Investigating Collaboration Within Online Communities: Software Development Vs. Artistic Creation

TL;DR

This paper explores the dynamics of collaboration in online communities across software development and artistic creation, aiming to enhance communication, collaboration, and retention based on OSS community insights.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of collaboration factors in software and artistic online communities, proposing strategies to improve community engagement.

Findings

Identifies key factors influencing successful collaboration

Highlights differences between OSS and artistic communities

Suggests methods to improve community retention

Abstract

Online creative communities have been able to develop large, open source software (OSS) projects like Linux and Firefox throughout the successful collaborations carried out over the Internet. These communities have also expanded to creative arts domains such as animation, video games, and music. Despite their growing popularity, the factors that lead to successful collaborations in these communities are not entirely understood. In the following, I describe my PhD research project aimed at improving communication, collaboration, and retention in creative arts communities, starting from the experience gained from the literature about OSS communities.