www.openmodels.at

OPEN | MODEL

Since models are an excellent means to grasp knowledge in a way that can be easily operationalized, the major objective of the Open Model Initiative is to establish a community of people who focus on the creation, maintenance, modification, distribution, and analysis of models. We use the term “Open Models” to refer to the models in our initiative. The attribute “open” reflects that models are basically understood in a broad way and more importantly that these models can be freely accessed in accordance to the area of “open source”. Moreover, we aim at transfer the characteristics of distributed and cooperative development of artefacts from the world of open source to the world of models.

The practical relevance of open source development can be deduced from a series of existing successful projects. Popular examples include the following: the Linux operating system, software from the Apache Software Foundation like the famous HTTP Server, Open Office, Eclipse, Sourceforge, and Mozilla that provides among others the wide-spread Internet browser Firefox.

To enable the notion of open models, the initiative is made up of three major pillars. Aspects concerning organizational structures, processes, motivational issues and the like are considered under the heading of an Open Model Community. All activities within the initiative shall be conducted in terms of Open Model Projects. Necessary technological foundations including suited modelling languages, procedures, and mechanisms for the processing of models as well as IT-based modelling environments are subsumed by Open Model Foundations.

In the context of the Open Model Initiative a feasibility study on behalf of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology has been elaborated discussing criteria of success for all crucial parts of the initiative and also provides some recommendations how they could be met. Additionally, in this study some prospective Open Model Projects that exemplarily show what modelling activities and related actions could be done within the scope of the Open Model Initiative.