Ecosystem mapping is a research and analysis activity we conduct at OpenKollab in order to systematically discover new opportunities for collaboration.
What is an Ecosystem?
An ecosystem can be understood as a natural set of relationships that exist between projects that makes it possible that they collaborate. Hence projects that are a part of an ecosystem interact with each other, the leaders know each other, and the projects are mutually interdependent in some way. In more specific terms, an ecosystem can consist of projects that share the same larger goals, that share common team members, share common customers or markets, that are a part of the same value chain (partners, suppliers etc.), share a common technology infrastructure, etc. There is no theoretical limit to what is constitutive of an ecosystem and, in reality, this will be determined in practice by talking to projects that might form a part of an ecosystem.
What is Ecosystem Mapping?
Ecosystem mapping is a way of making visible the entities of an ecosystem and the relationships between them. It can start as simply as making a list, though much more deep and complex approaches are possible. It is similar in many ways to network mapping and network analysis, but at the level of groups and organizations. Our first attempts at mapping ecosystems use an online spreadsheet, with 25 different values being recorded for each entity. We will refine this process as we learn more about ecosystems and furthermore learn to ask the right questions about them. Our hope is that, with enough information about an ecosystem, we can systematically discover opportunities for fruitful collaboration between entities in an ecosystem.
Who are we mapping now?
The first ecosystem we’re mapping is the Open Manufacturing ecosystem, a movement applying the principles of open source software development to the production of tangible goods. This is a rapidly emerging ecosystem with deep implications equitable and sustainable development. You can view our progress on this online spreadsheet.
Want to map your ecosystem?
It’s really just old fashioned data entry. We’ll help you with process and outreach, and it’s the first step to bringing new sources of funding into your ecosystem. Just join the OpenKollab Google Group (subscribe in the sidebar on the right), introduce yourself, and we’ll go from there.
See also: Ecosystem – details of the OpenKollab ecosystem.
