Volunteer Attraction and Retention in Open Source Communities

TitleVolunteer Attraction and Retention in Open Source Communities
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2014
AuthorsBarcomb, A
Secondary TitleProceedings of The International Symposium on Open Collaboration
Pagination40:1–40:2
PublisherACM
Place PublishedNew York, NY, USA
ISBN Number978-1-4503-3016-9
KeywordsCommunity Management, FLOSS, open source, Recruitment, Service Duration, Volunteer Management, Volunteer Retention, Volunteers
Abstract

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.

URLhttp://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2641580.2641628
DOI10.1145/2641580.2641628
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