Don't Forget Your Mask! Digital Impression Management in Open Source Communities

Open source is increasingly present in all software delivered today, including that which is entirely commercial in origin. Thus, ensuring sustainability of open source projects becomes increasingly important. The situation is not helped by that the fact that historically the level of female participation in open source projects has been abysmally low, as are challenges to participation that can be experienced by those with different ethnic backgrounds. It has been suggested that as the involvement of commercial organizations in open source has increased, the level of female participation and ethnic diversity has increased. We investigated this issue with ten male and female practitioners from different geographic locations who have extensive experience in open source communities. Drawing on concepts from digital impression management, we investigated the manner in which these impression management techniques were used to participate in open source communities, and the differences between usage by male and female participants.