Title: Use of GitHub as a Platform for Open Collaboration on Text Documents

Authors: Justin Longo (University of Regina Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, Canada), Tanya M. Kelley (Arizona State University, U.S.A.)

Abstract: Recently, researchers are paying attention to the use of the software development and code-hosting web service GitHub for other collaborative purposes, including a class of activity referred to as document, text, or prose collaboration. These alternative uses of GitHub as a platform for sharing non-code artifacts represent an important modification in the practice of open collaboration. We survey cases where GitHub has been used to facilitate collaboration on non-code outputs, identify its strengths and weaknesses when used in this mode, and propose conditions for successful collaborations on co-created text documents.

This contribution to OpenSym 2015 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2015 proceedings (or companion) on or after August 19, 2015.