Activity Theory for OSS Ecosystems

The digital business ecosystem is an innovative approach to support the adoption and development of information and communication technologies (ICT). A natural life ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environments. Conversely, a business ecosystem is a network of buyers, suppliers and makers of related products or services, plus the socio-economic environment that includes the institutional and regulatory framework. The development process of an OSS environment can be modelled as an information ecosystem. This paper describes how activity theory can be used to inform the development of OSS projects.