Rethinking One Open Source: How Open Source and Open Source for Social Good Differ
MCLD 2018 | Thu 06 Aug 5:30 p.m.–6:15 p.m.
Presented by
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Mariam Guizani
https://muselabqueensu.github.io/mariamguizani.html
Dr. Mariam Guizani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen’s University. She holds a PhD and a second MSc from Oregon State University and was a Fulbright fellowship recipient. Additionally, she holds a BSc and a MSc degree in software engineering. At the intersection of Software Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction, her research centers around improving the state of Diversity and Inclusion in complex socio-technical ecosystems such as Open Source. More specifically, her research focuses on designing processes and tools to help Open-Source Software (OSS) communities make their projects more inclusive and attract and retain contributors. The broader impact of her work applies to academia, industry, and large OSS organizations. Dr. Mariam Guizani has worked together with Google and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) for several years to understand communities’ experiences and needs. Her research at Microsoft Research was recognized by GitHub for its contribution to the currently deployed GitHub Discussion Dashboard, GitHub Blocks, and their future roadmap. Dr. Mariam Guizani has also collaborated with Foundations and departments such as Wikimedia, and Oregon State University IT department to empower communities to dismantle cognitive barriers in software. Her research has been published at both ACM and IEEE conferences including the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), and Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE). Dr. Mariam Guizani has been invited to present her work at both academic and industry venues including ICSE, CSCW, Google, GitHub, ApacheCon, and the Linux Foundation Open-Source Summit.
Mariam Guizani
https://muselabqueensu.github.io/mariamguizani.html
Dr. Mariam Guizani is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Queen’s University. She holds a PhD and a second MSc from Oregon State University and was a Fulbright fellowship recipient. Additionally, she holds a BSc and a MSc degree in software engineering. At the intersection of Software Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction, her research centers around improving the state of Diversity and Inclusion in complex socio-technical ecosystems such as Open Source. More specifically, her research focuses on designing processes and tools to help Open-Source Software (OSS) communities make their projects more inclusive and attract and retain contributors. The broader impact of her work applies to academia, industry, and large OSS organizations. Dr. Mariam Guizani has worked together with Google and the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) for several years to understand communities’ experiences and needs. Her research at Microsoft Research was recognized by GitHub for its contribution to the currently deployed GitHub Discussion Dashboard, GitHub Blocks, and their future roadmap. Dr. Mariam Guizani has also collaborated with Foundations and departments such as Wikimedia, and Oregon State University IT department to empower communities to dismantle cognitive barriers in software. Her research has been published at both ACM and IEEE conferences including the Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE), and Transactions on Software Engineering (TSE). Dr. Mariam Guizani has been invited to present her work at both academic and industry venues including ICSE, CSCW, Google, GitHub, ApacheCon, and the Linux Foundation Open-Source Summit.
Abstract
Open source software is often viewed as a uniform ecosystem, but this overlooks important differences in project missions. We examine how conventional OSS and OSS4SG diverge in meaningful ways, challenging a "one-size-fits-all" perspective. We position OSS4SG within the broader landscape of UN SDG, aligned digital public goods, emphasizing societal impact as a primary project mission. Using large-scale empirical studies of 375 projects, 92,721 contributors, and 3.5 million commits, we analyze newcomer-to-core transitions. Our results show that OSS4SG projects retain contributors at 2.2× higher rates, exhibit 50% higher weekly transition rates, and are associated with a 19.6% higher probability of achieving core status. We further find that early broad project exploration is the strongest predictor of core achievement, and that contributors who follow a “late spike” pattern reach core fastest, in 21 weeks, compared to 51–60 weeks for early-spike contributors. Unlike conventional OSS, which concentrates on one dominant pathway, OSS4SG supports multiple viable pathways to core contribution.
Open source software is often viewed as a uniform ecosystem, but this overlooks important differences in project missions. We examine how conventional OSS and OSS4SG diverge in meaningful ways, challenging a "one-size-fits-all" perspective. We position OSS4SG within the broader landscape of UN SDG, aligned digital public goods, emphasizing societal impact as a primary project mission. Using large-scale empirical studies of 375 projects, 92,721 contributors, and 3.5 million commits, we analyze newcomer-to-core transitions. Our results show that OSS4SG projects retain contributors at 2.2× higher rates, exhibit 50% higher weekly transition rates, and are associated with a 19.6% higher probability of achieving core status. We further find that early broad project exploration is the strongest predictor of core achievement, and that contributors who follow a “late spike” pattern reach core fastest, in 21 weeks, compared to 51–60 weeks for early-spike contributors. Unlike conventional OSS, which concentrates on one dominant pathway, OSS4SG supports multiple viable pathways to core contribution.