DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-857869
title: Open Source Software and Organisational Boundaries: Interview Data, 2023

description: The development of business products and services underpinned by open source (OS) software and digital infrastructure is widespread. This raises important questions about how that work is resourced and managed within and beyond organisational boundaries. Our study explored how Open Source is located within organisations from both public and commercial sectors and the implications of this for work practices and organisational models. It aimed to provide valuable insights into both the sustainability of OS digital infrastructure and how digital technologies are transforming work in diverse ways. We set out to understand where, why and how organisations from different sectors develop open source software and digital infrastructure as part of their delivery of products and services. And how staff work to develop products and services and maintain OS digital infrastructure within and beyond organisational boundaries.

Our methods involved qualitative interviews to explore different experiences of open source. Innovative web-scraping, online research and snowball techniques were used to purposively identify organisations that were aware of and using open source. We conducted 20 online interviews with staff from organisations in four broad fields across the public and commercial sectors; global technology corporations, UK public sector (local government), UK Higher education, and Open Source first companies. Interviewees were mostly senior technical staff managing the development of products and services. Key informant interviews were conducted with those in open source community and policy roles. Transcripts were pseudonymised and imported into Nvivo and coded thematically using both inductive and deductive codes.

Our key findings in the first stage of analysis focused on providing a comparative picture of the 4 groups of organisations, the location of open source, its role in the delivery of products and services and organisational infrastructure, how open source was used and maintained, and where contributions were made to communities. Emerging themes indicated the embedding of open source in the commercial global technology industry with various structures set up internally to support communities and manage licencing and contributions. OS first organisations had put open development at the heart of their mission creating innovative practices and organisational structures to facilitate community support and contribution. In the public sector open source was used in an ad hoc way by universities and local authorities, but increasingly off the shelf-products with support packages had taken precedence as a result of resourcing crises and concerns about risk compatibility and disruption caused by implementation. Further analysis will be looking in detail at structures and models that facilitate or prevent work beyond organisational boundaries and the implications of these new ways of working for the future of work. As such the research contributes to Digit’s goal of understanding how digital technologies are transforming work and the theme of Employers’ and employees’ experiences of digital work across sectors.

The data collections consists of 17 interview transcripts with workers in four industries UKHE, Global Technology Corporations, UK public sector bodies and Open source first organisations.