An empirical Analysis of Community and Coding Patterns in OSS4SG vs. Conventional OSS
Open Source Software for Social Good (OSS4SG) projects aim to address critical societal challenges, such as healthcare access and community safety. Understanding the community dynamics and contributor patterns in these projects is essential for ensuring their sustainability and long-term impact. However, while extensive research has focused on conventional Open Source Software (OSS), little is known about how the mission-driven nature of OSS4SG influences its development practices. To address this gap, we conduct a large-scale empirical study of 1,039 GitHub repositories, comprising 422 OSS4SG and 617 conventional OSS projects, to compare community structure, contributor engagement, and coding practices.
Our findings reveal that OSS4SG projects foster significantly more stable and “sticky” (63.4%) communities, whereas conventional OSS projects are more “magnetic” (75.4%), attracting a high turnover of contributors. OSS4SG projects also demonstrate consistent engagement throughout the year, while conventional OSS communities exhibit seasonal fluctuations. Additionally, OSS4SG projects rely heavily on core contributors for both code quality and issue resolution, while conventional OSS projects leverage casual contributors for issue resolution, with core contributors focusing primarily on code quality.
Thu 16 AprDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
11:00 - 12:30 | Human and Social Aspects 6Research Track / Journal-first Papers at Oceania V Chair(s): Silvia Abrahão Universitat Politècnica de València | ||
11:00 15mTalk | Developer reactions to protestware in open source software: the cases of color.js and es5.ext Journal-first Papers Youmei Fan Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Dong Wang Tianjin University, Supatsara Wattanakriengkrai Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Hathaichanok Damrongsiri Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Christoph Treude Singapore Management University, Hideaki Hata Shinshu University, Raula Gaikovina Kula The University of Osaka Link to publication DOI Pre-print | ||
11:15 15mTalk | Addressing OSS Community Managers’ Challenges in Contributor Retention Journal-first Papers Zixuan Feng Oregon State University, USA, Katie Kimura Oregon State University, Bianca Trinkenreich Colorado State University, Igor Steinmacher RESHAPE LAB, Northern Arizona University, USA, Marco Gerosa Northern Arizona University, Anita Sarma Oregon State University Pre-print | ||
11:30 15mTalk | The whos, whats, and whys of issues related to personal data and data protection in open-source projects on GitHub Journal-first Papers Anne Hennig Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Lukas Schulte University of Passau, Steffen Herbold University of Passau, Oksana Kulyk IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Peter Mayer University of Southern Denmark Link to publication DOI | ||
11:45 15mTalk | “Write in English, Nobody Understands Your Language Here”: A Study of Non-English Trends in Open-Source Repositories Research Track Masudul Hasan Masud Bhuiyan CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Germany, Manish Kumar Bala Kumar CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, Cristian-Alexandru Staicu Endor Labs | ||
12:00 15mTalk | How Does Core Contributor Disengagement Impact Open Source Project Activity? A Quasi-Experiment Research Track Yunqi Chen Zhejiang University, Klaas-Jan Stol Lero; University College Cork; SINTEF Digital , Fabio Marcos De Abreu Santos Colorado State University, USA, Daniel M. German University of Victoria, Bianca Trinkenreich Colorado State University | ||
12:15 15mTalk | An empirical Analysis of Community and Coding Patterns in OSS4SG vs. Conventional OSS Research Track Mohamed Ouf Queen’s University, Shayan Noei Queen's University, Zeph Van Iterson Queen's University, Mariam Guizani Queen's University, Canada, Ying Zou Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario | ||