Network analysis of the SourceForge.net community

Abstract

Software is central to the functioning of modern computer-based society. The OSS (Open Source Software) phenomenon is a novel, widely growing approach to develop both applications and infrastructure software. In this research, we studied the community network of the SourceForge.net, especially the structure and evolution of the community network, to understand the Open Source Software movement. We applied three different analyses on the network, including structure analysis, centrality analysis and path analysis. By applying these analyses, we are able to gain insights of the network development and its influence to individual developments. © 2007 International Federation for Information Processing.