%0 Book Section %B Open Source Systems: Adoption and Impact %D 2015 %T How Developers Acquire FLOSS Skills %A Barcomb, Ann %A Grottke, Michael %A Stauffert, Jan-Philipp %A Dirk Riehle %A Jahn, Sabrina %E Damiani, Ernesto %E Frati, Fulvio %E Dirk Riehle %E Wasserman, Anthony I. %K competencies %K Informal learning %K Non-formal learning %K open source %K Skills %K Software developer %X With the increasing prominence of open collaboration as found in free/libre/open source software projects and other joint production communities, potential participants need to acquire skills. How these skills are learned has received little research attention. This article presents a large-scale survey (5,309 valid responses) in which users and developers of the beta release of a popular file download application were asked which learning styles were used to acquire technical and social skills. We find that the extent to which a person acquired the relevant skills through informal methods tends to be higher if the person is a free/libre/open source code contributor, while being a professional software developer does not have this effect. Additionally, younger participants proved more likely to make use of formal methods of learning. These insights will help individuals, commercial companies, educational institutions, governments and open collaborative projects decide how they promote learning. %B Open Source Systems: Adoption and Impact %S IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology %I Springer International Publishing %V 451 %P 23-32 %@ 978-3-319-17836-3 %U http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17837-0_3 %R 10.1007/978-3-319-17837-0_3 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/oss-2015.pdf %0 Conference Paper %B Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym 2015) %D 2015 %T A multiple case study of small free software businesses as social entrepreneurships %A Barcomb, Ann %K free software %K open source software %K public good %K small business %K social entrepreneurship %K social ventures %X Free/libre and open source software are frequently described as a single community or movement. The difference between free software and open source ideology may influence founders, resulting in different types of companies being created. Specifically, the relationship between free/libre software ideology and social entrepreneurships is investigated. This paper presents seven case studies of businesses, five of which were founded by people who identify with the free/libre software movement. The result is a theory that small businesses founded by free/libre software advocates have three characteristics of social entrepreneurships. First, social benefit is prioritized over wealth creation. Second, the business’s social mission is not incidental but is furthered through its for-profit activities, rather than supported by the company’s profits. Third, the company’s success is defined in part by the success of its social mission Free/libre software entrepreneurs who recognize their activities as social entrepreneurships can benefit from the existing literature on the unique challenges faced by socially-oriented businesses. %B Proceedings of the 11th International Symposium on Open Collaboration (OpenSym 2015) %U https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-fau/frontdoor/index/index/docId/6334 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/p100-barcomb.pdf %0 Report %D 2015 %T Volunteer Management in Open Source Communities %A Barcomb, Ann %X Open source community management is largely ad-hoc and relies on practitioner guides. Yet there is a great deal of information about volunteer management in the general volunteering literature, open source literature and general volunteering guides which could be relevant to open source communities if it were categorized and validated. Bringing these different sources of information together also reveals gaps in our understanding of volunteer management in open source which I hope to address. %B OpenSym 2015, the 11th International Symposium on Open Collaboration %8 08/2015 %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/c101-barcomb.pdf %0 Conference Paper %B Proceedings of The International Symposium on Open Collaboration %D 2014 %T Volunteer Attraction and Retention in Open Source Communities %A Barcomb, Ann %K Community Management %K FLOSS %K open source %K Recruitment %K Service Duration %K Volunteer Management %K Volunteer Retention %K Volunteers %X The importance of volunteers in open source has led to the position of community manager becoming more common in foundations and projects. Yet the advice for volunteer management and retention is fragmented, incomplete, contradictory, and has not been empirically examined. Our aim is to fill this gap by creating a comprehensive guidebook of best practices drawing from open source practitioner guides and general literature on volunteering, and to subject a subset of practices to empirical study. A method for evaluating volunteer attrition in terms of value to the organization will also be developed. %B Proceedings of The International Symposium on Open Collaboration %S OpenSym '14 %I ACM %C New York, NY, USA %P 40:1–40:2 %@ 978-1-4503-3016-9 %U http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2641580.2641628 %R 10.1145/2641580.2641628 %0 Thesis %D 2010 %T The Sociability of Free Software: A GNU Look at Free Software Identified Businesses as Social Entrepreneurships %A Barcomb, Ann %K free software %K open source software %K public good %K small business %K social entrepreneurship %K social ventures %X This research strives to address the gap in the literature surrounding companies which identify with the philosophical values associated with the Free Software movement, which have historically been associated with Open Source businesses. It investigates whether ethically-motivated Free Software identified companies resemble social entrepreneurships. This work also examines whether there are significant differences between the business practices of Free Software identified companies, Free Software, and Open Source enterprises in order to assess if it is appropriate to address them as a group. The study is based on seven case studies, and includes one company which is a Free Software business, but does not identify with the Free Software philosophy, as well as one company which is ethically-motivated but identifies with Open Source rather than Free Software. The results indicate that there is good reason to believe that adherence to Free Software philosophy creates socially-aware businesses, which may be social entrepreneurships. No problems were discovered with the practice of grouping together Free Software and Open Source companies in the study of business practices, provided that a broad definition of success is used. %I Maastricht University %U http://barcomb.org/cgi/paper.cgi?paper=barcomb:2010:sociability %9 masters %> https://flosshub.org/sites/flosshub.org/files/barcomb-2010-sociability.pdf