Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………… 1
1-1 Open source software is successful ……………………………………………………………………. 3
1-2 Research question ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 5
1-3 Research on open source communities: The state of the art ………………………………………. 6
1-4 State-of-the-art research leaves our research question unanswered ……………………………. 11
1-5 The framework: Reconciling differences in state-of-the-art research …………………………… 12
1-6 Relevance of this research ………………………………………………………………………………….. 14
1-7 Structure of the book ………………………………………………………………………………………….. 15
CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ……………………………………………………… 19
2-1 On the nature of common pool resources …………………………………………………………….. 19
2-2 Collective action, the tragedy of the commons and the usual solutions …………………………. 21
2-3 A third model: Self-organized and self-governed communities ……………………………………… 23
2-4 Explaining how communities sustain common pool resources ……………………………………… 26
2-5 Developments in research on common pool resources ………………………………………………… 30
2-6 Discussion: The applicability of research on common pool resources ………………………….. 33
CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ………………………………………………………………….. 37
3-1 Research strategy: The design principles as a conceptual answer ………………………………….. 37
3-2 Short introduction of the selected communities ………………………………………………………… 40
3-3 Methods of data collection ……………………………………………………………………………………. 42
3-4 Data analysis ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 44
3-5 Method of presentation: Structure along the design principles ……………………………………….. 46
CHAPTER FOUR: BOUNDARIES …………………………………………………………………………….. 49
4-1 The first design principle: Clearly defined boundaries …………………………………………………… 49
4-2 Why open source communities need boundaries: Appropriation …………………………………….. 51
4-3 Few organizational boundaries to limit the size of communities ……………………………………… 53
4-4 A trade-off: Attraction versus protection ………………………………………………………………….. 54
4-5 Open source licenses: Enormous variety ……………………………………………………………………. 55
4-6 Licenses are dynamic boundaries ………………………………………………………………………………. 62
4-7 Signs of convergence: Widespread adoption of the GPL …………………………………………………… 64
4-8 News sites to protect boundaries and educate developers ………………………………………………. 65
4-9 Foundations to protect the boundaries ……………………………………………………………………. 66
4-10 Foundations are lean legal institutions …………………………………………………………………… 71
4-11 Institutions or individual choice: The importance of individual choice ……………………………. 72
4-12 Conclusion: Redundancy of boundaries ………………………………………………………………….. 72
CHAPTER FIVE: PROVISION AND APPROPRIATION ……………………………………………… 79
5-1 The second design principle: Provision and appropriation rules ………………………………………. 79
5-2 Little need for appropriation rules in open source communities ……………………………………… 80
5-3 The need for provision rules in open source communities …………………………………………….. 81
5-4 Individualism dominates the provision of open source software ……………………………………… 82
5-5 Mechanisms to relieve the need for collaboration and coordination …………………………………. 83
5-6 Mechanisms to coordinate massive amount of individual efforts ……………………………………… 86
5-7 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 93
CHAPTER SIX: CONFLICT …………………………………………………………………………………….. 99
6-1 The third design principle: Conflict resolution mechanisms …………………………………………….. 99
6-2 A high potential for conflicts ……………………………………………………………………………………. 103
6-3 The limited role of mediation and arbitration ……………………………………………………………… 105
6-4 Ignoring the open display of conflicts: A culture of doing ………………………………………………… 108
6-5 Deflecting conflict: Creation of parallel development lines ………………………………………………. 111
6-6 Voting with your feet: The exit option ……………………………………………………………………… 114
6-7 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 116
CHAPTER SEVEN: COLLECTIVE CHOICE …………………………………………………………… 121
7-1 The fourth design principle: Collective choice …………………………………………………………… 121
7-2 Convergence in open source: The need for collective choice? ………………………………………….. 123
7-3 Limited influence of leadership and voting systems ……………………………………………………….. 124
7-4 Choices are made on the individual level …………………………………………………………………… 128
7-5 Positive feedback ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 129
7-6 Aggregation of individual choices: The role of tags ……………………………………………………….. 129
7-7 Beyond collective choice and individual choice …………………………………………………………. 133
7-8 Project leaders and voting systems revisited ……………………………………………………………… 137
7-9 A note on consensus: Its role in decision making ………………………………………………………. 138
7-10 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 139
CHAPTER EIGHT: MONITORING AND SANCTIONING …………………………………………….. 143
8-1 The fifth design principle: Monitoring and graduated sanctioning ……………………………………… 143
8-2 The need for monitoring and sanctioning in open source ………………………………………………… 146
8-3 Robustness to survive many small infractions …………………………………………………………….. 147
8-4 More formal sanctioning mechanisms are hardly used …………………………………………………….. 148
8-5 The costs of monitoring are low: Development is monitoring …………………………………………… 149
