Computational approaches for analyzing latent social structures in open source organizing

Abstract

Open source software represents a novel form of organizing that leaves digital trace data for organizational researchers to analyze using computational methods. Computational social science has emerged as an important approach to understanding patterns that represent latent social structures in sociological, organizational, and technical phenomena. Within the context of open and digitalized collaboration the clearest manifestation of computational social science has been social network analysis. While social network analysis is a powerful approach for understanding social phenomena in terms of their latent relational social structure, the network lens does not capture the entirety of social structures. Procedural social structures undergirding recurrent patterns of action form another important element of latent social structure. Analyzing such structures requires alternative methods able to deal with historydependent patterning of activities. Therefore, we investigate the concepts of latent relational and procedural structures, and discuss computational approaches for analyzing patterns and interdependencies among such structures. © (2013) by the AIS/ICIS Administrative Office All rights reserved.