Folding and Unfolding: Balancing Openness and Transparency in Open Source Communities

Author List: Shaikh, Maha; Vaast, Emmanuelle;
Information Systems Research, 2016, Volume 27, Issue 4, Page 813-833.
Open source communities rely on the espoused premise of complete openness and transparency of source code and development process. Yet, openness and transparency at times need to be balanced out with moments of less open and transparent work. Through our detailed study of Linux Kernel development, we build a theory that explains that transparency and openness are nuanced and changing qualities that certain developers manage as they use multiple digital technologies and create, in moments of needs, more opaque and closed digital spaces of work. We refer to these spaces as digital folds. Our paper contributes to the extant literature by providing a process theory of how transparency and openness are balanced with opacity and closure in open source communities according to the needs of the development work; by conceptualizing the nature of digital folds and their role in providing quiet spaces of work; and, by articulating how the process of digital folding and unfolding is made far more possible by select elite actors' navigating the line between the pragmatics of coding and the accepted ideology of openness and transparency.
Keywords: open source communities; digital folds; transparency; openness; opacity; closure; software development work; qualitative research; archival data; ideology
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#273 0.236 source open software oss development developers projects developer proprietary community success openness impact paper project associated activity phenomenon peripheral variety
#146 0.156 work people workers environment monitoring performance organizations needs physical useful number personal balance perceptions create computer-based technological technologies investigation achievement
#46 0.125 perceived transparency control design enjoyment experience study diagnosticity improve features develop consequences showing user experiential providing antecedents interface effects economy
#128 0.097 dynamic time dynamics model change study data process different changes using longitudinal understanding decisions develop temporal reveal associated state identifies
#178 0.092 digital divide use access artifacts internet inequality libraries shift library increasingly everyday societies understand world initiative initiatives embedded community dimensions
#102 0.062 choice type functions nature paper literature particular implications function examine specific choices extent theoretical design discussion value widely finally adopted
#45 0.058 community communities online members participants wikipedia social member knowledge content discussion collaboration attachment communication law virtual membership structures forms activities
#180 0.058 multiple elements process environments complex integrated interdependencies design different developing integration order approach dialogue framework capabilities settings building focus distinct