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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences

2007

University of Massachusetts Amherst

Open source

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Brooks' Versus Linus' Law: An Empirical Test Of Open Source Projects, Charles M. Schweik, Robert English Oct 2007

Brooks' Versus Linus' Law: An Empirical Test Of Open Source Projects, Charles M. Schweik, Robert English

National Center for Digital Government

Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FOSS) projects are Internet-based collaborations consisting of volunteers and paid professionals who come together to create computer software...


Open-Source Collaboration In The Public Sector: The Need For Leadership And Value, Michael P. Hamel Jun 2007

Open-Source Collaboration In The Public Sector: The Need For Leadership And Value, Michael P. Hamel

National Center for Digital Government

From executive summary: The “open-source” movement in information technology is largely based on the innovative licensing schemes that encourage collaboration and sharing and promise reduced cost of ownership, customizable software and the ability to extract data in a usable format. Government organizations are becoming increasingly intolerant of the forced migrations (upgrades) and closed data standards (or incompatible data standards) that typically come with the use of proprietary software. To combat the problems of interoperability and cost, governments around the globe are beginning to consider, and in some cases, even require the use of open-source software (Hahn, 2002; Wong, 2004).


Tragedy Of The Foss Commons? Investigating The Institutional Designs Of Free/Libre And Open Source Software Projects, Charles M. Schweik, Robert English Feb 2007

Tragedy Of The Foss Commons? Investigating The Institutional Designs Of Free/Libre And Open Source Software Projects, Charles M. Schweik, Robert English

National Center for Digital Government

Free/Libre and Open Source Software projects (FOSS) are a form of Internetbased commons. Since 1968, when Garrett Hardin published his famous article “Tragedy of the Commons” in the journal Science, there has been significant interest in understanding how to manage commons appropriately, particularly in environmental fields. An important distinction between natural resource commons and FOSS commons is that the “tragedy” to be avoided in natural resources is overharvesting and the potential destruction of the resource. In FOSS commons the “tragedy” to be avoided is project abandonment and a “dead” project. Institutions – defined as informal norms, more formalized rules, and …


Identifying Success And Tragedy Of Floss Commons: A Preliminary Classification Of Sourceforge.Net Projects, Robert English, Charles M. Schweik Feb 2007

Identifying Success And Tragedy Of Floss Commons: A Preliminary Classification Of Sourceforge.Net Projects, Robert English, Charles M. Schweik

National Center for Digital Government

Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) projects are a form of commons where individuals work collectively to produce software that is a public, rather than a private, good. The famous phrase “Tragedy of the Commons” describes a situation where a natural resource commons, such as a pasture, or a water supply, gets depleted because of overuse. The tragedy in FLOSS commons is distinctly different -- it occurs when collective action ceases before a software product is produced or reaches its full potential. This paper builds on previous work about defining success in FLOSS projects by taking a collective action perspective. …