Fair value on commons-based intellectual property assets: Lessons of an estimation over Linux kernel.

Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials, spreading development burden amongst individuals and companies. This model has resulted in a large and efficient ecosystem and unheralded software innovation, freely available to society. Open source methods are also increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavour, such as biotechnology or cultural production. But under financial reporting framework, general volunteer activity is not reflected on financial statements. As a result, there is not value of volunteer contributions and there is also no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop an open source technology. This volunteer activity encloses not only individuals but corporations developing and contributing open source products. Standard methodology for reporting open source asset valuation is needed and must include value creation from the perspective of the different stakeholders.FLOSS, commons, accounting standards, financial reporting

Study about students behaviour in the development of written works

El presente trabajo muestra los resultados de un estudio sobre la realización, preferencias y comportamiento del alumnado en el desarrollo de los trabajos escritos asignados en clase. En concreto el estudio se dirigió a alumnos de distintas titulaciones de Ingeniería y del Grado de Comercio y Marketing, pertenecientes a distintos niveles académicos (primero, segundo y quinto) durante dos cursos académicos. Los objetivos que se persiguen con el desarrollo de este estudio son conocer las pautas de comportamiento de nuestros alumnos en el proceso de realización de los trabajos escritos, así como la obtención de unos puntos de referencia acerca de sus preferencias sobre el manejo de herramientas clásicas o Web en la realización y los motivos que les inducen a la selección de unas u otras; con especial atención al efecto del grado de difusión de los contenidos a sus compañeros o a un público más amplio, así como la relación que la difusión de los resultados pueda ejercer sobre la copia y el plagio de fuentes. Un mayor grado de conocimiento respecto a las preferencias y comportamiento del alumnado en el proceso de atribución y realización de los trabajos escritos permitirá una serie de conclusiones que, sin duda, contribuirán a mejorar la asignación, planificación y ejecución de los trabajos escritos por parte de nuestros estudiantes.The current work shows the results of an inquiry about students fulfilment, preferences and behaviour in the development of writing assignments. The study was conducted on students of first, second and final year on Commerce & Marketing Degree and Engineering Degrees, for two academic years. The objectives pursued by this study are to understand the patterns of behaviour of our students in the process of completing written assignments; but also to earn some points of reference about their preferences for classic or Web tools as well as reasons which cause them to the selection of one or another. We also pay attention to the effect of the degree of diffusion of the contents to their classmates or to a wider public as well as to the relationship that the dissemination of results could put on copying and plagiarism of sources. A greater degree of knowledge about the preferences and behaviour of the students in the processes of attribution and fulfilment will allow us to achieve conclusions in order to improve allocation, planning and carrying out of writing assignments by our students

La contribución empresarial al software libre como actividad socialmente responsable

Firms' commitment to openness on software development means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to mitigate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and foster equal access to technology. Opening up a technology allows others to contribute innovations that individual local companies might never have devised on their own. Consequently, free software development could be seen as a matter of social responsibility. An adequate level of reporting could enhance corporate contributions to free software projects.El compromiso empresarial con la apertura y libertad en el desarrollo de software significa compartir tecnología y recursos con comunidades de todo el planeta y así contribuir a la reducción de la brecha digital, crear nuevas oportunidades de negocio y promover la igualdad de oportunidades en el acceso a la tecnología. Liberar una tecnología permite generar innovaciones que de otro modo las compañías locales no habrían podido desarrollar. En consecuencia, el desarrollo de software libre debe ser visto como una actividad socialmente responsable. Un adecuado nivel de reconocimiento en los informes corporativos podría estimular las aportaciones empresariales a los proyectos de software libre

Open source models and social responsibility

Because open source assets are developed collectively, there is no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop the technology. There is a great value on open source delopments (OSD), but current legal framework for financial reporting doesn’t allow to report on them like on other assets. Thus, financial statements could be insufficient to assess properly the performance and the value generation potential. It is clear that ICT (information and communications technology) industry need a methodology to measure OSD and put such measure into organizational reports. OSD could be seen as a matter of social responsibility. Commitment to OSD means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to help eliminate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and foster equal access to technology. Opening up a technology allows others to contribute innovations that individual companies might never have devised on their own, or at least much more quickly. The objective of our research is to identify indicators in order to measure OSD performance in ICT sector. Motivation that led us to carry out this analysis was the fact that, despite the many benefits attributed to OSD, no information about them was disclosed on annual reports. To reach our goal, we are conducting a webmetric study. We examine several successful OSD websites looking for success indicators. Our final objective is to recommend a methodology to calculate specific indicators about OSD to be disclosed on social responsibility reports.open source; responsabilidad social; TIC; innovación; divulgación

