Working Papers on Information Systems ISSN 1535-6078 eSocialScience for Free/Libre Open Source Software Researchers Kevin Crowston Syracuse University, USA James Howison Syracuse University, USA Andrea Wiggins Syracuse University, USA Abstract This abstract presents a case study of the potential application of eScience tools and practices for the social science research community studying Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) development practices. We first describe the practice of research on FLOSS to motivate the need for eScience. After outlining suitable public data sources, we describe our initial efforts to introduce eScience tools for FLOSS research, potential obstacles and how the use of such tools might affect the practice of research in this field. Keywords: open source, eScience, research methods, social science, adoption Permanent URL: http://sprouts.aisnet.org/8-6 Copyright: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works License Reference: Crowston, K., Howison, J., Wiggins, A. (2008). "eSocialScience for Free/Libre Open Source Software Researchers," Syracuse University, USA . Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems, 8(6). http://sprouts.aisnet.org/8-6 Sprouts - http://sprouts.aisnet.org/8-6