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Learning and Knowledge in FLOSS

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Learning and Knowledge in FLOSS Learning and knowledge in FLOSS Situated learning and organizational knowledge-conversion in community-based free/libre open source software development Master Thesis by Sverre Helge Bolstad Department of media and information studies, Faculty of social science, University of Bergen, Norway 2006 [email protected] ABSTRACT: In free/libre open source software development (FLOSS), groups of developers and users working in geographically dispersed settings are supported by a dense network of interactions. The participants are highly skilled in the use of information- and communication technologies, and build the software by relying on extensive peer production and through skillful use of communication tools available on the Internet. In building the software, explicit, formal and structured knowledge in the form of documents, objects, machines and external sources are communicated and stored in ways that make it available for others in the present and future. This knowledge make up an important resource for the members and developers of the community. Another kind, or aspect, of knowledge, often called tacit or soft knowledge, is informal, unstructured, resides in people, and are difficult, or maybe impossible, to articulate. The questions guiding this research is how knowledge, both explicit and tacit, is shared, and how a new member is able take part in the practice and knowledge of the community. The theory of legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice describes an environment for people to develop knowledge through interaction with others in an environment where knowledge is created, nurtured and sustained. By taking part in the practice as a participant observer, through virtual ethnography, the author describes the practice and communication in this decentralized and knowledge-intensive process. Taking it a step further, the knowledge of the community, and how it is shared within the ‘organization’, is explored with a model for managing dynamic aspects of organizational knowledge-creation. The central theme here is that knowledge is created through a continuous dialogue between tacit and explicit knowledge. Logs from Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and interviews with core developers are analyzed, and the author argues that the Plone community is able to share both kinds of knowledge in a complex web of resources and interaction. The analysis further suggest that the FLOSS development-model facilitates access, transparency and participation on premisses that are important for learning. Keywords: free/libre open source software; CSCW; CSCL; community of practice; organizational knowledge management ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: I would like to thank the following people for helping me compile and accomplish this thesis; my supervisor Bjørnar Tessem for constructive and thorough feedback. Jason Mcvetta for welcoming me to the Eventregistration project and letting me use our communications as data. Martin Aspeli for introducing me to some of the people in the Plone community and letting me use research-data he had previously collected. Kristin Svartveit, Svein Olav Norenes and Jan Erik Mandelid for discussions, proof-reading and professional input. I also want to thank the people and community behind free/libre open software tools I have used in this thesis; specially X-chat and Colloquy IRC clients, and the TAMS analyzer. Finally I would like to thank the the people in the Plone community for providing a vibrant and rich research setting which proved to be a heaven of data for social science student interested in technology. Thank you ! TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1.Introductions! 1 1.1.Free/Libre Open Source Software Development (FOSS)...........................................! 2 1.2.Plone CMS.............................................................................................................................! 4 1.2.1.The Plone community...................................................................................................................................! 5 1.2.2.The Plone foundation....................................................................................................................................! 7 1.3.Research question and area...........................................................................................! 7 2.Existing FLOSS research! 11 2.1.Plone: a model of a mature open source project....................................................! 11 2.2.Sharing and creating knowledge in open source communities..........................! 14 2.3.The knowledge ecology of open source software projects..................................! 14 2.4.Community, joining, and specialization in open source software innovation!15 2.5.Keeping it going: the everyday practices of open source software...................! 16 3.Theoretical framework! 19 3.1.Legitimate peripheral participation in communities of practice........................! 19 3.1.1.Practice, person, social world and internalization of the cultural given.......................................! 24 3.1.2.The person and identity in learning........................................................................................................! 25 3.1.3.The place of knowledge - participation and learning curricula......................................................! 27 3.1.4.The problem of access and transparency..............................................................................................! 28 3.1.5.Motivation and identity, contradictions and change..........................................................................! 28 3.2.Knowledge management (KM) and organizational knowledge..........................! 30 3.2.1.Organizational knowledge-creation and knowledge- conversion................................................! 31 3.2.2.Two dimensions of knowledge.................................................................................................................! 33 3.2.3.Commitment - intention, autonomy, and fluctuation........................................................................! 34 3.2.4.The duality of soft and hard knowledge................................................................................................! 35 3.2.5.Practice - participation and reification...................................................................................................! 36 4.Method and Research Design! 39 4.1.Virtual ethnography: participant observation.........................................................! 40 4.1.1.Autoethnography.........................................................................................................................................! 41 4.1.2.Criticism of ethnography...........................................................................................................................! 43 4.1.3.Extended participant observation...........................................................................................................! 44 4.2.Textual interaction/discourse analysis of IRC.........................................................! 45 4.2.1.Collecting textual data from IRC..............................................................................................................! 47 4.2.2.Email interviews............................................................................................................................................! 48 4.2.3.Ethical and practical framework...............................................................................................................! 48 5.Analysis! 51 5.1.Learning as LPP in Plone................................................................................................! 51 5.1.1.The rise and fall of Eventregistration......................................................................................................! 54 5.1.2.The learning curriculum.............................................................................................................................! 66 5.1.3.Legitimacy......................................................................................................................................................! 67 5.1.4.Peripherality...................................................................................................................................................! 68 5.1.5.Participation...................................................................................................................................................! 70 5.1.6.Full participation in the practice of the community...........................................................................! 71 5.2.Interaction analysis - dense interaction on IRC......................................................! 74 5.2.1.General use of IRC in #plone......................................................................................................................! 75 5.2.2.Typical activities of a community of practice - from #plone............................................................! 80 5.2.3.IRC Episode 1 - SQL, storage and Ape....................................................................................................! 84 5.2.4.IRC Episode 2 - Rockstars and UML Design...........................................................................................! 90 5.3.Knowledge-sharing and conversion..........................................................................! 95 5.3.1.A duality - locating soft and hard knowledge......................................................................................!
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