My presentation of our research on the OpenSim Community at the NVWN Innovation through Virtual Worlds Seminar in Second Life in February 2012.

1. SETTING THE STAGE
---
EXPLORING ACTOR ROLES FOR PRIVATE-
COLLECTIVE COMMUNITY SUSTAINABILITY
RESEARCH-IN-PROGRESS
Robin Teigland Paul M. Di Gangi
Stockholm School of Economics Loyola University Maryland
Zeynep Yetis
Stockholm School of Economics
February 2012

2. Overview
Introduction & Research Questions
Research Setting & Methodology
Preliminary Results
Questions & Answers
Thank You!

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

4. “Open source” communities
expanding into complex, physical goods

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

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

7. Our Primary Research Purpose
How do private-collective communities sustain
themselves despite the challenges that the
tension produces?

8. Underlying Research Questions
(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?

9. Data Collection for 2007-2009
1) Developers Mailing List
2) Ohloh Commit List
3) OpenSim Wiki
4) Blogs, homepages, etc.
5) Interviews

10. (RQ1) What are the resources necessary to
sustain a private-collective community?

11. (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
# messages on OpenSim Academic
Entrepreneur
Developers Mailing List Hobbyist
(2007-2009) Large firm
Other
SME
# people making commits on
OpenSim Ohloh (2007-2009)

12. (RQ3) What characterizes the structure among
the different stakeholders of a private-
collective community?
Not-for-profit
Large
Firms Local
SME
public
Entrepreneurs
Academics Federal
public
Hobbyist
Research Institute

13. (RQ3) What characterizes the structure among
the different stakeholders of a private-
collective community?

14. A tightly knit community driven primarily
by entrepreneurs
Academic
Entrepreneur
Hobbyist
Large Firm
Non-profit
Local Public
Federal Pub
Research Inst
SME Employee
Periphery

15. Next Steps
Collect and analyze data 2009-2011
Conduct further interviews of
OpenSim stakeholders
Present at Sunbelt XXXII