Simple conversational practices in the case of free and open source software infrastructure

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to provide insights on how the infrastructure of a Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) project is used by the participants while they bring forward their own contributions. Specific case used for this paper is a mature development project of a video game. Several discussions were collected from the development board of the project's Internet forum and analysed through the inductive and iterative process of the Grounded Theory methodology. The paper identifies the emerging conversational practices of positioning, linking the scattered, setting a positive atmosphere, constructing citizenship and it discusses them in relation to the distributed nature of the project.

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