a coalescing of these concerns in a commitment to bring the resources of science and technology to bear on Third-World problems;(3) Resulted in a strengthened commitment to revitalize the patterns of cooperation of nongovernmental scientific and technical (S&T) organizations to expand their ties to intergovernmental agencies; and(4) Led to an advised framework of action involving four groups, proposing: a) a network of institutions in developing countries to identify problems from the perspective of the developing countries themselves; b) a ‘switching mechanism’ in the nongovernmental sector to link the less developed countries (LDCs) with the resources of scientific and technological talent in industrialized nations; c) a multiplication of the collaboration of donor institutions; and d) a revitalization of the UN system for due application of S&T to development, accompanied by a more active working partnership with international nongovernmental organizations.

Review of Open Source Software (OSS)

2011 ◽  
pp. 198-212
Author(s):  
Bhasker Mukerji ◽  
Ramaraj Palanisamy
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Source Code ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Economic Resources ◽  
Large Pool ◽  
Public Sector Organizations

The popularity of Open Source Software (OSS) in developing countries is quiet evident from its widespread adoption across government departments and public sector organizations. The use of OSS saves economic resources of cash starved countries, provides an opportunity to promote e-government, and to utilize their resources in other sectors. Many developing countries have a large pool of skilled developers who can modify the source code of the OSS at a very low cost. Many governments in developing and developed countries have switched to OSS which probably encourages others to follow the trend. It was not possible to follow the adoption trend in all the developing countries but the usage of OSS in countries like India, Brazil, and Venezuela provides us an insight. The successful adoption of OSS requires thorough analysis of its advantages as well as the issues associated with it. This chapter will provide an overview of OSS, characteristics of OSS developers, and their motivation to volunteer by contributing in OSS projects, followed by the advantages and issues associated with OSS.

Open Source Software Adaptation in Africa

2016 ◽  
pp. 896-910
Author(s):  
Abubakar Diwani Bakar ◽  
Abu Bakar Md. Sultan ◽  
Hazura Zulzalil ◽  
Jamilah Din
Keyword(s):  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Global Network ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Software Adaptation ◽  
Proprietary Software ◽  
Wide Availability ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Software Practitioners

The African continent has long benefited from adopting OSS in its private and public organizations that have changed their way of development, the use and how to acquire proprietary software. This frequency of adaptation does not appear to be in balance with the contribution to the OSS community. Using views from experienced software practitioners working in different organizations across two African countries it has been observed that neglected infrastructure, a wide availability of proprietary software and misconceptions of a clear meaning of Open Source Software across Africa have been an obstacle towards the participation in the OSS technology in the global network.

scholarly journals MONITORING SDG 9 WITH GLOBAL OPEN DATA AND OPEN SOFTWARE – A CASE STUDY FROM RURAL TANZANIA

2019 ◽  
Vol XLII-2/W13 ◽  
pp. 1551-1558 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. M. Ilie ◽  
M. A. Brovelli ◽  
S. Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Geospatial Information ◽  
Training Material ◽  
Educational Challenges ◽  
The World

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> The 17 goals adopted by the United Nations (UN) are aimed at achieving a better and more sustainable future for all. For each goal, a set of indicators has been defined. The indicators measure progress towards achieving the respective SDG. For the majority of these indicators, geospatial information is needed to evaluate the current state of the indicator. While geospatial information is largely available in developed countries, this is not the case in many developing countries of the world. Furthermore, skills and capacity for calculating indicator values are also limited in many developing countries. To address these shortcomings, the third challenge of the 2018 UN OSGeo Committee Educational Challenges called for the development of training material for using open source software together with freely available high resolution global geospatial datasets in support of monitoring SDG progress. The resulting training material provides a step-by-step guide for calculating the state of SDG indicator 9.1.1, <i>Proportion of the rural population who live within 2km of an all-season road</i>, using open software and open data with global coverage. Through the development of this training material, we showed that anyone can monitor progress towards achieving SDG indicator 9.1.1 for their specific part of the world. Because open source software and open data were used, the indicator calculation is cost effective and completely sustainable.</p>

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