Currently, two modelsof innovation are prevalent in organization science. The "private investment" model assumes returns to the innovator resultfsu private goods andef ficient regimesof intellectual property protection. The "collective action" model assumes that under conditionsof market f ailure, innovators collaborate in order to produce a public good. The phenomenonof open sourcesofc are development shows that users program to solve their own as well as shared technical problems, andfd./( reveal their innovations without appropriating private returnsftu selling thesofL are. In this paper, we propose that open sourcesofc are development is an exemplarof a compound "private-collective" modelof innovation that contains elementsof both the private investment and the collective action models and canof f society the "bestof both worlds" under many conditions. We describe a new setof research questions this model raisesfi scholars in organization science.

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Prior characterizations of open source projects have been based on the model of a community-founded project. More recently, a second model has emerged, where organizations spinout internally developed code to a public forum. Based on field work on open source projects, we compare the lifecycle differences between these two models. We identify problems unique to spinout projects, particularly in attracting and building an external community. We illustrate these issues with a feasibility analysis of a proposed open source project based on VistA, the primary healthcare information system of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. This example illuminates the complexities of building a community after a code base has been developed and suggests that open source software can be used to transfer technology to the private sector. 1.

Successful online communities have complex cooperative arrangements, articulations of work, and integration practices. They require technical infrastructure to support a broad division of labor. Yet the research literature lacks empirical studies that detail which types of work are valued by participants in an online community. A content analysis of Wikipedia barnstars – personalized tokens of appreciation given to participants – reveals a wide range of valued work extending far beyond simple editing to include social support, administrative actions, and types of articulation work. Our analysis develops a theoretical lens for understanding how wiki software supports the creation of articulations of work. We give implications of our results for communities engaged in large-scale collaborations.

the state of the literature. We develop a framework for organizing the literature based on the input-mediatoroutput-input (IMOI) model from the small groups literature. We present a quantitative summary of articles selected for the review and then discuss findings of this literature categorized into issues pertaining to inputs (e.g., member characteristics, technology use and project characteristics), processes (software development and social processes), emergent states (e.g., trust and task related states) and outputs (e.g. team performance, FLOSS implementation and project evolution). Based on this review, we suggest topics for future research, as well as identifying methodological and theoretical issues for future inquiry in this area, including issues relating to sampling and the need for more longitudinal studies.

Software development has traditionally been regarded as an activity that can only be effectively conducted and managed within a firm setting. However, contrary to such assertions, the open source software development (OSSD) approach, in which software developers in digital social networks coordinate to voluntarily contribute programming code, has recently emerged as a promising alternative. Although many high profile cases of successful OSSD projects exist, the harsh reality is that the vast majority of OSS projects fail to take off and become abandoned. A commonly cited reason for the failure of OSS projects is the inability of the software project to bring together a critical mass of developers. This paper empirically examines the role of prior collaborative ties on how OSSD project teams are formed. Using software project data from real world OSSD projects, we find that the existence and the amount of prior collaborative relations in the developer network do increase the probability that an OSS project will attract more developers and that a developer’s prior relationships with a project initiator do increase the likelihood that a developer will join a project initiated by a past collaborator. We also explore the performance implications of early team formation behaviors.

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This paper examines and analyzes results from empirical studies that begin to outline some of the that situate how F/OSS systems are developed in different communities. In particular, examples drawn from different F/OSS project communities reveal how processes and practices for the development and propagation of F/OSS technology are intertwined and mutually situated to the benefit of those motivated to use and contribute to it. 12 The future of research in the development and use of STINs as a conceptual lens for observing and analyzing F/OSSD processes and practices seems likely to focus attention to the following topics. First, the focus of software process research is evolving to include attention to sociotechnical processes of people, resources, organizational forms, and institutional rules that embed and surround an F/OSS system, as well as how they interact and interface with one another. Such a focus draws attention to the web of socio-technical relations that interlink people in particular settings to a situated configuration of globally available Web-based artifacts and locally available resources (skills, time, effort, computing) that must collectively be mobilized or brought into alignment in order for a useful F/OSS system to be continuously (re)designed to meet evolving user needs. Second, participation in F/OSS system design, assertion of system requirements, or design decision-making is determined by effort, willingness, and prior public experience in similar situations, rather than by assignment by management or some other administrative authority. Similarly, the openness of the source code/content of a F/OSS system encourages and enables many forms of transparency, access, and ability to customize/localize a system's design to best address user/develope...

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