NSF CAREER Grant
The Open Source/Content Commons As A New Paradigm For Collaborative Scientific Research:
A Research And Teaching Agenda
PI: Charles Schweik
Awarded: February 2005; 5 year project
Our Research
"Free/Libre and open source (FOSS) software projects are Internet-based 'commons' involving a
virtual team of programmers who collectively produce and maintain software. But the FOSS collaborative model can be
applied to other contend beyond software, and can provide a new paradigm for collaboration on scientific
problems. Our research seeks to identify factors that lead to success and abandonment of FOSS commons
and to understand how these factors relate to more generic, open content (OC) projects."
Our Forthcoming Book: "The Success and Abandonment of Open Source Commons"
by Charles M. Schweik
with Robert English
additional contributions made by Sandra Haire, Meelis Kitsing, Meng-Shiou Shieh
In recent years there has been tremendous interest in the use of the Internet to support collaboration. Open source software
projects, arguably, have one of the longest track records in this area. The book we are currently writing, tentatively entitled
"The Collaborative Principles of Open Source Commons," addresses a key question: What factors lead some open source software projects
(a form of commons) to sustain successful collective action while others become abandoned? The primary goal of the book is to
investigate empirically this question, and to provide insight to future creators of open source projects or other “open content” type
collaborations about factors they should be aware of in order to maximize their chances of success.
A Note of Thanks to Survey Participants
We would like to say thanks to all page visitors who participated in our online survey of open source developers who are affiliated with Sourceforge.net. This survey was active from (roughly) September through November 2009. We received over 2000 responses and are working on the data analysis of these responses now.
We also want to apologize to any survey respondent who may have taken down the Think Geek discount code at the end of the survey, and waited before using it. The discount code went viral on the net and in late November the ThinkGeek.com people asked us to shut down the code, because it was being abused by people who had not taken our survey. *And as promised as a small token of our appreciation, we randomly selected four respondents to the survey and awarded them $50 gift certificates to ThinkGeek.com for their participation. Again, thanks to all who participated and we are sorry we are not able to give everyone such a gift certificate!*
Book manuscript outline (8/10/2009 version with links to our data!)
We are pleased to provide sample chapters of our book below. We anticipate that the full book will come out in late 2010. Comments/reactions to this material are welcome and appreciated. Please send them to cschweik@pubpol.umass.edu. If you use or would like to cite this material, please email cschweik@pubpol.umass.edu for permission
PART I. INTRODUCTION
Chapter 1: Why Understanding Open Source Commons is Important
PART II. THEORY
Chapter 2. The Open Source Development Ecosystem [PDF] Chapter 3: The Open Source Developer Chapter 4: The Physical and Community Attributes of Open Source Commons Chapter 5: The Institutional Attributes of Open Source Commons
PART III. EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS OF SOURCEFORGE.NET DATA
PART IV. A MORE COMPLETE MODEL OF OPEN SOURCE SUCCESS AND ABANDONMENT
Introduction to Part IV Chapter 10: A Deeper Investigation into Open Source Institutions – The OSGeo Case Chapter 11. Our Survey on Open Source Success and Abandonment: Goals and Implementation Methodology Chapter 12. Successful and Abandoned Projects in the Initiation Stage with Survey Data Chapter 13. Successful and Abandoned Projects in the Growth Stage using Survey Data Part IV Conclusion: What We Have Learned from our Survey, Coupled with SF Data
PART V. IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
Chapter 14. Lessons Learned, Conclusions, Reflections, Limitations and Future Work
Our Publications
Refereed Publications:
Charles M. Schweik, Robert English, and Sandra Haire. 2009. "Factors Leading to Success or Abandonment of Open Source Commons: An Empirical Analysis of Sourceforge.net Projects" South African Computer Journal 43: 58-65. Available at http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/15/
English, R. and Schweik, C.M. 2007. "Identifying Success and Abandonment of Free/Libre and Open Source (FLOSS) Commons:
A Preliminary Classification of Sourceforge.net projects." Upgrade: The European Journal for the Informatics Professional. Vol. VIII, Issue no. 6 (December).
