How do sponsored open source ecosystems manage feature deployments?
333 | Fri 01 Aug 10:45 a.m.–11:30 a.m.
Presented by
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I am a PhD student at Northwestern. My research focuses on how contributors organize to build FOSS projects; specifically, how projects make decisions in response to their environments. I have a background in software engineering and am looking to learn more about how individuals and communities can develop sustainable relationships to computers.
Abstract
The academic study of FOSS libraries often assumes that projects are organized as communities of volunteer contributors. However, the recent growth of sponsored open source libraries --- projects stewarded by large, formally incorporated organizations --- provides new organizational relationships and processes to better understand. One common form of this is constructed when an organization stewards a library while also managing the library's primary implementation; in this model, decision making around the library and its implementation are deeply interconnected, yet may be governed differently. Examples of this model include Apple’s use of WebKit in Safari, BlueSky’s use of ATProto in BlueSky applications, and the WikiMedia Foundation’s (WMF) use of MediaWiki libraries in
Wikimedia platforms. This ongoing work focuses on three feature deployments on Wikimedia platforms, examining deployment processes' impacts on the MediaWiki libraries utilized for feature development. By analyzing commit activity, work tasks, and community discussions, we provide greater insight into how certain deployment processes impact the open source development of a critical open platform.
The academic study of FOSS libraries often assumes that projects are organized as communities of volunteer contributors. However, the recent growth of sponsored open source libraries --- projects stewarded by large, formally incorporated organizations --- provides new organizational relationships and processes to better understand. One common form of this is constructed when an organization stewards a library while also managing the library's primary implementation; in this model, decision making around the library and its implementation are deeply interconnected, yet may be governed differently. Examples of this model include Apple’s use of WebKit in Safari, BlueSky’s use of ATProto in BlueSky applications, and the WikiMedia Foundation’s (WMF) use of MediaWiki libraries in Wikimedia platforms. This ongoing work focuses on three feature deployments on Wikimedia platforms, examining deployment processes' impacts on the MediaWiki libraries utilized for feature development. By analyzing commit activity, work tasks, and community discussions, we provide greater insight into how certain deployment processes impact the open source development of a critical open platform.