The Gamble of Open Organizing
CDS Working Paper Series 2004-1
Recognized today as a viable and highly effective form of developing software products, “open source” refers to the volunteer efforts of a vast, open community of individuals who are contributing, without formal administration, to a demanding public-interest project. We examine the grassroots campaign of presidential candidate Howard Dean to evaluate how open-source ideas can be transferred into an arena outside the software development context. We explain how “open source” organizing in the Dean campaign is inherently a gamble as we look at how and why it works, its payoff, and its internal risks.