Modelos open source y responsabilidad social

Because open source assets are developed collectively, there is no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop the technology. There is a great value on open source delopments (OSD), but current legal framework for financial reporting doesn’t allow to report on them like on other assets. Thus, financial statements could be insufficient to assess properly the performance and the value generation potential. It is clear that ICT (information and communications technology) industry need a methodology to measure OSD and put such measure into organizational reports. OSD could be seen as a matter of social responsibility. Commitment to OSD means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to help eliminate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and foster equal access to technology. Opening up a technology allows others to contribute innovations that individual companies might never have devised on their own, or at least much more quickly. The objective of our research is to identify indicators in order to measure OSD performance in ICT sector. Motivation that led us to carry out this analysis was the fact that, despite the many benefits attributed to OSD, no information about them was disclosed on annual reports. To reach our goal, we are conducting a webmetric study. We examine several successful OSD websites looking for success indicators. Our final objective is to recommend a methodology to calculate specific indicators about OSD to be disclosed on social responsibility reports

Modelos open source y responsabilidad social

Because open source assets are developed collectively, there is no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop the technology. There is a great value on open source delopments (OSD), but current legal framework for financial reporting doesn’t allow to report on them like on other assets. Thus, financial statements could be insufficient to assess properly the performance and the value generation potential. It is clear that ICT (information and communications technology) industry need a methodology to measure OSD and put such measure into organizational reports. OSD could be seen as a matter of social responsibility. Commitment to OSD means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to help eliminate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and foster equal access to technology. Opening up a technology allows others to contribute innovations that individual companies might never have devised on their own, or at least much more quickly. The objective of our research is to identify indicators in order to measure OSD performance in ICT sector. Motivation that led us to carry out this analysis was the fact that, despite the many benefits attributed to OSD, no information about them was disclosed on annual reports. To reach our goal, we are conducting a webmetric study. We examine several successful OSD websites looking for success indicators. Our final objective is to recommend a methodology to calculate specific indicators about OSD to be disclosed on social responsibility reports

Fair value on commons-based intellectual property assets: Lessons of an estimation over Linux kernel.

Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials, spreading development burden amongst individuals and companies. This model has resulted in a large and efficient ecosystem and unheralded software innovation, freely available to society. Open source methods are also increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavour, such as biotechnology or cultural production. But under financial reporting framework, general volunteer activity is not reflected on financial statements. As a result, there is not value of volunteer contributions and there is also no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop an open source technology. This volunteer activity encloses not only individuals but corporations developing and contributing open source products. Standard methodology for reporting open source asset valuation is needed and must include value creation from the perspective of the different stakeholders

Fair value on commons-based intellectual property assets: Lessons of an estimation over Linux kernel.

Open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials, spreading development burden amongst individuals and companies. This model has resulted in a large and efficient ecosystem and unheralded software innovation, freely available to society. Open source methods are also increasingly being applied in other fields of endeavour, such as biotechnology or cultural production. But under financial reporting framework, general volunteer activity is not reflected on financial statements. As a result, there is not value of volunteer contributions and there is also no single source for cost estimates of how much it has taken to develop an open source technology. This volunteer activity encloses not only individuals but corporations developing and contributing open source products. Standard methodology for reporting open source asset valuation is needed and must include value creation from the perspective of the different stakeholders

La contribución empresarial al software libre como actividad socialmente responsable

Firms' commitment to openness on software development means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to mitigate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and foster equal access to technology. Opening up a technology allows others to contribute innovations that individual local companies might never have devised on their own. Consequently, free software development could be seen as a matter of social responsibility. An adequate level of reporting could enhance corporate contributions to free software projects.El compromiso empresarial con la apertura y libertad en el desarrollo de software significa compartir tecnología y recursos con comunidades de todo el planeta y así contribuir a la reducción de la brecha digital, crear nuevas oportunidades de negocio y promover la igualdad de oportunidades en el acceso a la tecnología. Liberar una tecnología permite generar innovaciones que de otro modo las compañías locales no habrían podido desarrollar. En consecuencia, el desarrollo de software libre debe ser visto como una actividad socialmente responsable. Un adecuado nivel de reconocimiento en los informes corporativos podría estimular las aportaciones empresariales a los proyectos de software libre

VALUATION OF OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE: HOW DO YOU PUT A VALUE ON FREE?

The aim of this study is to assess the financial reporting framework applied to open source software. Open sourcing software developments means sharing technology and resources with communities worldwide to help eliminate the digital divide, create economic opportunity, and support equal access to technology. Therefore, a methodological approach is needed to assess properly the performance and the value generation potential and to put such measure into organizational reports. International financial reporting framework is checked over conditions to allow value recognition of open sourced assets. Linux kernel development value is estimated to reflect worth of open source developments despite absence of book value due to inexistence of a single cost source. Several attempts to estimate a valuation of open source software have been performed previously. However, this study is the first to judge suitability of accounting framework to report on this value. The main finding is that open sourced assets do not fully accomplish conditions to be included in financial reports. We seek to stimulate academic and professional debate about the pursuit of valuation of a large and efficient ecosystem of software innovation, freely available to society