A Linguistic Analysis on How Contributors Solve Software Problems in a Distributed Context

There is a little understanding of distributed solving activities in Open Source communities. This study aimed to provide some insights in this way. It was applied to the context of Bugzilla, the bug tracking system of Mozilla community. This study investigated the organizational aspects of this meditated, complex and highly distributed context through a linguistic analysis method. The main finding of this research shows that the organization of distributed problem-solving activities in Bugzilla isn’t based only on the hierarchical distribution of the work between core and periphery participants but on their implication in the interactions. This implication varies according to the status of each one participant in the community. That is why we distinguish their roles, as well as, the established modes to manage such activity.