Abstract In this paper, we analyze the mechanism of open-source development, in which anybody can join and leave to the collaboration to develop complex software system, as implausible phenomena. Here, we take the case of Linux, which is an operating system developed as open-source software. In existing studies, the management of the community is often discussed, but we focus on how the community was emerged. In this paper, we apply social system theory proposed by Niklas Luhmann, especially the concept of double contingency, the nexus of communication, Openness and Closeness of a system, structural coupling of systems, and communication media. In order to clarify the nexus of communication for developing Linux, we analyze the logged text of mailing lists and newsgroups. 34
Social System Analysis of Open Collaboration: Reconsidering Open Source Development 35
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