The sustainability of Open-Source Software is critically important to industry, governments, and the general public, necessitating collaboration between many stakeholders. Academic approaches to the study of OSS sustainability are similarly varied, including economists, social scientists, software engineers, cognitive scientists, and public goods researchers. Because of this diversity, it is easy for researchers to be studying the same phenomenon while completely missing each other’s work. And no matter how hard it seems to get academics from multiple fields aware of each other’s work, it is considerably harder to communicate effectively from academics to practitioners.
The aim of this proposed workshop is to facilitate information transfer between OSS academics and practitioners, of both existing research and research/practice needs. We will bring together academics from multiple fields and practitioners to engage through listening and conversation. This workshop will facilitate collaboration across these areas, leading to richer and more directly implementable research into OSS sustainability.
