Sustainability of OpenSimulator Community

SETTING THE STAGE --- EXPLORING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF A PRIVATE-COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY Robin Teigland Paul M. Di GangiStockholm School of Economics Loyola University Maryland Zeynep Yetis Stockholm School of Economics Redondo Beach, CA, March 2012 International Sunbelt Social Network Conference

OverviewIntroduction & Research QuestionsResearch Setting & MethodologyResearch FindingsConclusions Thank You! Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Models of Knowledge Creation E.g., Microsoft ~ Built by employees within organizational boundariesThe Firm vs The Collective E.g., Linux ~ Built by users and distributed freely regardless of affiliation Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

“Open source” communities expanding beyond software Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Private-collective Community (von Hippel & von Krogh 2003) Community and firm share experiences and knowledge to co-create valueCommunity is complementary assetto be leveraged and combined with firm’s internal assets to deliver competitive solutions (Dahlander & Wallin 2006) Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

But there’s an inherent tension... Collective Model Openness and free distribution of intellectual ideas for common or public good VS Private Model Distribution of returnsand delegation of value creation solely to organization Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Our Primary Research Purpose How do private-collective communitiessustain themselves despite the divergent interests within the community? Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Research QuestionsBased on stakeholder perspective to resource dependence theory (RQ1) What are the resources necessary to sustain a private-collective community? (RQ2) Who are the stakeholders of a private- collective community and what resources do they contribute to the community? (RQ3) What characterizes the structure among the different stakeholders of a private-collective community? Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

More than just developers… Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Methods Text Analysis and SNA using…. 1) Developer Mailing List 2) Ohloh Commit List 3) OpenSimulator Wiki 4) SNS, blogs, homepages, etc. 5) 21 InterviewsConducting an interview Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

(RQ1) What are the resources necessary to sustain a private-collective community? Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

(RQ2) Who are the stakeholders of a private- collective community and what resources do they contribute to the community? Academic Entrepreneur Hobbyist Large firm Other SME Academic % of messages EntrepreneurDevelopers Mailing List Hobbyist (2007-2011) Large firm SME % of people making commits on Ohloh Commit List (2007-2011) Gangi, & Yetis 2012 Teigland, Di

(RQ3) What characterizes the structure among the different stakeholders of a private- collective community? Academic Entrepreneur Hobbyist Large Firm Non-profit Local Public Federal Public Research Inst SME Periphery Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

(RQ3) What characterizes the structure among the different stakeholders of a private- collective community? The “Old Guard” and the Rising New MembersMember Turnover from Period One (2007-2009) to Period Two (2009-2011) Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Conclusions• Individual members supply the resources to the community, but it is the collective interactions that create the capabilities necessary to sustain the community.• Private-collective communities are complex social networks that mix a high variety of stakeholder groups e.g. academics, large firm employees,hobbyists, with each group contributing different resources.• Entrepreneurs are the driving force sustaining the community, despite turnover among them. Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Implications Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Limitations and Future Research• Focus on one community only.• Primarily analyzed quantity and not quality of contributions on mailing list and commit list• OpenSimulator is more than a developer community – include the rest of the ecosystem?• Event analysis? How does the OpenSimulator Community respond to external and internal shocks? Focus on tensions?• Bibliometrics and webometrics for additional insights? Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

Sustainability of OpenSimulator Community

by Robin Teigland

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

2 Embeds 569

Statistics

Sustainability of OpenSimulator Community Presentation Transcript

http://nordicworlds.net	567
http://translate.googleusercontent.com	2