01637nas a2200121   4500008004100000022001400041245007600055210006900131260004200200520121700242100002001459856003601479       2011                        eng d  a1913-610200aBeyond Technology: Enabling Communities Through Social Interoperability0 aBeyond Technology Enabling Communities Through Social Interopera  aOttawabTalent First Networkc08/20113 aTechnical interoperability between open source software projects is increasingly common. Applications that were designed to communicate effectively with other applications are more robust and give users the freedom to combine them with other applications that were built to interoperable specifications. Projects such as Apache, Linux, and other development platforms, have helped fuel this move to interoperability in unique ways, including the capability of building further applications upon their foundations. They also encouraged the development of new communities and ecosystems of users and developers.

The OSGeo Foundation has taken advantage of these powerful open source platforms with several open source projects focusing on technological interoperability. However, there is also significant social interoperability taking place within the organization. What seem to start as ad hoc communities, in turn, create further opportunities for both social and technological advances. This article uses OSGeo as a case study to show that, when individuals contribute to the community and join together with other likeminded members, new technology and relationships pave the way to further innovation.
 1 aMitchell, Tyler  uhttp://timreview.ca/article/462