Newcomers’ Barriers. . . Is That All? An Analysis of Mentors’ and Newcomers’ Barriers in OSS Projects

Newcomers’ seamless onboarding is important for open collaboration communities, particularly those that leverage outsiders’ contributions to remain sustainable. Nevertheless, previous work shows that OSS newcomers often face several barriers to contribute, which lead them to lose motivation and even give up on contributing. A well-known way to help newcomers overcome initial contribution barriers is mentoring. This strategy has proven effective in offline and online communities, and to some extent has been employed in OSS projects. Studying mentors’ perspectives on the barriers that newcomers face play a vital role in improving onboarding processes; yet, OSS mentors face their own barriers, which hinder the effectiveness of the strategy. Since little is known about the barriers mentors face, in this paper, we investigate the barriers that affect mentors and their newcomer mentees. We interviewed mentors from OSS projects and qualitatively analyzed their answers. We found 44 barriers: 19 that affect mentors; and 34 that affect newcomers (9 affect both newcomers and mentors). Interestingly, most of the barriers we identified (66%) have a social nature. Additionally, we identified 10 strategies that mentors indicated to potentially alleviate some of the barriers. Since gender-related challenges emerged in our analysis, we conducted nine follow-up structured interviews to further explore this perspective. The contributions of this paper include: identifying the barriers mentors face; bringing the unique perspective of mentors on barriers faced by newcomers; unveiling strategies that can be used by mentors to support newcomers; and investigating gender-specific challenges in OSS mentorship. Mentors, newcomers, online communities, and educators can leverage this knowledge to foster new contributors to OSS projects.     

A broader view on the limitations of information processing and communication by nature

Several new and broader views on computation in Nature and by Nature, and on its limitations and barriers are presented and analysed briefly. Quantum information precessing, global network information processing and cosmology-based information processing theories are seen as three extreme, but well-founded approaches to computation by Nature. It is also emphasized that a search for barriers and limitations in information processing as well as attempts to overcome their barriers or to shift limitations, can have deep impacts on science, especially if they are accompanied by a search for limitations and barriers also in communication and security. It is demonstrated that a search for barriers in communications brings a lot of interesting and deep outcomes. Computational and communication complexity is shown to play an important role in evaluating various approaches to get through barriers that current physical theories impose. It is also argued that a search for barriers and limitations concerning feasibility in information processing and physical worlds are of equal or maybe even of larger importance than those to overcome the Church-Turing barrier and some communication barriers. It is also emphasized that relations between information processing in the real and virtual worlds, or between physical and information worlds, are likely very deep and more complex than realized. All that has even broader sense than usually realized because we are witnessing a radical shift in the main characterization of the current science in general. A shift from so called Galilean science dominated by mathematics, to the Informatics (based) science - an informatics methodology based science and technology. This is an extended version of a paper (Thies et al. 2006) that appeared in the 12th International Meeting on DNA Computing, June, 2006.     

Software Process Improvement barriers: A cross-cultural comparison

ContextSoftware Process Improvement initiatives have been around for many years with the growing globalisation of software development is making them increasingly important.ObjectiveThe objective of this exploratory research is to gain an in-depth understanding of barriers that can undermine SPI, in the context of Global Software Development, from the perspective of software development practitioners; this will enable SPI managers to better manage SPI initiatives. We intend to discover if the barriers to SPI initiatives in a developed country are different to those in a developing country.MethodIn an empirical study, Vietnamese software practitioners’ experiences of SPI barriers are compared with barriers identified by Australian practitioners. Face-to-face questionnaire-based survey sessions with 23 Vietnamese SPI practitioners were conducted. Our survey included barriers to SPI improvement initiatives identified in previous research. We asked the participants to rank each SPI barrier on a three-point scale (high, medium, low) to determine the importance of each barrier. We then compare our results, with results (identified in previous work), from 34 Australian software development practitioners.ResultsWe identify (1) lack of project management, (2) lack of resources, (3) lack of sponsorship, (4) inexperienced staff/lack of knowledge, and (5) lack of SPI awareness as ‘high’ value SPI barriers in Vietnam. The results also reveal similarities and differences between the experiences of Australian and Vietnamese practitioners regarding the importance of the SPI barriers identified. While the Australian practitioners were also concerned with (1) lack of SPI awareness, they were even more concerned with (2) organisational politics, and (3) lack of support.ConclusionsPractitioners identify SPI barriers based on previous SPI implementation experience. Their role(s) in their different organisations have helped them to understand the importance of that barrier. Vietnamese software practitioners cited more SPI barriers than their counterparts in Australia. The Vietnamese SPI barriers relate to project management, resources, and sponsorship while the Australian barriers are concerned with organisational politics and lack of support.     

