Toward the Comparison of Open Source Commons Institutions
Charles M. Schweik · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2014
Open source software is arguably the oldest and largest category of Internet-based knowledge commons cases. This chapter reports the results of two related studies. The first study is a statistical analysis of a large database of open source projects. Here, the overarching goal is to understand what leads some projects toward ongoing collaborative success while others become abandoned before achieving their goals. The second study provides a more detailed qualitative analysis of the governance structures found in a smaller set of open source software cases. It demonstrates the feasibility of a comparative, systematic, structured analysis of institutional designs. Taken together, and guided by the modified IAD framework described in Chapter 1, these two studies suggest one way forward toward a broader comparative knowledge commons research program.