Understanding the Nature of Participation & Coordination in Open and Gated Source Software Development Communities

This paper explores the motivations of participants from two software development communities and finds that most participants are motivated by either a need to use the software or an enjoyment of programming. The latter group, hobbyists or enthusiasts, are critical to the long-term viability and sustainability of open source software code: they take on tasks that might otherwise go undone, are largely need-neutral as they make decisions, and express a desire to maintain the simplicity, elegance, and modularity of the code. The motives of hobbyist evolve over time; most join the community because they have a need for the software and stay because they enjoy programming in the context of a particular community. Governance and licensing structures affect this evolution.