Information Society Watch

2005, Yuwei Lin

This paper studies the role of gender in free/libre/open source software (F/LOSS) communities especially since an earlier study conducted by the European Union revealed a significant discrepancy in the proportion of men to women. The authors set out to find reasons behind this bias and make recommendations for actions that might improve the ratio of women to men. As F/LOSS constitutes an increasingly significant arena of technological advancement and economic development, it has become an important public policy question. Through an ethnographic study consisting of empirical surveys, participant observation and qualitative interviews, the study aimed to provide the world’s first comprehensive study of gender in F/LOSS and develop policies to maintain the EU’s leading role in this field. (Adapted from authors)

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