University Rents Enabling Corporate Innovation: Mapping Academic Researcher Coding and Discursive Labour in the R Language Ecosystem

TL;DR

This study investigates unrecognised academic labour in the R software ecosystem, revealing how university-based researchers contribute significantly to infrastructure and support, often without remuneration, enabling corporate innovation and benefiting Big Tech.

Contribution

It connects digital platform labour to professional employment, highlighting the role of university researchers in open source software development and corporate innovation.

Findings

Researchers are the most active owners of R packages on GitHub.

Unrecognised researchers provide key infrastructure and support without remuneration.

Academic contributions facilitate corporate innovation and are legitimized by FLOSS ideology.

Abstract

This article explores the role of unrecognised labour in corporate innovation systems via an analysis of researcher coding and discursive contributions to R, one of the largest statistical software ecosystems. Studies of online platforms typically focus on how platform affordances constrain participants' actions, and profit from their labour. We innovate by connecting the labour performed inside digital platforms to the professional employment of participants. Our case study analyses 8,924 R package repositories on GitHub, examining commits and communications. Our quantitative findings show that researchers, alongside non-affiliated contributors, are the most frequent owners of R package repositories and their most active contributors. Researchers are more likely to hold official roles compared to the average, and to engage in collaborative problem-solving and support work during package development. This means there is, underneath the 'recognised' category of star researchers who transition between academia and industry and secure generous funding, an 'unrecognised' category of researchers who not only create and maintain key statistical infrastructure, but also provide support to industry employees, for no remuneration. Our qualitative findings show how this unrecognised labour affects practitioners. Finally, our analysis of the ideology and practice of free, libre and open source software (FLOSS) shows how this ideology and practice legitimate the use of 'university rents' by Big Tech.