Open collaboration for social problem solving:converging or diverging norms of governance authority?

This paper examines the potential for collaboration between formal science professionals and loosely connected online groups that employ crowdsourcing to generate digital information resources. What are the differences between scientists’ and other online groups’ preferred modes of governing knowledge creation? A distinction is drawn between constituted and adaptive modes of governance and similarities and differences between the two groups’ understandings of information curation and verification and openness are considered. It is suggested that open science will need to become more flexible if it is to build collaborations with loosely connected groups on equitable terms that respect their respective values and in ways that maximise the contributions of these groups to social problem solving.