@article {125, title = {Membership herding and network stability in the open source community: The Ising perspective}, journal = {Management Science}, volume = {53}, number = {7}, year = {2007}, month = {Jul}, pages = {1086-1101}, abstract = {The aim of this paper is twofold: (1) to conceptually understand membership dynamics in the open source software (OSS) community, and (2) to explore how different network characteristics (i.e., network size and connectivity) influence the stability of an OSS network. Through the lens of Ising theory, which is widely accepted in physics, we investigate basic patterns of interaction and present fresh conceptual insight into dynamic and reciprocal relations among OSS community members. We also perform computer simulations based on empirical data collected from two actual OSS communities. Key findings include: (1) membership herding is highly present when external influences (e.g., the availability of other OSS projects) are weak, but decreases significantly when external influences increase, (2) propensity for membership herding is most likely to be seen in a large network with random connectivity, and (3) for large networks, when external influences are weak, random connectivity will result in higher network strength than scale-free connectivity (as external influences increase, however, the reverse phenomenon is observed). In addition, scale-free connectivity appears to be less volatile than random connectivity in response to an increase in the strength of external influences. We conclude with several implications that may be of significance to OSS stakeholders in particular, and to a broader range of online communities in general.}, keywords = {BEHAVIOR, DYNAMICS, ECONOMICS, INNOVATION, INVESTMENT, Ising theory, membership herding, MODEL, MOTIVATION, network connectivity, network stability, open source, PHASE-TRANSITION, UNCERTAINTY}, isbn = {0025-1909}, author = {Oh, Wonseok and Jeon, Sangyong} } @conference {1161, title = {The Coming Software Revolution}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2nd ICSE Workshop on Open Source}, year = {2002}, abstract = {The growing adoption of collaborative software development will change the global software industry by altering its economics of scale, location, and price. The growth of non-proprietary code will depress prices in the proprietary sector, and the possession of source code will enable the growth of more software industrial centers around the world; their emergence will threaten the business of current leaders. National governments which see themselves as disadvantaged or even threatened by the current software powers will encourage collaborative software development and the services that this development model drives. Only world-wide draconic legislation by the current software powers has any hope of preserving the status quo.}, keywords = {ECONOMICS, management, open source, politics}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/Rosenberg.pdf}, author = {Rosenberg, D.K.} } @conference {1157, title = {Why Do Developers Contribute to Open Source Projects? First Evidence of Economic Incentives}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2nd ICSE Workshop on Open Source}, year = {2002}, note = {"The data for this research come from two primary sources: Apache project archives and a targeted survey of Apache participants. Archival data are open source project artifacts such as email and source code archives, source code version control meta-data and developer web sites."}, abstract = {The availability of commercial quality, free software products such as the Apache HTTP (web) server or the Linux operating system has focused significant attention on the open source development process by which these products were created. One of the more perplexing aspects of open source software projects is why developers freely devote their time and energy to these projects. While many open source participants cite idealistic motives for participation, Lerner and Tirole (2000) argue that developer participation in open source projects may, in part, be explained by existing economic theory regarding career concerns. This research seeks to confirm or disconfirm the existence of economic returns to participation in open source development. Preliminary results of our empirical investigation suggest that greater open source participation per se, as measured in contributions made, does not lead to wage increases. However, a higher status in a merit-based ranking within the Apache Project does lead to significantly higher wages. This suggests that employers do not reward the gain in experience through open source participation as an increase in human capital. The results are also consistent with the notion that a high rank within the Apache Software Foundation is a credible signal of the productive capacity of a programmer.}, keywords = {apache, contributions, cvs, developers, ECONOMICS, email, email archives, financial, Human capital, mailing list, MOTIVATION, participation, source code, version control}, attachments = {https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/HannRobertsSlaughterFielding.pdf}, author = {Il-Horn Hann and Jeff Roberts and Sandra Slaughter and Roy Fielding} }