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CSCW
2012
ACM

Social coding in GitHub: transparency and collaboration in an open software repository

12 years 5 months ago
Social coding in GitHub: transparency and collaboration in an open software repository
Social applications on the web let users track and follow the activities of a large number of others regardless of location or affiliation. There is a potential for this transparency to radically improve collaboration and learning in complex knowledge-based activities. Based on a series of in-depth interviews with central and peripheral GitHub users, we examined the value of transparency for large-scale distributed collaborations and communities of practice. We find that people make a surprisingly rich set of social inferences from the networked activity information in GitHub, such as inferring someone else’s technical goals and vision when they edit code, or guessing which of several similar projects has the best chance of thriving in the long term. Users combine these inferences into effective strategies for coordinating work, advancing technical skills and managing their reputation. Author Keywords Transparency; awareness; coordination; collaboration; open source software develop...
Laura A. Dabbish, H. Colleen Stuart, Jason Tsay, J
Added 21 Apr 2012
Updated 21 Apr 2012
Type Journal
Year 2012
Where CSCW
Authors Laura A. Dabbish, H. Colleen Stuart, Jason Tsay, James D. Herbsleb
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