FLOSS Communities Research Articles

DEPLOYMENT MODEL FOR SOFTWARE PROCESSES IN COLLABORATIVE AND DISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENTS TYPICAL OF FREE AND OPEN-SOURCE FLOSS COMMUNITIES

This article presents the development of a model for deploying software processes within the context of free and open-source software FLOSS communities, characterized by the voluntary participation of people geographically distributed in different places and with diverse profiles and interests in a software development project. The Delphi method validated the model, in which 15 people interested in FLOSS communities participated. It was found that the model promotes communication and motivation of the participants in more than 80% and favors the participation of new community members, according to the answers given by the participants. The communication and motivation skills of the members of a FLOSS community are fundamental for the proper development of free software construction projects.

FLOSS Communities as Learning Networks

This paper discusses FLOSS communities as a prime exemple of learning networks, i.e. informal, interconnected sets of individuals mutually supporting shared knowledge acquisition and committed to self-defined goals. In particular, it addresses how the incorporation of a web-based, certification platform for Free / Libre Open Source Software in community culture and practice may increase the community impact both as learning network and open, high quality software producer.

Free and open source licenses in community life: Two empirical cases

How do licenses participate in Free and Open Source Software (FLOSS) community life? This paper aims at answering this question.
 
 Despite the dynamic character of FLOSS development, the sociological debate has taken for granted a static perspective of communities organized around a restricted range of social values and rules. Criticizing the main sociological approaches to FLOSS community, we assert, on the contrary, that the FLOSS free/open character shall not be assumed a priori to explain the coordination efforts in communities.
 
 Focusing on the role of software licenses in everyday FLOSS communities activities, considered as boundary objects, we observe that controversies and conflicts around licenses are fundamental parts of communities life. Basing our researches on two different projects, the Geographical Information System GRASS and the OpenSolaris™ Operating System, we show how the construction of the FLOSS free/open character takes place inside the debates about licenses.

The Functioning of a Free Software Community

The ability to build solid and coherent software from spontaneous, sudden and evanescent involvement is viewed as an enigma by sociologists and economists. The internal heterogeneity of project contributors questions the functioning of collective action: how can commitments that are so dissimilar be put together? Our objective is to consider FLOSS communities as going concerns which necessitate a minimum of order and common, shared, social rules to function. Through an in-depth and diachronic analysis of the Spip project, we present two classical modes of social regulation: a control regulation centred on the product and an autonomous regulation reflecting the differentiated commitments. Our data shows that the meaning, value and legitimacy of contributors’ involvements are defined and rated more collectively, through exchanges, judgments, and evaluations. A third regulation mode, called distributed community regulation and aimed at creating and transforming shared rules that produces recognition and stratification, is then presented.