sustainability of opensimulator community
DESCRIPTION
Our presentation at Sunbelt XXXII Conference in Redondo Beach, CA in March 2012. More information can be found here: http://nordicworlds.net/2012/03/14/round-two-of-academic-paper-on-opensimulator-community/.TRANSCRIPT
SETTING THE STAGE- - -
EXPLORING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF A PRIVATE-COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY
Robin TeiglandStockholm School of Economics
Paul M. Di GangiLoyola University Maryland
Zeynep YetisStockholm School of Economics
Redondo Beach, CA, March 2012International Sunbelt Social Network Conference
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Overview
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
The Firm
The Collective
vs
E.g., Microsoft~ Built by employees within
organizational boundaries
E.g., Linux~ Built by users and distributed freely regardless of affiliation
Models of Knowledge Creation
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
“Open source” communities expanding beyond software
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Community and firm share experiences and knowledge to
co-create value
Community is complementary asset to be leveraged and combined with
firm’s internal assets to deliver competitive solutions
(Dahlander & Wallin 2006)
Private-collective Community (von Hippel & von Krogh 2003)
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
But there’s an inherent tension...
Private ModelDistribution of returns
and delegation of value creation solely to
organization
Collective ModelOpenness and free
distribution of intellectual ideas for common or
public good
VS
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Our Primary Research Purpose
How do private-collective communities sustain themselves despite the divergent
interests within the community? Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Research Questions
(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
Based on stakeholder perspective to resource dependence theory
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Overview
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
More than just developers…
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Text Analysis and SNA using….1) Developer Mailing List2) Ohloh Commit List3) OpenSimulator Wiki4) SNS, blogs, homepages, etc.5) 21 Interviews
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Conducting an interview
Methods
Two periodsAug 2007 – Sep 2009Oct 2009 – Oct 2011
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Overview
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?
% of messages Developers Mailing List
(2007-2011)
% of people making commits on Ohloh Commit List (2007-2011)
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Academic
Entrepreneur
Hobbyist
Large firm
Other
SME
Academic
Entrepreneur
Hobbyist
Large firm
SME
(RQ3) What characterizes the structure among the different stakeholders of a private-collective
community?
AcademicEntrepreneurHobbyistLarge FirmNon-profitLocal PublicFederal PublicResearch InstSMEPeriphery
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 Members
Member Turnover from Period One (2007-2009) to Period Two (2009-2011)Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Overview
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Conclusions
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
• 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.
Implications
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Limitations and Future Research
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012
• 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