On the Geographic Allocation of Open Source Software Activities

This article contributes to research on the geographic origin of open source software (OSS) developers by analyzing the geographic allocation of active OSS developers and OSS activities. Based on data from the SourceForge Research Data Archive, the authors exploit information about developers’ IP address, email address, and indicated time-zone. This enables them to assign 94% of all registered users in 2006. As proxy for activity the authors use information about the number of posted messages. Thus they provide a detailed picture of the world-wide allocation of OSS activities. Such country data about the supply-side of OSS is a valuable stock for both cross-country studies on OSS and country-specific research and policy advice.