[Air-l] 2 new papers and 2 updated papers on opensource.mit.edu + community stats

[Karim R. Lakhani]

Hello All,

Well spring has finally sprung in Cambridge, MA.  It was a brutal 
winter!  But now alas the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. 
Hope everyone is doing OK -- given the circumstances.

We have 2 new papers and 2 updated papers on opensource.mit.edu, details 
below.

BTW, some community stats:

* We now have 83 papers on the site!
* 205 researchers have signed up on our researcher directory
* 225 members on the community list
* 109 members on the discuss list (quiet recently!)

Here are the new papers:

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New Papers
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Paper 1
Authors:
Lee, Samuel, Nina Moisa & Marco Weiss

Title:
*Open Source as a Signalling Device - An Economic Analysis*
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/leemoisaweiss.pdf

Abstract:
Open source projects produce goods or standards that do not allow for 
the appropriation of private returns by those who contribute to these 
projects. In this paper we analyze why programmers will nevertheless 
invest their time and effort to code open source software. We argue that 
the particular way in which open source projects are managed and 
especially how contributions are attributed to individual agents, allows 
the best programmers to create a signal that more mediocre programmers 
cannot achieve. Through setting themselves apart they can turn this 
signal into monetary rewards that correspond to their superior 
capabilities. With this incentive they will forgo the immediate rewards 
they could earn in software companies producing proprietary software by 
restricting the access to the source code of their product. Whenever 
institutional arrangements are in place that enable the acquisition of 
such a signal and the subsequent substitution into monetary rewards, the 
contribution to open source projects and the resulting public good is a 
feasible outcome that can be explained by standard economic theory.


Paper 2

Authors:
Dalle, Jean- Michel & Paul A. David

Title
*The Allocation of Software Development Resources in 'Open Source' 
Production*
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/dalledavid.pdf

Abstract:
The paper develops a stochastic simulation model capable of describing 
the decentralized, micro-level decisions that allocate programming 
resources both within and among open source/ free software (OS/FS) 
projects, and which critically shape their growth. The core or 
behavioral kernel of our simulation tool is based on dynamic "growing" 
trees, and incorporates the effects of the reputational reward structure 
of OS/FS communities as characterized by Eric S. Raymond (1998). In this 
regard, our line of investigation also follows recent approaches 
associated with studies of academic researchers in “open science” 
communities. For the purposes of this first step, we mainly focus on 
showing the ways in which the specific norms of the reward system and 
organizational rules can shape emergent properties of projects, and we 
also point to a validation in this framework of the often adovcated, but 
yet mainly empirical "release early" rule.

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Revised Papers
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Paper 1
Author
Chiao, Benjamin Hak- Fung

Title:
*An Economic Theory of Free and Open Source Software: A Tour from 
Lighthouse to Chinese-Style Socialism*

http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/chiao.pdf


The theory is that free and open source software is a private property 
under the guise of a common property. Such software is distributed under 
some licenses such as the GNU General Public License (GPL). The intents 
in The GNU Manifesto cause the GPL to have striking similarities with 
communism. The resulting economic properties, however, are similar to 
those in Chinese-style socialism: they both separate legal and economic 
ownerships. My departure from other analyses in the literature begins 
when I show that some public good properties of this type of software 
are observed in reality. Though non-profitable distributions are 
compulsory according to the provision of the GPL, the data shows that 
distributors have increased, for example, excludability of networks so 
that users are induced to buy the commercial packages. Social marginal 
cost is thus not zero. I refute the view that the development (including 
distribution) is insufficient. "Over- development" is even possible 
because "copylefting" allows agents to appropriate income from resource 
owners by establishing economic (not legal) rights over the software 
through informal hierarchies or trade secrets. Resource owners might not 
suffer. Without incentive compatibilities, the software might not be 
that valuable in the first place. Implications of increased 
substitutability of workers, absence of piracy breaking the tie-in of 
software and support, and branching of versions are also discussed.


Paper 2
Authors:
Osterloh, Margit; Sandra Rota & Bernhard Kuster

Title:
*Open Source Software Production: Climbing on the Shoulders of Giants*
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/osterlohrotakuster.pdf

Abstract:
Open source software production is a successful new production model in 
which a public good is voluntarily provided. We argue that by studying 
this new production model we gain valuable insight for organization 
theory beyond software production. Under specific conditions this model 
can be generalized, contingent on the interplay of motivational, 
situational, and institutional factors. It is argued that a production 
model building on the shoulders of predecessors and peers depends on a 
well balanced portfolio of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, low costs 
for contributors and governance mechanisms that do not crowd out 
intrinsic motivation.

Best,
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