Social dynamics of free and open source team communications.
OSS, volume 203 of IFIP, page 319-330. Springer, (2006)Abstract
Abstract1 This paper furthers inquiry into the social structure of
free and open source software (FLOSS) teams by undertaking social
network analysis across time. Contrary to expectations, we confirmed
earlier findings of a wide distribution of centralizations even when
examining the networks over time. The paper also provides empirical
evidence that while change at the center of FLOSS projects is
relatively uncommon, participation across the project communities
is highly skewed, with many participants appearing for only one period.
Surprisingly, large project teams are not more likely to undergo
change at their centers. Keywords: Software Development, Human Factors,
Dynamic social networks, FLOSS teams, bug fixing, communications,
longitudinal social network analysis