8-6 The presence of many mild sanctioning mechanisms ……………………………………………………… 151
8-7 The impact of sanctioning mechanisms is proportional ……………………………………………………… 154
8-8 Discussion: Is use of the sanctioning mechanisms gradual? ……………………………………………… 155
8-9 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 156
CHAPTER NINE: LAYERS OF NESTED ENTERPRISE …………………………………………….. 159
9-1 The sixth design principle: Multiple layers of nested enterprise ………………………………………. 159
9-2 A need for multiple layers of nested enterprise in open source …………………………………………. 160
9-3 Decomposing the complexity: The presence of multiple layers …………………………………………. 161
9-4 The emergent division of labor ………………………………………………………………………………….. 164
9-5 The division of labor ensures specialization and improves efficiency …………………………………. 165
9-6 Open source communities and learning ……………………………………………………………………. 167
9-7 Mechanisms to achieve coordination between activities and modules …………………………………. 168
9-8 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 170
CHAPTER TEN: EXTERNAL RECOGNITION ……………………………………………………….. 173
10-1 The seventh design principle: External recognition ……………………………………………………….. 173
10-2 External recognition for open source: Two extremes …………………………………………………….. 175
10-3 Open source and security ………………………………………………………………………………………. 176
10-4 Open source, commercial endeavors and innovation ……………………………………………………….. 179
10-5 Mechanisms to solve problems and counter critique ……………………………………………………….. 182
10-6 Conclusion: Are the communities under pressure? ……………………………………………………….. 187
CHAPTER ELEVEN: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………….. 191
11-1 The research framework ………………………………………………………………………………………. 192
11-2 Looking ahead to the findings: The importance of individual behavior ……………………………. 194
11-3 Boundaries …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 194
11-4 Appropriation and provision rules …………………………………………………………………………….. 197
11-5 Conflict resolution mechanisms …………………………………………………………………………….. 199
11-6 Collective choice ………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 201
11-7 Monitoring and graduated sanctioning ……………………………………………………………………. 203
11-8 Multiple layers of nested enterprise …………………………………………………………………………. 204
11-9 External recognition …………………………………………………………………………………………….. 206
11-10 The main findings ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 207
11-11 Propositions ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 214
11-12 Implications and reflection ……………………………………………………………………………………. 214
11-13 Directions for future research ……………………………………………………………………………….. 216
SAMENVATTING (SUMMARY IN DUTCH): DE ORGANISATIE VAN OPEN SOURCE COMMUNITIES ……………………………………………………………………. 221
HOOFDSTUK 2 & 3: THEORETISCH RAAMWERK EN ONDERZOEKSAANPAK …………. 222
HOOFDSTUK 4: EENDUIDIG GEDEFINIEERDE GRENZEN …………………………………………….. 223
HOOFDSTUK 5: REGELS VOOR PRODUCTIE ……………………………………………………………. 224
HOOFDSTUK 6: TOEGANG TOT CONFLICTHANTERINGMETHODEN ……………………………… 224
HOOFDSTUK 7: MECHANISMEN VOOR COLLECTIEVE BESLUITVORMING ………………………. 225
HOOFDSTUK 8: TOEZICHT EN SANCTIONERING ………………………………………………………… 226
HOOFDSTUK 9: MEERDERE NIVEAUS VAN ORGANISEREN …………………………………………….. 227
HOOFDSTUK 10: ERKENNING DOOR EXTERNEN ………………………………………………………… 227
CONCLUSIE ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 228
APPENDIXES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 231
APPENDIX A: LIST OF RESPONDENTS ………………………………………………………………….. 231
APPENDIX B: PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION ACTIVITIES PER COMMUNITY ……………….. 235
APPENDIX C: THE COLLECTION OF OPEN SOURCE LICENSES ……………………………………. 237
APPENDIX D: THE DEVELOPER’S CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN ……………………………………….. 241
APPENDIX E: BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES ………………………………………………………… 243
CURRICULUM VITAE ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 257
Abstract
Open source communities are groups of sometimes hundreds if not thousands of individuals with different interests, backgrounds and motives. Many participants are volunteers, who are not paid to take part in the communities. Furthermore, many never get to meet each other in real life. They meet virtually, on the Internet. Yet they are able to collectively develop highly complex software that has proven to work and that is viewed as a viable alternative in todays software market. The question is how? This book provides a detailed account of the organization of open source communities like Linux and Apache. Questions are answered like: How are the development efforts of hundreds of people coordinated? How are conflicts between programmers resolved? How do the communities decide whether to include a piece of source code in a software program? One of the important findings is that the organization of open source communities cannot be understood based on collective institutions. Rather, the organization of open source communities can be understood based on the behavior of the individual participants in the communities. Further, this individual behavior can be described with a limited number of behavioral rules.
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