Understanding open source communities as complex adaptive systems: A case of the R Project community

Georg J.P. Link, Matt Germonprez

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Open source communities evolve. This evolution is, at times, driven by corporate engagement with those communities. In these corporate-communal contexts, open source foundations often serve as facilitators in the evolution process and make these arrangements more stable over time. This paper expands the application of complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory to understand the role of open source foundations as facilitators in the evolution of corporate-communal arrangements. We present the case of the R Project community and how we can leverage complex adaptive systems as a way to understand the evolution of the community as driven by corporate engagement and facilitated by open source foundations. We develop the theory of CAS by enhancing the understanding of attractors in the evolution of CAS.

Original languageEnglish (US)
StatePublished - 2016
Event22nd Americas Conference on Information Systems: Surfing the IT Innovation Wave, AMCIS 2016 - San Diego, United States
Duration: Aug 11 2016Aug 14 2016

Other

Other22nd Americas Conference on Information Systems: Surfing the IT Innovation Wave, AMCIS 2016
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego
Period8/11/168/14/16

Keywords

  • Complex adaptive systems
  • Corporate engagement
  • Open source community
  • Open source foundations

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Computer Science Applications
  • Computer Networks and Communications
  • Information Systems

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