Suffolk University Newsletter (SUN), vol. 37, no. 3, 2011

https://dc.suffolk.edu/sun/1042/thumbnail.jp

A Social Network Perspective on the Success of Open Source Software: The Case of R Packages

In this paper, we seek to identify the factors that influence the impact of open source software (OSS) on users community through the analysis of the evolution of the OSS network. Based on longitudinal data collected from the comprehensive R archive network (CRAN), we empirically examine how the network of R packages evolves over time and exert its influence on the scientific community. We find that critical network features derived from CRAN, such as page-rank, closeness, and betweenness centralities, play a significant role in determining the impact of each package on the research and publication activities in the scientific community. Furthermore, the performance of R packages can be explained as a flow of information from the core to the periphery that exhibits strong spillover effects

An Evolutionary Game Model of Multi-Topics Diffusion in Social Network

One major function of social networks is the dissemination of information such as news, comments, and rumors. The information passing from a sender to a receiver intrinsically involves both of them by considering their memory, reputation, and preference, which further determine their decisions of whether or not to diffuse the topic. To understand such human aspects of the topics dissemination, we propose a game theoretical model of the multi-topics diffusion mechanisms in a social network. Each individual in the network is considered as both sender and receiver, who transmits different topics taking into account their payoffs and personalities (including memories, reputation and preferences). Several cases were analyzed, and the results suggest that multi-topics dissemination is strongly affected by self-perceived, gregarious and information gain