A la Carte Community: Identity and values in the open source software project TYPO3

Authors

Benedikte Brincker, Copenhagen Business SchoolFollow
Peter Gundelach, University of CopenhagenFollow

Abstract

The exchange of open source software is a phenomenon that is becoming in- creasingly significant to IT users. This article presents the results of a study of the TYPO3 community, a community related to an open source CMS software. The article explores the community, identity and values of TYPO3 and shows that there are high levels of virtual as well as face-to-face interaction among the members. The participants feel that they belong to the community and many also feel that they are recognised as part of the community. However, the members do not share common values neither in relation to software pro- duction nor generally. Instead, they stress that you are free to choose your own values. Against this background, the authors introduce the notion of an ‘a la carte community’, i.e. a community where individuals pick and choose their degree of participation and integra- tion into the community and its values.

Recommended Citation

Brincker, Benedikte and Gundelach, Peter (2010) "A la Carte Community: Identity and values in the open source software project TYPO3," Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems: Vol. 22: Iss. 1, Article 3.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/sjis/vol22/iss1/3