An Empirical Analysis of Community and Coding Patterns in OSS4SG vs. Conventional OSS
Mohamed Ouf, Shayan Noei, Zeph Van Iterson, Mariam Guizani, Ying Zou

TL;DR
This study compares community and coding patterns between OSS4SG projects focused on social good and conventional OSS, revealing differences in community stability, contributor engagement, and development practices.
Contribution
It provides the first large-scale empirical analysis contrasting OSS4SG and conventional OSS projects, highlighting unique community dynamics and contributor roles.
Findings
OSS4SG communities are more stable and 'sticky' (63.4%)
Conventional OSS attracts more 'magnetic' contributors (75.4%)
OSS4SG shows consistent year-round engagement
Abstract
Open Source Software for Social Good (OSS4SG) projects aim to address critical societal challenges, such as healthcare access and community safety. Understanding the community dynamics and contributor patterns in these projects is essential for ensuring their sustainability and long-term impact. However, while extensive research has focused on conventional Open Source Software (OSS), little is known about how the mission-driven nature of OSS4SG influences its development practices. To address this gap, we conduct a large-scale empirical study of 1,039 GitHub repositories, comprising 422 OSS4SG and 617 conventional OSS projects, to compare community structure, contributor engagement, and coding practices. Our findings reveal that OSS4SG projects foster significantly more stable and "sticky" (63.4%) communities, whereas conventional OSS projects are more "magnetic" (75.4%), attracting a…
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Taxonomy
TopicsOpen Source Software Innovations · Scientific Computing and Data Management · Software Engineering Research
