Theorizing Modes of Open Source Software Development

Open Source Software (OSS) development is distributed across actors and artifacts and involves translating diffuse representations into distinct sets of contiguous code artifacts. Despite the highly distributed and dynamic nature of OSS development, it is often described in unitary, monolithic terms – an unfortunate situation which masks considerable variance across OSS development processes. Therefore we explore reasons for systematic variance in these processes so as to enable more effective OSS development practices. Drawing on theory of distributed cognition, we develop a language of cognitive translations, which occur within and across distributed social arrangements and structural conditions of sharing knowledge. This language provides micro-foundations for understanding how different modes of OSS development emerge. Through examining how generative characteristics of social and structural distributions in OSS shape distinct development pathways, we propose a theoretically derived typology explaining the characteristics, dynamics, and conditions for success of different modes of OSS development.