Collective intelligence approach for free software adoption by municipalities

Abstract

The free technologies adoption by governments is not a new phenomenon. As an innovative contribution, this paper proposes a collective intelligence (CI) approach for improving the free software adoption by small and medium-sized municipalities. To build this CI-approach, the authors have analyzed the dynamic of the communities hosted by Brazilian Public Software (BPS) Portal and the actions related to implementation of software solution in Brazilian municipalities. They started by identifying key variables and their relationship, and mining data from the communities whose software solutions have been successfully implemented in the municipalities according to player reports available in BPS portal. Such as the relationships demonstrate, these players have been appropriated the knowledge related to solutions and created new business to support the modernization of public administration. Based on reports and statistical analysis, the authors could understand both the dynamic of the successful communities and the adoption phenomena by municipalities as a consequence of individual initiatives. The results indicate that a CI-approach based on 5W1H can improve the knowledge sharing and promote the best practice in the free software adoption by small and medium-sized municipalities.