%0 Journal Article %J Technology Innovation Management Review %D 2012 %T A New Way of Measuring Openness: The Open Governance Index %A Liz Laffan %K Android %K governance %K open source %K open source licenses %X Open source software is now "business as usual" in the mobile industry. While much attention is given to the importance of open source licenses, we argue in this article that the governance model can be as necessary to a project's success and that projects vary widely in the governance models - whether open or closed - that they employ. Open source governance models describe the control points that are used to influence open source projects with regard to access to the source code, how the source code is developed, how derivatives are created, and the community structure of the project. Governance determines who has control over the project beyond what is deemed legally necessary via the open source licenses for that project. The purpose of our research is to define and measure the governance of open source projects, in other words, the extent to which decision-making in an open source project is "open" or "closed". We analyzed eight open source projects using 13 specific governance criteria across four areas of governance: access, development, derivatives and community. Our findings suggest that the most open platforms will be most successful in the long term, however we acknowledge exceptions to this rule. We also identify best practices that are common across these open source projects with regard to source code access, development of source code, management of derivatives, and community structure. These best practices increase the likelihood of developer use of and involvement in open source projects. %B Technology Innovation Management Review %I Talent First Network %C Ottawa %V 2 %P 18-24 %8 01/2012 %U http://timreview.ca/article/512 %N 1 %1 VisionMobile Liz Laffan is a Research Partner at VisionMobile. Liz has been working in the telecoms and mobile industry for over 20 years, with large telecommunications organizations, startup technology ventures, software development, and licensing firms. She holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies from Thames Valley University and an MA in International Political Economy from Warwick University. Liz's interests lie in open source software governance and licensing and in particular how commercial organizations can best interact with open source projects. %R http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/512