Core-Periphery Communication and the Success of Free/Libre Open Source Software Projects

Crowston, Kevin; Shamshurin, Ivan

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39225-7_4

Cited by 12 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The periphery is important to FLOSS projects [21], [26], [44]. As the periphery is largely episodic, we suggest that episodic participation is also important for FLOSS projects.…”

Section: The Importance Of Episodic Contributorsmentioning

confidence: 75%

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Uncovering the Periphery: A Qualitative Survey of Episodic Volunteering in Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities

Barcomb

Kaufmann

Riehle

et al. 2020

IIEEE Trans. Software Eng.

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Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) communities are composed, in part, of volunteers, many of whom contribute infrequently. However, these infrequent volunteers contribute to the sustainability of FLOSS projects, and should ideally be encouraged to continue participating, even if they cannot be persuaded to contribute regularly. Infrequent contributions are part of a trend which has been widely observed in other sectors of volunteering, where it has been termed "episodic volunteering" (EV). Previous FLOSS research has focused on the Onion model, differentiating core and peripheral developers, with the latter considered as a homogeneous group. We argue this is too simplistic, given the size of the periphery group and the myriad of valuable activities they perform beyond coding. Our exploratory qualitative survey of 13 FLOSS communities investigated what episodic volunteering looks like in a FLOSS context. EV is widespread in FLOSS communities, although not specifically managed. We suggest several recommendations for managing EV based on a framework drawn from the volunteering literature. Also, episodic volunteers make a wide range of value-added contributions other than code, and they should neither be expected nor coerced into becoming habitual volunteers.

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“…The periphery is important to FLOSS projects [21], [26], [44]. As the periphery is largely episodic, we suggest that episodic participation is also important for FLOSS projects.…”

Section: The Importance Of Episodic Contributorsmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…Early studies of the FLOSS phenomenon made a distinction between core and peripheral developers. Even today, many studies use this dichotomy to characterize FLOSS community members [44].…”

Section: Terminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Periphery: A Qualitative Survey of Episodic Volunteering in Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities

Barcomb

Kaufmann

Riehle

et al. 2020

IIEEE Trans. Software Eng.

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show abstract

“…Thus, the type of software engineering work carried out is an important factor characterizing the corresponding social network structures. In terms of development mailing lists, non-core participants may post as many messages as core participants [25], but this observation does not generalize to all cases [34], including the case studied. Although coordination requires communication, coordination tends to result in different network structures than communication required for other work (or leisure) activities.…”

Section: Cve Coordination Through a Mailing Listmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The definitions for such developers differ. For instance, some authors have identified core developers with a cutoff point for vertex degrees [57,110], while others have relied on documents about developer responsibilities and commit accesses [21,25]. In the present context the relevant social network core is composed by the MITRE affiliates.…”

Section: Social Network and Communication Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A case study on software vulnerability coordination

Ruohonen

Rauti

Hyrynsalmi

et al. 2018

Information and Software Technology

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Context: Coordination is a fundamental tenet of software engineering. Coordination is required also for identifying discovered and disclosed software vulnerabilities with Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Motivated by recent practical challenges, this paper examines the coordination of CVEs for open source projects through a public mailing list. Objective: The paper observes the historical time delays between the assignment of CVEs on a mailing list and the later appearance of these in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Drawing from research on software engineering coordination, software vulnerabilities, and bug tracking, the delays are modeled through three dimensions: social networks and communication practices, tracking infrastructures, and the technical characteristics of the CVEs coordinated. Method : Given a period between 2008 and 2016, a sample of over five thousand CVEs is used to model the delays with nearly fifty explanatory metrics. Regression analysis is used for the modeling. Results: The results show that the CVE coordination delays are affected by different abstractions for noise and prerequisite constraints. These abstractions convey effects from the social network and infrastructure dimensions. Particularly strong effect sizes are observed for annual and monthly control metrics, a control metric for weekends, the degrees of the nodes in the CVE coordination networks, and the number of references given in NVD for the CVEs archived. Smaller but visible effects are present for metrics measuring the entropy of the emails exchanged, traces to bug tracking systems, and other related aspects. The empirical signals are weaker for the technical characteristics. Conclusion: Software vulnerability and CVE coordination exhibit all typical traits of software engineering coordination in general. The coordination perspective elaborated and the case studied open new avenues for further empirical inquiries as well as practical improvements for the contemporary CVE coordination.

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“…A prior version of this paper was presented at the IFIP Working Group 2.13 OSS2016 Conference [26]. The current version includes additional data analysis done to identify peripheral members who became committers and their contributions, and additional changes to the methods, findings and discussion sections.…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Core-periphery communication and the success of free/libre open source software projects

Crowston

Shamshurin

2017

J Internet Serv Appl

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We examine the relationship between communications by core and peripheral members and Free/Libre Open Source Software project success. The study uses data from 74 projects in the Apache Software Foundation Incubator. We conceptualize project success in terms of success building a community, as assessed by graduation from the Incubator. We compare successful and unsuccessful projects on volume of communication and on use of inclusive pronouns as an indication of efforts to create intimacy among team members. An innovation of the paper is that use of inclusive pronouns is measured using natural language processing techniques. We also compare the volume and content of communication produced by core (committer) and peripheral members and by those peripheral members who are later elected to be core members. We find that volume of communication is related to project success but use of inclusive pronouns does not distinguish successful projects. Core members exhibit more contribution and use of inclusive pronouns than peripheral members.

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Core-Periphery Communication and the Success of Free/Libre Open Source Software Projects

Cited by 12 publications

References 21 publications

Uncovering the Periphery: A Qualitative Survey of Episodic Volunteering in Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities

Uncovering the Periphery: A Qualitative Survey of Episodic Volunteering in Free/Libre and Open Source Software Communities

A case study on software vulnerability coordination

Core-periphery communication and the success of free/libre open source software projects

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