Learning and Knowledge-building in Open-source Communities

Abstract

Open-source communities are innovative online communities, some of which have recently attracted increasing attention. The study suggests that members of innovative online communities learn and build collective knowledge through the use of ‘technologies’ and the establishment of discursive practices that enable virtual re-experience. Theories of knowledge creation and learning have been reviewed and a social-experiential view of learning has been applied in order to examine the reflective inquiry processes and collective learning practices. The findings demonstrate that re-experience is enabled by code, transactive group memory, instructive content and discourse, and reflective discourse. The manifestations of learning processes lead to concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation at the individual level. Collective reflection, collective conceptualization, virtual experimentation, and participative practice are initiated at the social level. Empirical evidence is based on an interpretive investigation of the K Desktop Environment (KDE) community—an open-source software project that is administered online.

Pragmatic Learning Theory: An Inquiry-Action Framework for Distributed Consumer Learning in Online Communities

“…1). This knowledge is neither fully internalized as rule-based structures nor fully externalized as hardwired links between environmental cues (Cook and Brown 1999;Hemetsberger and Reinhardt 2006). Consistent with their focus, the three perspectives emphasize different processes and action outcomes (rows 2 and 3 in table 1).…”

“…For instance, Mary might observe that her weight is increasing without any change of diet but may lack the inquiring ability to properly frame the problem, posit working hypotheses about possible causes, and engage in lay experimentation. However, in a community of individuals with hypothyroid conditions, members can collectively work through Mary's situation to provide enabling conditions for collective learning (Hemetsberger and Reinhardt 2006). Evidence that distributed abilities in a community can overcome limitations of its individual members is available in the management and education literatures.…”

Analysis of virtual communities supporting OSS projects using social network analysis

“…If somebody has found a problem, it becomes accessible to the whole community. As members of the community browse through the OSS project tools, it is very likely that someone will consider the problem, jump right into action and concrete experience [13]. One of the most interesting features of forums and mailing lists consists of enabling re-experience by collective reflection and virtual experimentation [13].…”

“…As members of the community browse through the OSS project tools, it is very likely that someone will consider the problem, jump right into action and concrete experience [13]. One of the most interesting features of forums and mailing lists consists of enabling re-experience by collective reflection and virtual experimentation [13]. As a difference to bug reporting databases or Concurrent Version Systems, both forums and mailing lists details the sequence of discussion as they allow the possibility of being organized through threads of discussion.…”

The Babel of Software Development: Linguistic Diversity in Open Source

“…Open source software (OSS) development is typically characterised as a decentralised, self-directed, highly interactive, and knowledge-intensive process [14]. In OSS, programmers with different skill sets and skill levels, supporters, and users organise themselves in virtual (online) communities, and voluntarily contribute to a collaborative software project [22].…”