Flexible organizing and identity fragmentation in Free/Open Source Software development Mehmet Gen¸ cer * , B¨ ulent ¨ Ozel * , V. Sinan Tunalıo˘glu * , Beyza Oba ** . * ˙ Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Computer Science ** ˙ Istanbul Bilgi University, Institute of Social Sciences June 1, 2006 Abstract Free/Open Source Software(FOSS) development is regarded as one of the most noteworthy contemporary collective innovation processes. Soft- ware produced in FOSS projects are available to everyone for all sorts of use and modification, only with some restrictions on how the modi- fied versions can be licensed. This enables developer groups to start a new development branch for their own needs by choosing to develop sepa- rately from the parent project, which is called ‘forking’. In this study, we have examined the histories of several project forks in FOSS. We have ap- proached fragmentation of FOSS community and group identities through forking as a technology for problem solving and distributed innovation, at- tempted to identify factors that this fragmentation is contingent upon and understand construction of identities during the fork. Social power strug- gles, differences in interest, mobility and licensing terms were found to be the major reasons which trigger forking decisions. The variety of forking situations we have examined exhibits two levels of positioning with other actors(individuals, cliques, projects) in order to construct their identities: (1)higher distance with some actors for maintaining specialization, inde- pendence or competitive advantage, and (2)closer distance for maintaining compatibility and reciprocal benefit with some others. Norms and values in FOSS community level, which are partly reflected in license terms, serve as the constitutional basis which maintain coherence of this system through the fragmentation process. 1