Gisclair researches the use of open source software in China

The associate professor and department chair in the School of Communications has published a peer-reviewed article examining the country’s promotion of open source development and support of technological innovation.

Jessica Gisclair
Jessica Gisclair, associate professor and department chair in the School of Communications, has published an article in the Southeast Review of Asian Studies, exploring the Chinese development of open source software. The peer-reviewed article, titled “A Place for Mixed-Source Technology in China,” delves into the country’s development of open source software (OSS) after Microsoft ended support for its Windows XP operating system in 2014.

“OSS can be a way for developing countries to compete with established technology firms and their proprietary software, given the various concerns about interoperability, regulatory constraints, and software,” wrote Gisclair in the journal. “Mixed-source technology and collaborative agreements are an effective way for developing countries like China to gain a share of the global technology market.”

The article is a result of Gisclair’s fall 2014 sabbatical research project, which also produced three peer-reviewed conference presentations, including a January 2016 presentation at James Madison University.

​The Southeast Review of Asian Studies, formerly called the Annals, is a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal published annually since 1979 by the Southeast Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, a nonpolitical, nonprofit scholarly organization dedicated to promoting the study of Asia in the Southeastern region of the United States.