Participating in open source communities—or in any open organization, for that matter—means collaborating with others who might not operate the same way you do. Their motivations may differ. Their governance models might seem foreign. Their goals might not immediately speak to you. So if you’re going to work together, you’ll need to develop a clear sense of what makes the project tick—and decide quickly whether working together is best for your team and your business.
Similarly, if you’re instigating an open source project, you should ask yourself, “what kind of community do I want to attract?” Then you can plan for and signal that accordingly.
Earlier this year, Mozilla and Open Tech Strategies released the first version of a tool we hope will help with this. Our recent report, “Open Source Archetypes,”identifies 10 general types (or “archetypes”) of open communities in their strategic contexts. The report offers narratives describing these archetypes, explains what motivate them, and outlines the strategic benefits of working with them. We also cite some examples of each archetype and offer insights into various licensing models, governance models and community standards that comprise them.
Read more at OpenSource.com
