The organization of distributed problem-solving networks: Examining how core and periphery interact together to solve problems in Mozilla's community

Abstract

The emerging empirical literature on Open Source communities indicates that a majority of code writing and communication activity is concentrated with a few contributors, the “core” (maintainers). However, these communities allow and encourage participation from anybody, the “periphery”. The focus of this work is on explaining how distributed communities solve software problems through the participation of a large number of participants. In particular, this paper investigates interaction, collaboration and division of labor between the core and periphery in a distributed problem-solving activity. Using a linguistic method of analysis, we study bugs that affected Firefox Internet browser as reflected in the discussions and actions reported in Bugzilla (the Mozilla's bug tracking system). As results, we find various categories in the modes of interaction between the core and periphery participants of the community and suggest that interactions are influenced by their status.