A Collective Intelligence View on the Linux Kernel Developer Community

Abstract

With the rapid proliferation of all sorts of online communities, the knowledge creation and dissemination in these online communities has become a prominent social phenomenon. In this paper, one typical Open Source Software community, i.e. the online community of Linux kernel developers, is studied from the perspective of collective intelligence, to explore the social dynamics behind the success of the Linux kernel project. The Linux kernel developer community is modeled as a supernetwork of triple interwoven networks, namely a technological media network, a collaboration network of the developers, and a knowledge network. The development of the LDC is then an evolutionary process through which the supernetwork expands and the collective intelligence of the community develops; and a bottom-up approach is attempted to unravel this evolutionary process.