Toward an Understanding of the Motivation of Open Source Software Developers
نویسندگان
چکیده
An Open Source Software (OSS) project is unlikely to be successful unless there is an accompanied community that provides the platform for developers and users to collaborate. Members of such communities are volunteers whose motivation to participate and contribute is of essential importance to the success of OSS projects. In this paper, we aim to create an understanding of what motivates people to participate in OSS communities. We theorize that learning is one of the motivational forces. Our theory is grounded in the learning theory of Legitimate Peripheral Participation, and is supported by analyzing the social structure of OSS communities and the co-evolution between OSS systems and communities. We also discuss practical implications of our theory for creating and maintaining sustainable OSS communities as well as for software engineering research and education.
منابع مشابه
Motivation and Sorting in Open Source Software Innovation
This paper studies the role of intrinsic motivation, reputation, and reciprocity in driving open source software innovation. Unlike previous literature based on survey data, we exploit the observed pattern of contributions the .revealed preference. of developers to infer the underlying incentives driving the decision to contribute source code. Using detailed information on code contributions an...
متن کاملWorking for Free? - Motivations of Participating in Open Source Projects
The success of the Linux operating system has demonstrated the viability of an alternative form of software development – open source software – that challenges traditional assumptions about software markets. Understanding what drives open source developers to participate in open source projects is crucial for assessing the impact of open source software. This article identifies two broad types...
متن کاملUnderstanding Developers' Motives in Open Source Projects: A Multi-Theoretical Framework
The question of why so many developers dedicate time and effort into contributing to Open Source Projects (OSP) is one of the most intriguing questions in OS research. Several preliminary studies have theorized about and empirically examined this challenging question. They suggest a variety of reasons to explain this phenomenon but mostly rely on self-determination theory, with its extrinsic-in...
متن کاملDiscovering and Modeling Open Source Software Processes
Open source software (OSS) development has been shown effective as a software development paradigm. In over twenty years since its origin, we have learned a lot about its culture and motivations. Yet despite great interest in its lessons for process improvement, understanding, and participation among corporations, researchers, and would-be participants, few have actually sought to discover and ...
متن کاملThe State of Open Source Electronic Health Record Projects: A Software Anthropology Study
BACKGROUND Electronic health records (EHR) are a key tool in managing and storing patients' information. Currently, there are over 50 open source EHR systems available. Functionality and usability are important factors for determining the success of any system. These factors are often a direct reflection of the domain knowledge and developers' motivations. However, few published studies have fo...
متن کامل