The Implications of Digital Forking: Innovation, Generativity and the Process of Forking

Digital software and its innovation pervade all aspects of our life today. It becomes imperative to make sense of how to manage innovation, and possible software fragmentation. Little is still understood about the process by... [ view full abstract ]

Digital software and its innovation pervade all aspects of our life today. It becomes imperative to make sense of how to manage innovation, and possible software fragmentation. Little is still understood about the process by which open source code may be split to form multiple projects (fragmentation) – ie forked. The process of forking can be generative and lead to multiple possibilities of digital innovation. However, at the same time the same process can be the force that destroys both a growing product and community. Awareness and understanding of the risks of open source forking go beyond creating simple awareness of adoption issues but can also become the way to build innovative business models around different forks, make its adoption more sustainable, and lead to innovation in the ecosystem. The aim of this paper is to conceptualize the very relevant yet understudied area of forking in code, projects, community, product families and networks, and lay out a possible research agenda. There is also a promising policy level contribution that would entail from more understanding and encouraging sustainable procurement decisions and innovation practices that are less wasteful.