CIOZone.com - Professional Network for CIOs and IT Professionals

Wikibon Difference

Wikibon is not the only research group that has embraced the open source model. Others include RedMonk, Freeform Dynamics, MWD, Enterprise Irregulars, and IT Toolbox.

What differentiates Wikibon from RedMonk and the others, according to Vellante, is that Wikibon provides its research under the open source GNU (GNU General Public License) and is truly open. "Like the GNU, we allow people to take our research and repurpose it," said Vellante. "You have freedom to do with it as you want." Other research groups copyright their information, he said. "Look at their research," saud Vellante. "They claim to be open source. I think their claims are dubious."

I checked the RedMonk site and found that use of its content is limited and is only free for "noncommercial" use. RedMonk says the following regarding reuse of its content: "As described above, our content is free for all non-commercial usage (i.e. for usage in marketing materials on your website, you'd have to contact us for licensing). Nor do we accept commissioned work of any kind. If, however, you'd like to purchase content after it's been published, say to support marketing activities, you're eligible to do so at fixed and discounted rates."

I also checked research on the FreeForm Dynamics site and found that its was copyrighted and bears the notice, "Copyright 2009 Freeform Dynamics Ltd." MWD Advisors' license is also limited. According to its Web site, MWD research is "Licensed under a Creative Commons License" with "Some Rights Reserved."

IT Toolbox also does not allow you to reuse its content without permission. The IT Toolbox terms of use state: "You may not post, transmit, or share Content on the Site or Services that You did not create or that You do not have permission to post, transmit, or share."

Enterprise Irregulars is a blogger site for analysts and consultants. It does not publish research. Because its content consists of blogs, it does not have a policy regarding reuse or restrictions on publishing research.

Like open source software communities, people contribute research and insights for free on Wikibon. Why? "People enjoy participating in Wikibon's open source research community and getting recognition," said Vellante.

Is the open source model here to stay, I asked? "The guys that are good will survive," said Vellante. "I'm thrilled to see this out there. I don't think open source will go away. The power is the user community."

Comments (1)

	1. 08-23-2009 12:42
	Thanks for this article, as I was not familiar with Wikibon previously. Kudos to Wikibon for applying the open source model in a new arena. They seem to do a lot of content aggregation from other open sources (blogs, news feeds, etc.) as well, and that aggregated content almost seems more prominent than their own research portal content. I hope that they are able to gain enough traction to build a viable community and business model; ironically, the proprietary research firms that Wikibon is trying to differentiate itself from will be free to leverage Wikibon's content to add value to their own offerings (if they are smart). Registered

Fred Kauber

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.