[Air-l] New Papers on opensource.mit.edu:7 Papers forthcoming in Research Policy, 2 Working Papers, 1 MS Thesis, 1 Updated Paper]

[Karim R. Lakhani]

Hello All,

I am pleased to let you know of the following new papers on
opensource.mit.edu.

First a special thanks to Eric von Hippel, Georg von Krogh and Gary
Pisano in convincing the publishers of Elsevier, the publishers of
Research Policy, to allow for us to post online the drafts of papers to
be published in a special issue of Research Policy on open source.
Please note that the papers will be taken down when the journal is
published, sometime this summer.  So getem while they are hot!

Here are the papers:


Paper 1
Authors:
Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Cristina Rossi

Title
Why open source software can succeed
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-bonaccorsirossi.pdf

Abstract
The paper discusses three key economic problems raised by the emergence
and diffusion of open source software: motivation, coordination, and
diffusion under a dominant standard. First the movement took off through
the activity of a software development community that deliberately did
not follow profit motivations. Second, a hierarchical coordination
emerged without the support of an organization with proprietary rights.
Third, Linux and other open source systems diffused in an evnvironment
dominated by established proprietary standards, which benefited from
significant increasing returns. The paper show that recent developments
in the theory of critical mass in the diffusion of technologies with
network externality may help to explain these phenomena.


Paper 2
Authors
Franke, Nik and Eric von Hippel

Title:
Satisfying Heterogeneous User Needs via Innovation Toolkits: The Case of
Apache Security Software
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-vonhippelfranke.pdf

Abstract
Manufacturers customarily provide only a few product variants to address
the average needs of users in the major segments of markets they serve.
When user needs are highly heterogeneous, this approach leaves many
seriously dissatisfied. One solution is to enable users to modify
products on their own using “innovation toolkits.” We explore the
effectiveness of this solution in an empirical study of Apache security
software. We find high heterogeneity of need in that field, and also
find that users modifying their own software to be significantly more
satisfied than non- innovating users. We propose that the user toolkits
solution will be useful in many markets characterized by heterogeneous
demand.d.onality on offer. We also find that users creating their own
software modifications are significantly more satisfied than are
non-innovating users. We conclude by suggesting that the "toolkits for
user innovation" approach to enhancing user satisfaction might be
generally applicable to markets characterized by heterogeneous user needs.

Paper 3
Authors:
Hertel, Guido, Sven Niedner & Stefanie Herrmann

Title:
Motivation of Software Developers in Open Source Projects: An
Internet-based Survey of Contributors to the Linux Kernel
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-hertelniednerherrmann.pdf

Abstract:
The motives of 141 contributors to a large Open Source Software project
(the Linux kernel) was explored with an internet-based questionnaire
study. Measured factors were both derived from discussions within the
Linux community as well as from models from social sciences.
Participants’ engagement was particularly determined by their
identification as a Linux developer, by pragmatic motives to improve own
software, and by their tolerance of time investments. Moreover, some of
the software development was accomplished by teams. Activities in these
teams were particularly determined by participants’ evaluation of the
team goals as well as by their perceived indispensability and self-efficacy.


Paper 4
Author:
O'Mahony, Siobhan

Title:
Guarding the Commons: How Community Managed Software Projects Protect
Their Work
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-omahony.pdf

Abstract:
Theorists often speculate why open source and free software project
contributors give their work away. Although contributors make their work
publicly available, they do not forfeit their rights to it. Community
managed software projects protect their work by using several legal and
normative tactics, which should not be conflated with a disregard for or
neglect of intellectual property rights. These tactics allow a project’s
intellectual property to be publicly and freely available and yet,
governable. Exploration of this seemingly contradictory state may
provide new insight into governance models for the management of digital
intellectual property.


Paper 5
Authors:
von Krogh, Georg, Sebastian Spaeth & Karim R. Lakhani

Title
Community, Joining, and Specialization in Open Source Software
Innovation: A Case Study
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-vonkroghspaethlakhani.pdf

Abstract:
This paper develops an inductive theory of the open source software
innovation process by focussing on the creation of Freenet, a project
aimed at developing a decentralized and anonymous peer-to- peer
electronic file sharing network. We are particularly interested in the
strategies and processes by which new people join the existing community
of software developers, and how they initially contribute code.
Analyzing data from multiple sources on the Freenet software development
process, we generate the constructs of "joining script",
"specialization", "contribution barriers", and "feature gifts", and
propose relationships among these. Implications for theory and research
are discussed.


