Abstract
This article examines the relative value of open innovation principles for digital media, exemplified by the emergence of Open Application Programming Interfaces (Open APIs) at four news organizations: The New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today and NPR. The use of Open APIs represents a shift toward an open innovation paradigm that may help address twin challenges facing the news industry: the need for improved R&D and the need for new revenue streams. This paper extends the interdisciplinary study of open innovation to digital communication. Findings indicate that the use of Open APIs has accelerated R&D through knowledge-sharing with web developers; generated new means of commercializing content by extending a firm's product portfolio; and forged innovation networks that function as external R&D departments. The article discusses the constant negotiation between openness and control, and open and closed paradigms in journalism.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 314-331 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | New Media and Society |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 2013 |
Keywords
- Business models
- Open APIs
- R&D
- digital media industries
- hackathons
- innovation networks
- online journalism
- open innovation
- product development
- services innovation
