Leveraging Corporate Engagement for Diversity in Free/Libre and Open Source Software Projects

Abstract

In this workshop paper, we describe results from a mixed-methods study of social diversity and corporate engagement in free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) projects. We collected survey responses from contributors to FLOSS development on GitHub to characterize perceptions of social diversity and corporate involvement in projects. We additionally analyzed data extracted from FLOSS projects hosted on GitHub to investigate differences in diversity based on corporate engagement levels. Our results suggest that organizational decisions may be detrimental to both the expansion of a project’s contributor base and for increasing diversity across FLOSS ecosystems. However, as some survey participants note in their responses, organizations subsidizing FLOSS development have opportunities to increase access to and openness of projects which would be beneficial for diversity. This research thus serves to identify organizational factors and actions which harm and help initiatives to improve inclusivity and equity in FLOSS development.