A mechanism to explore proactive knowledge retention in open source software communities

Open-source software (OSS) is a type of computer software where in the source code is distributed under a special type of license in which the copyright holder grants users the rights to inspect, alter and redistribute the software. OSS projects are collaborative endeavours which have multiple contributors who are constantly joining, leaving, or changing their role in the project. This ever changing and ever transient nature of OSS project contributors contributes to a contributor turnover induced knowledge loss in OSS projects. In this case ‘Knowledge Loss’ refers to the phenomenon of the loss of project specific knowledge, experience and expertise in an OSS project, caused by contributors regularly joining and leaving the OSS project. This paper describes the design and development of a robust research methodology and contributes towards the formation of proactive knowledge retention practices in OSS projects to transform contributor’s use of knowledge and engagement in knowledge relevant activities including knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer.