Open Source Communities as Social Networks: An Analysis of Some Peculiar Characteristics

Abstract

In this research, we focus the attention on some of the most successful open source (OS) projects. We are interested in studying the characteristics of the social networks comprising these popular and mature OS developer communities. By examining developers mailing lists (MLs), we adopt some social network analysis (SNA) measures to evaluate interactions among community members. A knowledge of these relationships is useful for a better understanding of communication flows among team members and whether there is someone coordinating, controlling and facilitating the information process.