The Free and Open Source Software movement are pioneers in managing 'free and open expert knowledge'. However, the movement seems to take there pioneer work for granted. The movement needs to appreciate their pioneer work and use their work as a means to promote themselves.
The Free and Open Source Software movement contains many characteristics described by management guru Peter Drucker as elements of the 'knowledge society'. Drucker would define these characteristics as part of the 'networked society', 'society of organizations', and the management of 'specialize knowledge'. Projects like Linux, nodejs, and The Linux Foundation are examples of organizations networking together to manage and apply what Drucker would call 'specialized knowledge'.
The application of managing 'free and open expert knowledge' is cross disciplinary. So, the audience interested in managing 'free and open expert knowledge' is much larger than the programming community. If the movement uses the subject of 'free and open project governance' as a means to promote themselves it will result in many new organizations appreciating the movement. Perhaps, organizations outside the movement would study the Free Software Movement to learn how to manage their own 'specialized knowledge' better.
Because the business community is very familiar with Peter Drucker, this article suggests the Free and Open Source Software movement should use his 'knowledge society' framework as a means to promote their pioneer work. Using his framework as a means to talk about themselves would allow non-programmers to appreciate what the movement has done. Possibly, the vocabulary of the framework would be a great bridge for organizational leaders to enter the Free and Open Source software world. Read the Article
Jon Swenson and other contributors. This article is a work in progress. Contributions from others are welcomed. Open an issue if you would like to discuss a specific subject.
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