Available at http://www.upgrade-cepis.com/issues/2007/6/upg8-6English_Schweik_v2.pdf
Schweik, C., T. Evans and J. Grove. 2005. "Open Source and Open Content: a Framework for Global Collaboration in
Social-Ecological Research." Ecology and Society 10 (1): 33. 25 pp. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/art33/
Refereed Book Chapters, Proceedings and Reports:
Schweik,C., English R., Kitsing, M. and Haire, S. 2008. "Brooks' versus Linus' Law: An Empirical Test of Open Source
Projects" in Soon Ae Chun, Marijn Janssen and Ramon Gil-Garcia (eds.) The Proceedings 9th International Digital Government
Research Conference, Montreal, Canada, May 18-21, pp. 423-424. Available at http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1367832.1367924
English, R. and Schweik, C.M. 2007. "Identifying Success and Tragedy of Free/Libre and Open Source (FLOSS) Commons:
A Preliminary Classification of Sourceforge.net projects." Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Emerging
Trends in FLOSS Research and Development (FLOSS'07:ICSE Workshops 2007), 20-26 May, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Available at http://www2.computer.org/portal/web/csdl/abs/proceedings/floss/2007/2961/00/2961toc.htm
Schweik, C. 2007. "Free / Open Source Software as a Framework for Scientific Collaboration" In Hess, Charlotte, and
Elinor Ostrom, eds. Understanding Knowledge as a Commons: From Theory to Practice. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
2008 -- Schweik, C.M., English, R. and Haire, S. 2008. "Factors Leading to Success or Abandonment of Open Source Commons:
An Empirical Analysis of Sourceforge.net
Projects." Paper presented in the Academic Paper track of the 2008 Free and Open Source for Geospatial Conference,
Cape Town, South Africa. September 29 October 4, 2008. Abstract available at http://conference.osgeo.org/index.php/foss4g/2008/paper/view/135
2008 -- "Open Source Software Collaboration: Foundational Concepts and an Empirical Analysis."
Minnowbrook III Phase II Conference: The Future of Public Administration, Public Management and Public
Service Around the World. Lake Placid NY. Sept 5-7. Paper available at http://www.maxwell.syr.edu
2007 -- "Examining the Structure of Internet-based Open Source Software Collaborations." Paper presented in a panel on
IT-enabled Collaboration for Research, Innovation, and Management at the American Society of Public Administration
conference, March 25, 2007, Washington D.C.
2006 -- "Uncovering Design Principles of Open Source Collaborations: Implications for Government
Agencies" Paper presented in a panel on Information Technology, Collaboration and Service Delivery,
Association for Public Policy and Management Conference, Madison, WI. Nov 3rd. (Paper presented by Jane Fountain)
2006 -- Schweik, C.M. "Towards an 'Open Source Commons' in Environmental Management and Policy."
Invited presentation at the United Nations University's International Institute of Software Technology. Macau, China. Oct 9th.
2006 -- Schweik, C.M. and Semenov, A. "The Design and Functionality of the Open Research System
(Version 3.0)" at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Quarterly Science Meeting on "Sensors, Sensor Networks, and
Cyberinfrastructure". University of Maryland, Baltimore Campus.
2006 -- Schweik, C.M. "Public-sector decision-making and the potential of open source and open content
collaboration in eco-informatics". 7th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (DG.O 2006).
San Diego, CA. May 21-24th.
2006 -- Schweik, C.M. "Uncovering the collaborative principles of Free/Libre and Open Source Software."
Center for Public Policy and Administration, Umass Amherst. March 3rd, 2006
Relevant Refereed Publications Written Prior to the Grant:
Schweik, C.M. and Semenov, A. 2003. "The Institutional Design of 'Open Source' Programming: Implications for Addressing
Complex Public Policy and Management Problems." First Monday 8(1) 33 pp. http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue8_1/schweik/
Schweik, C. and J. Morgan Grove. 2002. "Fostering Open-Source Research Via a World Wide Web System," Public Administration and Management: An Interactive Journal, 5(3). pp. 18. http://www.pamij.com/5_4/5_4_2_opensource.html
Relevant Presentations and Working Papers Prior to the Grant:
2004 -- Schweik, C., Evans, T.P. and Grove, J.M. 2004. "Open Source and Open Content:
A Framework for the Development of Land Use Change Models." Paper presented at the Integrated Assessment of the
Land System: The Future of Land Use workshop. October 28-30, 2004. Amsterdam.
2004 -- Schweik, C.M., Evans, T.P. and Grove, J. M. "Open Source Programming as a Framework for Scientific Collaboration: An
Example in the Context of Land-use Change Modeling." Paper presented at the (invited only) Workshop on Scholarly
Communication as an Information Commons. Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Indiana University.
