Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Social Organization of the R Project John Fox McMaster University useR 2008 Dortmund John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Introduction What is Problematic About Open-Source Software Development? Typical questions (particularly posed by economists): Why do people (or organizations) participate in open-source software development, and is their participation rational? A di¤erent point of view: Participation in voluntary associations is a normal social activity. What is problematic is why and how a voluntary association can produce a complex, integrated product such as software. John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Introduction Stated Motivations of R-Core Developers To leverage one’s own e¤orts by building a mutually useful product: “[M]y feeling is that I gain great bene…t from open source software. This is tremendously valuable to me, being able to use all of these other tools, and I feel both a moral and a practical obligation to contribute back into this sea of tools that are, I think, very important for the development of our profession.” An economist might …nd the “practical obligation” an expression of rationality. John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Introduction Stated Motivations of R-Core Developers To work on the cutting edge of statistical computing: “[It’s] very satisfying ... to work on a day-to-day basis with people with whom one has common interests and can get a lot of pleasure from working with.” John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Introduction Stated Motivations of R-Core Developers To provide statistical computing facilities to those who could not otherwise a¤ord them: “One of the nicest sort of things [is that] other people in the Philippines or Bolivia or Mexico ... can have a world class statistical software system [when] they could never a¤ord any of the commercial systems.” John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Introduction Stated Motivations of R-Core Developers Statisticians are habituated to cooperation: “But statistics itself is a collaborative …eld. You can’t actually do anything in statistics, or at least nothing of interest, unless you cooperate with a subject matter expert. So basically . . . cooperation is built into the subject, and that might have had some in‡uence on it, but maybe you have to be predisposed to collaboration if you’re going to be in statistics.” John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Trajectory of the R Project The growth in CRAN packages is approximately exponential R Version 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.7 1.8 1.9 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Source of Data: 1427 1400 1300 1200 https://svn.r- 1000 1000 911 800 project.org/R/branches/. 739 Number of CRAN Packages 647 600 548 500 406 400 357 300 273 219 200 162 129 110 100 2001−06−21 2001−12−17 2002−06−12 2003−05−27 2003−11−16 2004−06−05 2004−10−12 2005−06−18 2005−12−16 2006−05−31 2006−12−12 2007−04−12 2007−11−16 2008−03−18 Date John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Trajectory of the R Project But Tukey would want us to plot the residuals ● 0.06 0.04 ● ● ● 0.02 Residuals ● 0.00 ● ● ● ● −0.02 ● ● ● −0.04 ● −0.06 ● 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Date John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Trajectory of the R Project The growth rate in the number of messages on R-help has declined Source of Data: 2000 https://stat.ethz.ch/ Mean Number of R−help Messages per Month pipermail/r-help/. 1000 500 200 100 50 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Trajectory of the R Project The size of the R Core group has doubled Size of the R Core Group Points represent changes in membership. 20 20 Sources of Data: Interviews with ● members of R Core, ● ● contributors(), 15 15 ● Number of "R−Core" Members ● https://svn.r-project.org/R. ● ● 10 10 ● ● 5 5 Formation of R−Core ● ● 0 0 1990 1995 2000 2005 Year John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Trajectory of the R Project Activity in the R svn archive by members of R Core has become more unequal Source of Data: ● ● ● ● 0.8 ● https://svn.r-project.org/R "Commits" to R svn Archive by Members of R Core ● ● ● ● ● ● Gini Coefficient ● 0.7 ● ● ● ● 0.6 ● ● 0.5 ● Proportion by most active member 0.4 ● ● 0.3 ● ● ● 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 Year John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? The Development and Organization of the R Project A member of the R Core group on how decisions get made: “[W]e [have] a system that [is] democratic but the person who [is] going to do the work [gets] more votes than anybody else.” John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Development of the R Project Stage Initial Transitional R-Core Approximate 1990-94 1994-97 1997- Dates Some student Demonstrated Semi-purposive, Recruitment participation interest by invitation Division of Labour None Developing Semi-formal Original Hierarchy None Informal developers, contributors John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Development of the R Project Stage Initial Transitional R-Core Principal Mode Direct Anarchic Role enactment of Cooperation collaboration voluntarism + voluntarism Planning None Implicit Partial Decision-Making Joint Individual Semi-consensus Discussion, Resolution of Discussion Largely preemption, Disagreements unnecessary avoidance Personal Reproduce Various, Principal Goal Development functionality of S partly con‡icting John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Why Did R Succeed? The initial developers opened up the project, eventually forming the R Core group (cf., Octave, LispStat) and releasing R under the GPL. The Core group is immensely talented, with complementary skills. The project had an initial target: reproducing the functionality of S. Much of the necessary software beyond the basic R system was already available in S “libraries” (e.g., MASS, survival, nlme). The S language had already penetrated the statistics community. S is relatively easy to use (cf., LispStat). John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Why Did R Succeed? The package system, introduced early on, permitted participation with minimal direct intervention by R Core. The package system serves partially to circumvent disputes. The R Core group successfully leveraged information technology (e.g., version control, e-mail lists, package automation, distribution via the Internet). R clearly improved on S: e.g., lexical scoping, name spaces, package system. R runs of all widely used computing platforms (Windows, Mac OS, Linux/Unix). R is free (in both senses). John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
Introduction Trajectory Development and Organization Why Did R Succeed? Can Success Continue? Can This Success Continue? Positive Factors R has a great deal of momentum. The basic R system is essentially sound, and much of the dynamism of R is in package development. Many of the factors leading to the initial success of R continue to apply (e.g., talent of R Core). R has attracted a very large user and developer base. R is highly visible (e.g., in books and journal articles). R has powerful advocates. John Fox McMaster University The Social Organization of the R Project
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