Constructing online switching barriers: examining the effects of switching costs and alternative attractiveness on e-store loyalty in online pure-play retailers

Developing switching barriers to retain customers has become a critical marketing strategy for online retailers. However, research on the role of switching barriers in e-retailing is still limited. Recent trends show that when competitors are just one click away, it is questionable if customer loyalty can be achieved at all in online environments. This leads to the research question on whether switching barriers have any impact on e-loyalty in pure-play retailers. The paper examines the influence of switching barriers on customer retention (i.e., e-store loyalty) and further investigates the moderating effects of switching costs and alternative attractiveness. Data were gathered via a survey of 590 shoppers of online pure-play retailers in the UK. Findings show that customer satisfaction and the two dimensions of switching barriers (perceived switching costs and perceived attractiveness of alternatives) significantly influence customer loyalty. Contrary to findings in earlier studies, it was found that switching costs did not moderate the relationships between satisfaction and loyalty nor between perceived attractiveness of alternatives and loyalty. The paper makes imperative recommendations to develop switching barriers and to foster loyalty along with suggestions for future research.     

A systematic literature review on the barriers faced by newcomers to open source software projects

ContextNumerous open source software projects are based on volunteers collaboration and require a continuous influx of newcomers for their continuity. Newcomers face barriers that can lead them to give up. These barriers hinder both developers willing to make a single contribution and those willing to become a project member.ObjectiveThis study aims to identify and classify the barriers that newcomers face when contributing to open source software projects.MethodWe conducted a systematic literature review of papers reporting empirical evidence regarding the barriers that newcomers face when contributing to open source software (OSS) projects. We retrieved 291 studies by querying 4 digital libraries. Twenty studies were identified as primary. We performed a backward snowballing approach, and searched for other papers published by the authors of the selected papers to identify potential studies. Then, we used a coding approach inspired by open coding and axial coding procedures from Grounded Theory to categorize the barriers reported by the selected studies.ResultsWe identified 20 studies providing empirical evidence of barriers faced by newcomers to OSS projects while making a contribution. From the analysis, we identified 15 different barriers, which we grouped into five categories: social interaction, newcomers’ previous knowledge, finding a way to start, documentation, and technical hurdles. We also classified the problems with regard to their origin: newcomers, community, or product.ConclusionThe results are useful to researchers and OSS practitioners willing to investigate or to implement tools to support newcomers. We mapped technical and non-technical barriers that hinder newcomers’ first contributions. The most evidenced barriers are related to socialization, appearing in 75% (15 out of 20) of the studies analyzed, with a high focus on interactions in mailing lists (receiving answers and socialization with other members). There is a lack of in-depth studies on technical issues, such as code issues. We also noticed that the majority of the studies relied on historical data gathered from software repositories and that there was a lack of experiments and qualitative studies in this area.     

Exploring barriers to knowledge flow at different knowledge management maturity stages

A significant amount of work has been done to better understand the barriers to knowledge flow and develop models of KM maturity; this was intended to help in assessing the progress of KM initiatives in the firm. However, to date there has been no comprehensive research that considers both these issues at the same time, and thus it is still necessary to explore the evolution of barriers to knowledge flow when the level of KM maturity is changing. We reviewed the progress of KM initiatives in recent years, categorized the barriers to knowledge flow according to the cultural historical activity theory (CHAT), and used one of the existing models of KM maturity (the Knowledge Navigator Model—KNM), to address gaps in the current literature. As part of our exploratory study, a longitudinal survey, involving constant observation, development and use of questionnaires and qualitative interviews with managers of seven firms were conducted. We selected the firms so they covered a wide range of KM maturity levels; triangulation was adopted to enhance the quality of the process. The major findings indicated that: (1) barriers to knowledge flow were inherently different at different KM maturity levels; and (2) various changes in the barriers to knowledge flow were associated with the maturity of the KM.     

Development of a method for evaluating accessibility of medical equipment for patients with disabilities

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to develop a method for evaluating accessibility of medical equipment for patients with disabilities.MethodsThe researchers reviewed videotapes of patient-participants with various physical and sensory disabilities using different types of medical equipment. For each of 11 videotapes, four observers independently identified and documented access and safety barriers, such as physical, sensory, cognitive, and environmental barriers. Inter-observer variability for identifying barrier presence was assessed with kappa statistics for pairs of observers.ResultsA list of 10 access and safety barriers was developed through an iterative consensus process, which identified design features of medical equipment that presented difficulties for participants with disabilities. The list is useful for identifying and categorizing accessibility problems found in equipment. While reliability of barrier identification was substantial or moderate for some barriers, reconciliation of barrier events identified by multiple video observers is recommended for optimal results.     

