Journal article
MODELING DISTRIBUTED COLLABORATION ON GITHUB
Advances in complex systems, v 17(7-8), p1450024
01 Dec 2014
Abstract
In this paper, we apply concepts from Distributed Leadership, a theory suggesting that leadership is shared among members of an organization, to frame models of contribution that we uncover in five relatively successful open source software (OSS) projects hosted on GitHub. In this qualitative, comparative case study, we show how these projects make use of GitHub features such as pull requests (PRs). We find that projects in which member PRs are more frequently merged with the codebase experience more sustained participation. We also find that projects with higher success rates among contributors and higher contributor retention tend to have more distributed (non-centralized) practices for reviewing and processing PRs. The relationships between organizational form and GitHub practices are enabled and made visible as a result of GitHub's novel interface. Our results demonstrate specific dimensions along which these projects differ and explicate a framework that warrants testing in future studies of OSS, particularly GitHub.
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Details
- Title
- MODELING DISTRIBUTED COLLABORATION ON GITHUB
- Creators
- Nora McDonald - Drexel UniversityKelly Blincoe - University of VictoriaEva Petakovic - University of MissouriSean Goggins - University of Missouri
- Publication Details
- Advances in complex systems, v 17(7-8), p1450024
- Publisher
- World Scientific
- Number of pages
- 24
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Information Science
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000354815400008
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84929846949
- Other Identifier
- 991019167786804721
InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Mathematics, Interdisciplinary Applications