The characteristics and motivations of library open source software developers: An empirical study

Choi, Namjoo; Pruett, Joseph A.

doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2015.02.007

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Other surveys from the early 2000s focused on specific communities such as Linux [17] and Apache [18,15]. Since these initial surveys, which are still considered state-of-the-art, researchers conducted studies focused on specific communities [19,20,21]. Other researchers focused on the motivation of specific contributor profiles, such as newcomers [22], one-time code contributors [23], quasi-contributors [24], and students [25].…”

Section: Rq1a: What Motivates Contributors To Oss Today? Rq1b: How Has Motivation To Contribute Shifted As Oss Has Matured?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the distribution of countries resembles the distribution of OSS contributions, there is a risk of a country bias. In terms of countries, USA (58) was dominant in North America (70), while Germany (23), UK (19), and Spain (18) are the most represented in Europe (100). We also have a small low number of women and non-binary respondents, which mirrors our population's characteristic lack of diversity [66].…”

Section: B Threats To Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Shifting Sands of Motivation: Revisiting What Drives Contributors in Open Source

Gerosa

Wiese

Trinkenreich

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)

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Open Source Software (OSS) has changed drastically over the last decade, with OSS projects now producing a large ecosystem of popular products, involving industry participation, and providing professional career opportunities. But our field's understanding of what motivates people to contribute to OSS is still fundamentally grounded in studies from the early 2000s. With the changed landscape of OSS, it is very likely that motivations to join OSS have also evolved. Through a survey of 242 OSS contributors, we investigate shifts in motivation from three perspectives: (1) the impact of the new OSS landscape, (2) the impact of individuals' personal growth as they become part of OSS communities, and (3) the impact of differences in individuals' demographics. Our results show that some motivations related to social aspects and reputation increased in frequency and that some intrinsic and internalized motivations, such as learning and intellectual stimulation, are still highly relevant. We also found that contributing to OSS often transforms extrinsic motivations to intrinsic, and that while experienced contributors often shift toward altruism, novices often shift toward career, fun, kinship, and learning. OSS projects can leverage our results to revisit current strategies to attract and retain contributors, and researchers and tool builders can better support the design of new studies and tools to engage and support OSS development.

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Section: Rq1a: What Motivates Contributors To Oss Today? Rq1b: How Has Motivation To Contribute Shifted As Oss Has Matured?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Threats To Validitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Shifting Sands of Motivation: Revisiting What Drives Contributors in Open Source

Gerosa

Wiese

Trinkenreich

et al. 2021

2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, some researchers, such as [36] or [1], have tried to find out which are the essential incentives for OSS communities to share their knowledge. Other authors have carried out studies about the participants' motivations while adopting different profiles and situations [37][38][39]. Nonetheless, no research has been identified OSS motivations associated with the educational field.…”

Section: Managerial Perspectivementioning

confidence: 99%

Can the OSS-Focused Education Impact on OSS Implementations in Companies? A Motivational Answer through a Delphi-Based Consensus Study

2021

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In the last few decades, the Open Source Software (OSS) diffusion has grown remarkably in companies. In this context, the present study has analyzed the factors that incentivize OSS implementations for enterprise purposes, linking two perspectives: (1) managerial and (2) educational. Thus, the Delphi methodology was applied to a panel of experts with two aims: (1) to know managers’ perceptions about organizational users’ motivations toward OSS after receiving OSS training and (2) to develop a forecasting study to examine the OSS diffusion in the medium term in companies and educational centers. In this context, the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) was the theoretical approach through which we identified the motivational factors. Specifically, three SDT motivations were added: (1) autonomy, (2) competence and (3) relatedness. The 104 selected experts were managers from companies with employees who have studied in educational centers where OSS usage is mandatory. The results show that managers perceive that OSS training incentivizes OSS implementations in companies. At the same time, user motivations are considered to be extremely relevant, especially autonomy. In addition, is the results foresee a similar level of OSS implementation in the business and educational fields in the medium term. Finally, conclusions, practical implications and limitations are discussed.

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“…The use of OSS offers great potential for effective tailoring and customization of software to library-specific needs and improving accessibility in various ways. OSS can be lower cost (Choi and Pruett, 2015) especially if in-house expertise is developed by the libraries adopting the software. OSS provides a platform for innovation and sharing because one can build on existing work within the OSS community.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying participatory action approach to integrating professional librarians into open source software communities

Singh

2019

Journal of Librarianship and Information Science

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This article theoretically explores how participatory action research might support integration of library professionals into open source software development communities. The author makes a case for the integration of library professionals into open source software communities to help develop better, context-specific, customizable software for use by libraries and advocates for inclusion of library professionals in open source software communities to produce high quality, customizable software. The value of open source software for libraries is discussed and the importance of this integration is articulated by the impacts of this approach. A plan for integration of library professionals into open source software communities is presented.

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The characteristics and motivations of library open source software developers: An empirical study

Cited by 18 publications

References 40 publications

The Shifting Sands of Motivation: Revisiting What Drives Contributors in Open Source

The Shifting Sands of Motivation: Revisiting What Drives Contributors in Open Source

Can the OSS-Focused Education Impact on OSS Implementations in Companies? A Motivational Answer through a Delphi-Based Consensus Study

Applying participatory action approach to integrating professional librarians into open source software communities

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