人体跨越障碍物的运动生成方法

给出了一种跨越二维障碍物地形的虚拟人体下肢运动的生成方法。首先生成足迹,然后以足迹作为条件,基于简化的腿部模型,分别用不同的方法生成各部分的运动：用曲线拟合脚踝运动轨迹;采用增加约束条件的几何运算生成膝关节运动;采用曲线插值及升阶的方法拟合成脚踝跨越障碍物的运动。介绍了部分实现与实验结果。实验表明,该方法计算量相对较小,有一定的逼真性,适用于二维障碍物地形环境中人体下肢运动的生成。     

A dielectrophoretic barrier-based microsystem for separation of microparticles

This paper presents a microfluidic system for separation of microparticles based on the use of dielectrophoretic barriers, which are constructed by aligning two layers of microelectrode structure face-to-face on the top and bottom sides of the microchannel. The energized barriers tend to prevent the particles in the flow from passing through. However, particles may penetrate the barriers if a sufficiently high flow rate is used. The flow velocity at which the particles begin to penetrate the barrier is defined as threshold velocity. Different particles are of different threshold velocities so that they can be separated. In this paper, the electrodes are configured with open ends and aligned with a certain angle to the direction of the flow. Polystyrene microbeads of different sizes (i.e., 9.6 and 16 μm in diameter) are studied in the tests. Under the experimental conditions, two particle trajectories are observed: the 9.6 μm beads penetrate the barriers and move straightly toward the fluidic outlet, while the 16 μm beads snake their way along the electrode edges at a relatively low speed. The two subpopulations of particles are separated into spatial distance of ∼10 mm within tens of seconds. The system presents a rapid and dynamic separation process within a continuous flow.     

An exploratory model of knowledge flow barriers within healthcare organizations

Healthcare today is mainly knowledge-based and the diffusion of medical knowledge is imperative for proper treatment of patients. Our study of the industry explored barriers to knowledge flow using a Cultural Historical Activity Theory framework. Our work was exploratory and qualitative in nature, and consisted of three phases: in-depth interviews to explore medical knowledge flow barriers resulting in a model; a case study using a survey approach to test and modify the model; and a Delphi study to validate the generalizability of the model.     

A Study of Online Portal Users’ Loyalty From Core Service,Additional Value-added Service and Switching Barriers Perspectives

This study proposes a research model elucidating the effects of core service satisfaction, additional value-added service satisfaction, and switching barriers as determinants of portal loyalty and tests the model using empirical data collected from game portal users. The results suggest that different service satisfaction and switching barriers are strong antecedents of p-loyalty; the moderating effect of switching barriers on the relationship between satisfactions and p-loyalty is contingent on the portal users’ usage patterns.     

To buy or not to buy experience goods online: Perspective of innovation adoption barriers

The purpose of this study attempts to understand why consumers rarely shop online. Innovation resistance theory is employed in this study. Results of the survey utilizing a questionnaire among the members of study case indicated that value and tradition are major barriers toward use intention. Significant differences in usage barrier and image barrier exist between different non-adopted groups. On average, rejecters group have the highest barriers, followed by opponents, and postponers. Finally, there exist significant differences in usage, value, tradition, and image barriers between adopters and non-adopters toward buying experience goods online. These findings provide a better understanding of consumer’s attitude toward buying experience goods online.     

Distributed hardwired barrier synchronization for scalablemultiprocessor clusters

Conventional multiprocessors mostly use centralized, memory-based barriers to synchronize concurrent processes created in multiple processors. These centralized barriers often become the bottleneck or hot spots in the shared memory. In this paper, we overcome the difficulty by presenting a distributed and hardwired barrier architecture, that is hierarchically constructed for fast synchronization in cluster-structured multiprocessors. The hierarchical architecture enables the scalability of cluster-structured multiprocessors. A special set of synchronization primitives is developed for explicit use of distributed barriers dynamically. To show the application of the hardwired barriers, we demonstrate how to synchronize Doall and Doacross loops using a limited number of hardwired barriers. Timing analysis shows an O(10²) to O(10⁵) reduction in synchronization overhead, compared with the use of software-controlled barriers implemented in a shared memory. The hardwired architecture is effective in implementing any partially ordered set of barriers or fuzzy barriers with extended synchronization regions. The versatility, scalability, programmability, and low overhead make the distributed barrier architecture attractive in constructing fine-grain, massively parallel MIMD systems using multiprocessor clusters with distributed shared memory     

