From P2P Foundation

Characteristics

As proposed by the Coalition of the Willing:

"Open Projects are those that adhere to the following principles:

Visibility: We make visible all aspects of the project. This is accomplished by: -actively documenting and reporting on the status of the project -managing the project by using tools that, whenever possible, are open and make it easy for others to join.

Documentation: Open, decentralized, projects that operate, in large part, in virtual environments require precise documentation so as to be able to effectively communicate both internally and externally.

Open Collaboration : We encourage people to explore ways of collaboration and our objective is to leverage the principles of collective intelligence and crowdsourcing.

Open Infrastructure: We use open source tools whenever possible.

Open Processes: We clearly define and develop project management processes that are designed to manage the engagement and involvement of many people.

Permeable Boundaries: We recognize that the boundaries participation in the group cannot be clearly defined in open environments. This does not mean that all groups are maximally open. In the interests of effectively managing the project, certain working groups will need to operate by invitation only.

Decentralization: We recognize that managing an open project that is highly inclusive can only be effective if decision making power is distributed widely.

Fluidity/Flexibility/Emergence: We recognize that in virtue of our interest in involving many people, different motivations and goals will converge within this project. This means that it is possible that this project seeds other projects, sub-groups etc. We need to be responsive to whatever arises." (http://cotw.cc/wiki/Open_Project)