%0 Conference Proceedings
%T Gender Differences in Early Free and Open Source Software Joining Process
%+ School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science [Oregon State University]
%A Kuechler, Victor
%A Gilbertson, Claire
%A Jensen, Carlos
%Z Part 1: Full Papers
%< avec comité de lecture
%( IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology
%B 8th International Conference on Open Source Systems (OSS)
%C Hammamet, Tunisia
%Y Imed Hammouda
%Y Björn Lundell
%Y Tommi Mikkonen
%Y Walt Scacchi
%I Springer
%3 Open Source Systems: Long-Term Sustainability
%V AICT-378
%P 78-93
%8 2012-09-10
%D 2012
%R 10.1007/978-3-642-33442-9_6
%K joining process
%K diversity
%K mailing lists
%Z Computer Science [cs]Conference papers
%X With the growth of free and open source software (FOSS) and the adoption of FOSS solutions in business and everyday life, it is important that projects serve their growingly diverse user base. The sustainability of FOSS projects relies on a constant influx of new contributors. Several large demographic surveys found that FOSS communities are very homogenous, dominated by young men, similar to the bias existing in the rest of the IT workforce. Building on previous research, we examine mailing list subscriptions and posting statistics of female FOSS participants. New participants often experience their first interaction on a FOSS project’s mailing list. We explored six FOSS projects – Buildroot, Busybox, Jaws, Parrot, uClibc, and Yum. We found a declining rate of female participation from the 8.27% of subscribers, to 6.63% of posters, and finally the often reported code contributor rate of 1.5%. We found a disproportionate attrition rate among women along every step of the FOSS joining process.
%G English
%2 https://inria.hal.science/hal-01519076/document
%2 https://inria.hal.science/hal-01519076/file/978-3-642-33442-9_6_Chapter.pdf
%L hal-01519076
%U https://inria.hal.science/hal-01519076
%~ IFIP
%~ IFIP-AICT
%~ IFIP-TC
%~ IFIP-WG
%~ IFIP-OSS
%~ IFIP-TC2
%~ IFIP-WG2-13
%~ IFIP-AICT-378