Barriers to the adoption of ergonomic innovations to control musculoskeletal disorders and improve performance

Despite a growing number of published articles describing studies of ergonomic interventions, little is known about the barriers potential adopters face when deciding whether or not to adopt such innovations. To this end, the purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers identified by potential adopters of ergonomic innovations and compare barriers identified by individuals not interested in adopting to those identified by individuals planning to adopt. Eight hundred forty-eight fresh market vegetable farmers were mailed surveys measuring the adoption of and barriers to the adoption of several ergonomic innovations as part of a multi-year intervention study. Barriers such as cost, lack of information, never having seen the innovation used and not being able to try out the innovation were among the barriers identified. The barriers identified were moderated by whether or not the respondents were likely to adopt. Implications for diffusing ergonomic and safety innovations are discussed.     

Crossing safety barriers: influence of children's morphological and functional variables

Thirty-three children between 3 and 6 years of age were asked to climb four different types of safety barriers. Morphological and functional variables of the children, which were expected to influence climbing or passing through skills, were collected. The influence of those variables on children’s success rate and time to cross was tested. No barrier offered a total restraining efficacy. The horizontal bars barrier was crossed by 97% of the children. In the group of children that succeeded in crossing the four barriers, mean time to cross the most difficult barrier was 15 s. Age was the best predictor for success in crossing most barriers but morphology and strength were important predictors of time to cross. The influence of anthropometric variables in time to cross was dependent upon the characteristics of the barrier. A good design of safety barriers should consider children’s age, morphology and strength.     

The multi-facility location–allocation problem with polyhedral barriers

In this paper we consider the problem of locating N new facilities with respect to M existing facilities in the plane and in the presence of polyhedral barriers. We assume that a barrier is a region where neither facility location nor traveling is permitted. For the resulting multi-dimensional mixed-integer optimization problem two different alternate location and allocation procedures are developed. Numerical examples show the superiority of a joint treatment of all assignment variables, including those specifying the routes taken around the barrier polyhedra, over a separate iterative solution of the assignment problem and the single-facility location problems in the presence of barriers.     

Development of a method for evaluating accessibility of medical equipment for patients with disabilities

Objective

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for evaluating accessibility of medical equipment for patients with disabilities.

Methods

The researchers reviewed videotapes of patient-participants with various physical and sensory disabilities using different types of medical equipment. For each of 11 videotapes, four observers independently identified and documented access and safety barriers, such as physical, sensory, cognitive, and environmental barriers. Inter-observer variability for identifying barrier presence was assessed with kappa statistics for pairs of observers.

Results

A list of 10 access and safety barriers was developed through an iterative consensus process, which identified design features of medical equipment that presented difficulties for participants with disabilities. The list is useful for identifying and categorizing accessibility problems found in equipment. While reliability of barrier identification was substantial or moderate for some barriers, reconciliation of barrier events identified by multiple video observers is recommended for optimal results.     

Thresholds for soliton creation in the Ablowitz–Ladik lattice

Square barrier initial potentials for the Ablowitz–Ladik (AL) lattice are considered, both in the single component as well as in the vector (Manakov) case. We determine the threshold condition for creating solitons with such initial conditions in these integrable, discrete versions of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation for the case of one-, two-, three- and four-site barriers. We find that for square barriers in the scalar case, it is impossible to generate a soliton with a single-site excitation, while only one soliton can be produced from a two-site and three-site square barrier. Finally, in the four-site case, there appear to be two thresholds, one leading to a soliton and a second one to a breathing soliton. We illustrate the differences of the vector case from the scalar one for initial conditions with disjoint support between the components, and also discuss the case of non-square barriers. The analytical findings are corroborated by numerical simulations in all the presented cases.     

To use or not to use? Social media in higher education in developing countries

This research is a response to the universal use of social media by students for academic-related purposes. It bridges a gap in knowledge in relation to the value and use of social media as effective teaching and learning tool in higher education in developing countries. A pre-tested questionnaire survey was self-administered to faculty members in the eight public Egyptian higher institutions offering tourism and hotel management programs. The results showed that social media have a great value for academic-related purposes, particularly as teaching and learning tool; however, the actual use by faculty was at a minimal level. In-depth interviews were conducted to identify the perils, barriers and concerns for the minimal use. Several barriers were identified with some specific to developing countries' context. Nonetheless, there was consensus by faculty that if these barriers were overcome, social media could be developed as an innovative and effective tool for teaching and learning. Implications for researchers and policy makers are discussed.