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Loosen control without losing control: Formalization and decentralization within commons‐based peer production
Author(s) -
Rozas David,
Huckle Steven
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.24393
Subject(s) - sociotechnical system , peer production , commons , decentralization , computer science , knowledge management , control (management) , face (sociological concept) , production (economics) , software , open source software , sociology , political science , social science , economics , law , artificial intelligence , macroeconomics , programming language
This study considers commons‐based peer production (CBPP) by examining the organizational processes of the free/libre open‐source software community, Drupal. It does so by exploring the sociotechnical systems that have emerged around both Drupal's development and its face‐to‐face communitarian events. There has been criticism of the simplistic nature of previous research into free software; this study addresses this by linking studies of CBPP with a qualitative study of Drupal's organizational processes. It focuses on the evolution of organizational structures, identifying the intertwined dynamics of formalization and decentralization, resulting in coexisting sociotechnical systems that vary in their degrees of organicity.