This is just the announcement of the research plan, so it won’t be of interest to everybody. I’m posting it because it will be of interest to some of you; perhaps

• you want to know about this research and keep an eye out for its results
• you are somebody involved in one of the many open source scientific computing projects
• you are interested in why large open source/science projects/communities fail and succeed

(In the latter two cases, you might even have some thoughts to share with the author.)

Summary of the research:

As a postdoc with rOpenSci, I have begun a qualitative, ethnographic project to explore the organizational and social processes involved in making open science the norm in two disciplines: astronomy and ecology. […] I aim to answer the following research questions (RQ):

• RQ1a: What are the primary motivations of scientists who actively engage with open science infrastructures?
• RQ1b: What are the factors that influence resistance to open science among some scientists?
• RQ2: What strategies do open science infrastructure leaders use to encourage participation, govern contributions, and overcome resistance to open science infrastructure use?
  • a. To what extent do governance strategies balance standardization and flexibility, centralization and decentralization, and voluntary and mandatory contributions?
  • b. By what mechanisms are open science policies and practices enforced?
  • c. What are the commonalities and differences in the rationale behind choices of governance strategies?