Our presentation at Sunbelt XXXII Conference in Redondo Beach, CA in March 2012. More information can be found here: http://nordicworlds.net/2012/03/14/round-two-of-academic-paper-on-opensimulator-community/.

1. SETTING THE STAGE
---
EXPLORING THE SUSTAINABILITY OF
A PRIVATE-COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY
Robin Teigland Paul M. Di Gangi
Stockholm School of Economics Loyola University Maryland
Zeynep Yetis
Stockholm School of Economics
Redondo Beach, CA, March 2012
International Sunbelt Social Network Conference

2. Overview
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

3. Models of Knowledge Creation
E.g., Microsoft
~ Built by employees within
organizational boundaries
The Firm
vs The Collective
E.g., Linux
~ Built by users and distributed
freely regardless of affiliation
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

4. “Open source” communities
expanding beyond software
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

5. Private-collective Community
(von Hippel & von Krogh 2003)
Community and firm share
experiences and knowledge to
co-create value
Community is complementary asset
to be leveraged and combined with
firm’s internal assets to deliver
competitive solutions
(Dahlander & Wallin 2006)
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

6. But there’s an inherent tension...
Collective Model
Openness and free
distribution of intellectual
ideas for common or
public good
VS
Private Model
Distribution of returns
and delegation of value
creation solely to
organization
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

7. Our Primary Research Purpose
How do private-collective communities
sustain themselves despite the divergent
interests within the community?
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

8. Research Questions
Based on stakeholder perspective to resource dependence theory
(RQ1) What are the resources necessary to
sustain a private-collective community?
(RQ2) Who are the stakeholders of a private-
collective community and what resources do
they contribute to the community?
(RQ3) What characterizes the structure among
the different stakeholders of a private-collective
community?
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

9. Overview
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

10. Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

11. More than just developers…
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

12. Methods
Text Analysis and SNA using….
1) Developer Mailing List
2) Ohloh Commit List
3) OpenSimulator Wiki
4) SNS, blogs, homepages, etc.
5) 21 Interviews
Conducting an interview
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

13. Overview
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

14. (RQ1) What are the resources necessary to
sustain a private-collective community?
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

15. (RQ2) Who are the stakeholders of a private-
collective community and what resources do
they contribute to the community?
Academic
Entrepreneur
Hobbyist
Large firm
Other
SME
Academic
% of messages Entrepreneur
Developers Mailing List Hobbyist
(2007-2011) Large firm
SME
% of people making commits on
Ohloh Commit List (2007-2011) Gangi, & Yetis 2012
Teigland, Di

16. (RQ3) What characterizes the structure among
the different stakeholders of a private-
collective community?
Academic
Entrepreneur
Hobbyist
Large Firm
Non-profit
Local Public
Federal Public
Research Inst
SME
Periphery
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

17. (RQ3) What characterizes the structure among
the different stakeholders of a private-
collective community?
The “Old Guard” and the Rising New Members
Member Turnover from Period One (2007-2009) to Period Two (2009-2011)
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

18. Overview
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Research Findings
Conclusions
Thank You!
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

19. Conclusions
• Individual members supply the resources to the
community, but it is the collective interactions that
create the capabilities necessary to sustain the
community.
• Private-collective communities are complex social
networks that mix a high variety of stakeholder groups
e.g. academics, large firm employees,hobbyists, with
each group contributing different resources.
• Entrepreneurs are the driving force sustaining the
community, despite turnover among them.
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

20. Implications
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

21. Limitations and Future Research
• Focus on one community only.
• Primarily analyzed quantity and not quality of
contributions on mailing list and commit list
• OpenSimulator is more than a developer community –
include the rest of the ecosystem?
• Event analysis? How does the OpenSimulator
Community respond to external and internal shocks?
Focus on tensions?
• Bibliometrics and webometrics for additional insights?
Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012

22. Teigland, Di Gangi, & Yetis 2012