Paper 6

Author:
West, Joel

Title
How Open is Open Enough? Melding Proprietary and Open Source Platform
Strategies
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-west.pdf

Abstract:
Computer platforms provide an integrated architecture of hardware and
software standards as a basis for developing complementary assets. The
most successful platforms were owned by proprietary sponsors that
controlled platform evolution and appropriated associated rewards.
Responding to the Internet and open source systems, three traditional
vendors of proprietary platforms experimented with hybrid strategies
which attempted to combine the advantages of open source software while
retaining control and differentiation. Such hybrid standards strategies
reflect the competing imperatives for adoption and appropriability, and
suggest the conditions under which such strategies may be preferable to
either the purely open or purely proprietary alternatives.

Paper 7
Author:
Zeitlyn, David

Title:
Gift economies in the development of open source software:
Anthropological reflections
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rp-zeitlyn.pdf


Building on Eric Raymond’s work this article discusses the motivation
and rewards that lead some software engineers to participate in the open
source movement. It is suggested that software engineers in the open
source movement may have sub-groupings which parallel kinship groups
such as lineages. Within such groups gift giving is not necessarily or
directly reciprocated, instead members work according to the ‘axiom of
kinship amity’ – direct economic calculation is not appropriate within
the group. What Bourdieu calls ‘symbolic capital’ can be used to
understand how people work in order to enhance the reputation (of
themselves and their group).

****************************************************************************************
Working Papers
****************************************************************************************

Paper 1
Author:
Ratto, Matt

Title:
Re-working by the Linux Kernel developers
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/ratto.pdf

Abstract:
Technology design is generally a matter of re-working existing systems
rather than the designing of entirely novel artifacts. In this paper I
explore part of a computer operating system called Linux that is
designed to be re-worked by its users, a process I call 'designing for
redesign'. I examine the practices of reworking within this development
effort using some concepts gleaned from activity theory, a
meta-theoretical model that particularly focuses on the simultaneously
material and conceptual aspects of artifacts. This work is two- fold;
first to examine design as part of a larger activity of re-working, and
second, to begin to put together a model of socio-technical activity
that incorporates the complex epistemological and ontological conditions
that characterize current human conditions. Understanding the sociality
and materiality of "knowing" and "doing" in technologized society means
unpacking what we mean when we talk of 'access' and understanding 'use'
as often an activity of re-working.

Paper 2
Author:
Reis, Christian Robottom & Renata Pontin de Mattos Fortes

Title
An Overview of the Software Engineering Process and Tools in the Mozilla
Project
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/reismozilla.pdf

Abstract:
The Mozilla Project is an Open Source Software project which is
dedicated to development of the Mozilla Web browser and application
framework. Possessing one of the largest and most complex communities of
developers among Open Source projects, it presents interesting
requirements for a software process and the tools to support it. Over
the past four years, process and tools have been refined to a point
where they are both stable and effective in serving the project’s needs.
This paper describes the software engineering aspect of a large Open
Source project. It also covers the software engineering tools used in
the Mozilla Project, since theMozilla process and tools are intimately
related. These tools include Bugzilla, a Web application designed for
bug tracking, bug triage, code review and correction; Tinderbox, an
automated build and regression testing system; Bonsai, a tool which
performs queries to the CVS code repository; and LXR, a hypertext-based
source code browser.

***********************************************************************
MS Thesis
Author:
Rothfuss, Gregor J

Title
A Framework for Open Source Projects
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/rotfuss.pdf

Abstract:
The historical roots of Open Source are outlined. A comparison between
Open Source projects and classical projects highlights strengths and
weaknesses of both, and defines their attributes. Existing Open Source
theories are evaluated, and the requirements for a framework for Open
Source projects are determined. The framework introduces the notions of
actors, roles, areas, processes and tools, and depicts their
interrelationships in a matrix. Each aspect of the framework is then
further developed to serve both as a conceptual foundation for Open
Source and a help for organizing and managing Open Source projects.
***********************************************************************
Updated Paper

Author:
Hawkins, Richard

Title
The Economics of Free Software for a Competitive Firm
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/hawkins.pdf

Abstract:
This paper builds a simple economic model of the profit seeking firm
with a choice between producing an open source and proprietary
solutions. Differences between public and viral licenses are discussed
from the firm's perpective. Advocacy issues are omitted entirely, and
the model requires no math beyond subtraction. The decision of a firm to
adopt an open source product rather than purchase is also discussed, but
is seen as a trivial and uninteresting problem.

*************************************************************************

Thanks to all for their submissions!!

Karim
-- 
===============================================
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Free/Open Source Software Research Project
e-mail: lakhani at mit.edu
voice:  617-851-1224
fax:    617-344-0403
http://opensource.mit.edu
http://freesoftware.mit.edu
http://mit.edu/lakhani/www


-- 
===============================================
Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan School of Management
MIT Free/Open Source Software Research Project
e-mail: lakhani at mit.edu
voice:  617-851-1224
fax:    617-344-0403
http://opensource.mit.edu
http://freesoftware.mit.edu
http://mit.edu/lakhani/www