%0 Conference Paper %B ICIS 2002. Proceedings of International Conference on Information Systems 2002 %D 2002 %T An Exploratory Study of Factors Influencing the Level of Vitality and Popularity of Open Source Projects %A Stewart, Katherine J. %A Ammeter, Tony %K activity %K audience %K developers %K freshmeat %K license analysis %K licenses %K organizational sponsorship %K project success %K roles %K status %K target audience %K users %X In this research, we ask the question: What differentiates successful from unsuccessful open source software projects? Using a sample of 240 open source projects, we examine how organizational sponsorship, target audience (developer versus end user), license choice, and development status interact over time to influence the extent to which open source software projects attract user attention and developer activity. %B ICIS 2002. Proceedings of International Conference on Information Systems 2002 %P 1-5 %8 2002