March 31-April 2. Available at: http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/archive/00001247/
2003 -- Schweik, C.M., Grove, J.M. and Evans, T.P. "An Open Content Framework for the Production of
Landcover Change Models." Presentation at the 2003 Open Meeting of the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental
Change Research Community, Montreal, CA. October 16.
2003 -- Schweik, C.M., Stepanov, A. and Grove, J.M. "The Open Research System: A Web-Based Metadata and
Data Repository for Collaborative Research." Presented at the Information Interoperability and Organization for National
and Global Forest Information Systems. Quebec City, Quebec, CA. Sept 17.
2003 -- An Open Research System For Collaboration and Synthesis in Long Term Ecological Research."
J. Morgan Grove, Charles M. Schweik and Jonathan Walsh. Presented at the NSF Long Term Ecological Research All Scientists
meeting in a workshop entitled "Information Technology for the Decade of Synthesis: LTER Partners and Projects -
Leveraging Resources and Metadata to Meet a Common Goal" in Seattle, WA on 9/22/03. Presentation made by Walsh.
2003 -- Schweik, C.M., Grove, J.M., Evans, T.P. and Pontius, G. "An Open Source Framework for
Landuse Modeling: Kernels and Constituents." Presentation at European-American Workshop on Long Term Socio-Environmental
Research in Lyons, France, June 29th - July 6th, 2003. (Grove presented).
Schweik, C.M., Grove, J.M. and Evans, T.P. "The Open Source Paradigm and the Production of Scientific
Research." Presentation at the International Symposium on Open Access and Public Domain in Digital Data and
Information for Science, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Paris France. March 11, 2003.
2002 -- "The Institutional Design of ''Open Source'' Programming: Implications for
Addressing Complex Problems in Pubic Policy and Management. Twenty-Fourth Annual APPAM
Research Conference, November 7-9, 2002 Dallas, TX
Teaching GIS
"The primary goal of our teaching agenda is to expose students to OS software and
participation in open source and open content projects. To accomplish this, we have taught undergraduate
and graduate level geographic information systems (GIS) courses based on open source GIS software (both in the
classroom at the University of Massachusetts and online)"
One significant contribution in this effort has been to develop a set of (Creative Commons Licensed)
teaching material on that can be accessed at the Open Source Geospatial Foundation wiki. We are now in the process of updating much of that material for QGIS version .11.
Versions of this material have been used to teach the following courses:
In the classroom...
NRC297S - Introduction to Spatial Technologies, Department of Natural Resources Conservation
Spring 2005,
Spring 2006,
Spring 2007,
Spring 2009,
Spring 2010
And online...
Students from several different countries, including Nigeria, Uganda, Brazil,
and the United States participated in our online course. We used Moodle for the course delivery system.
"A second element of our teaching effort is to learn from and study, in a 'real'
situation, how to develop and participate in an open content collaboration."
To that end, PI Schweik has been leading an international effort to develop open content
educational material in open source GIS as part of the Open Geospatial Foundation's educational initiative (see http://www.osgeo.org/education). We have
worked to mobilize a globally distributed group of GIS educators to build this open content collaborative
effort. As of October 2008, we have inventoried over 45 different sets of open source educational
material (listed at http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Educational_Content_Inventory).
We have also:
Investigated potential format standards for educational material
(e.g., Apache Docbook, Open Office Writer, etc.)
Implemented a content management system (Subversion) to support the
management of educational content "source" and new derivatives. This system
resides at http://trac.osgeo.org/osgeo/browser/education.
Our Teaching Related Publications
Refereed Publications:
Schweik, C. M., Fernandez, M., Hamel, M.P., Kashwan, P., Lewis, Q., Stepanov,
A. "Reflections of an Online Geographic Information Systems
Course Based on Open Source Software." Forthcoming. Social Science Computer Review.
Presentations and Working Papers:
2007 -- Building OSGeo HigherEd Content: Reflecting on an Online Introduction to
GIS Course Using QGIS. Free and Open Source Software
for Geospatial (FOSS4G) Conference, Victoria, Canada. September 25, 2007.
Acknowledgments
Support for this study was provided by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation
(NSFIIS 0447623). However, the findings, recommendations, and opinions expressed are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency. Thanks go to Megan Conklin, Kevin Crowston
and the FLOSSmole project (http://ossmole .sourceforge.net/) for making their Sourceforge data available, and for their assistance.
All NCDG is web site licensed to the author(s) under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer - This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant numbers 0131923 and 0630239. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).
National Center for Digital Government
