A Positive Role for Government Procurement in Promoting Open IT Standards, the Network Effect and the Information Society

Susy Struble, Sun Microsystems, Jamie Love, Consumer Project on Technology, Manon Ress, Consumer Project on Technology, Robin Gross, IP Justice, Rishab Ghosh, University of Maastricht, Gwen Hinze, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Seth Schoen, Electronic Frontier Foundation

3/21/2008
(Original Publish Date: 8/1/2006)

In a functioning network, participants work together to provide a benefit that's greater than the simple sum of their individual parts. This truism is often encapsulated in the term “the network effect,” and in the world of IT, the network effect is best gained and maintained through an effective ecosystem of open, adoptable and interoperable IT standards (see Addendum for a suggestion definition of an open standard). The network effect phenomenon is what makes the Internet and the World Wide Web such powerful communication and collaboration tools; it is the magical - and necessary - catalyst behind the growth of the Information Society.