Understanding knowledge sharing activities in free/open source software projects: An empirical study

Free/Open Source Software (F/OSS) projects are people-oriented and knowledge intensive software development environments. Many researchers focused on mailing lists to study coding activities of software developers. How expert software developers interact with each other and with non-developers in the use of community products have received little attention. This paper discusses the altruistic sharing of knowledge between knowledge providers and knowledge seekers in the Developer and User mailing lists of the Debian project. We analyze the posting and replying activities of the participants by counting the number of email messages they posted to the lists and the number of replies they made to questions others posted. We found out that participants interact and share their knowledge a lot, their positing activity is fairly highly correlated with their replying activity, the characteristics of posting and replying activities are different for different kinds of lists, and the knowledge sharing activity of self-organizing Free/Open Source communities could best be explained in terms of what we called “Fractal Cubic Distribution” rather than the power-law distribution mostly reported in the literature. The paper also proposes what could be researched in knowledge sharing activities in F/OSS projects mailing list and for what purpose. The research findings add to our understanding of knowledge sharing activities in F/OSS projects.     

Competency rallying in electronic markets: implications for open source project success

This paper studies the success of Open Source Software (OSS) projects in attracting developer interest and achieving project efficiency. The focus of our study is on examining the relationship between the four sets of capabilities proposed in the Theory of Competency Rallying (TCR) and the success of OSS projects. The data collected from 607 OSS projects mainly confirm that the capabilities proposed in the TCR are necessary for the success of OSS projects. The results of this study show that in order to succeed, OSS projects should constantly identify their market??s quality and functionality needs. Ability of OSS project managers to know which developers possess certain skills required to meet a particular market need is also found to be critical. Another capability that is recognised to be crucial in predicting project success is the ability of OSS developers in effectively addressing market needs and continuously learning from such experiences. Finally, the ability of stakeholders involving in addressing a particular market need to efficiently collaborate and fulfil that specific market need is found to be another essential capability required for OSS projects to succeed. Implications of the results for practitioners and the research community are presented.     

Integrating Visual Analytics Support for Grounded Theory Practice in Qualitative Text Analysis

We present an argument for using visual analytics to aid Grounded Theory methodologies in qualitative data analysis. Grounded theory methods involve the inductive analysis of data to generate novel insights and theoretical constructs. Making sense of unstructured text data is uniquely suited for visual analytics. Using natural language processing techniques such as parts‐of‐speech tagging, retrieving information content, and topic modeling, different parts of the data can be structured and semantically associated, and interactively explored, thereby providing conceptual depth to the guided discovery process. We review grounded theory methods and identify processes that can be enhanced through visual analytic techniques. Next, we develop an interface for qualitative text analysis, and evaluate our design with qualitative research practitioners who analyze texts with and without visual analytics support. The results of our study suggest how visual analytics can be incorporated into qualitative data analysis tools, and the analytic and interpretive benefits that can result.     

An empirical analysis of open source software developers’ motivations and continuance intentions

We investigated open source software (OSS) developers’ intentions to continue their involvement in future projects. The research goal was to analyze the motivations of OSS developers systematically and identify those factors that influenced their continuation. A work motivation model for OSS developers was proposed and a research model was empirically validated using data from a field survey of 148 OSS participants. The results showed that OSS developers’ feelings of satisfaction and their intentions to continue with OSS development was influenced by both helping behavior and economic incentives and also that adequate motivators existed, though OSS developers did not benefit equally and there was substantial room to improve their experiences as OSS developers.     

Virtual organizational learning in open source software development projects

We studied virtual organizational learning in open source software (OSS) development projects. Specifically, our research focused on learning effects of OSS projects and the factors that affect the learning process. The number and percentage of resolved bugs and bug resolution time of 118 SourceForge.net OSS projects were used to measure the learning effects. Projects were characterized by project type, number and experience of developers, number of bugs, and bug resolution time. Our results provided evidence of virtual organizational learning in OSS development projects and support for several factors as determinants of performance. Team size was a significant predictor, with mid-sized project teams functioning best. Teams of three to seven developers exhibited the highest efficiency over time and teams of eight to 15 produced the lowest mean time for bug resolution. Increasing the percentage of bugs assigned to specific developers or boosting developer participation in other OSS projects also improved performance. Furthermore, project type introduced variability in project team performance.     

Quantifying the evolution of TTCN-3 as a language

Ten years of maintenance, nine published revisions of the standards for the Testing and Test Control Notation version 3 (TTCN-3), more than 500 change requests since 2006, and 10 years of activity on the official TTCN-3 mailing list add up to a rich history, not unlike that of many successful Open Source Software (OSS) projects. In this article, we contemplate TTCN-3 in the context of software evolution and examine its history quantitatively. We mined the changes in the textual content of the standards, the data in change requests from the past 5 years, and the mailing list archives from the past 10 years. In addition, to characterize the use of the TTCN-3 we investigated the meta-data of the contributions at the TTCN-3 User Conference, and the use of language constructs in a large-scale TTCN-3 test suite. Based on these data sets, we first analyze the amount, density, and location of changes within the different parts of the standard. Then, we analyze the activity and focus of the user community and the maintenance team in both the change request management system and the official TTCN-3 mailing list. Finally, we analyze the distribution of contributions at the TTCN-3 User Conference across different topics over the past 8 years and construct use anomalies during the development of a large-scale test suite. Our findings indicate that the TTCN-3 is becoming increasingly stable as the overall change density and intensity, as well as the number of change requests are decreasing, despite the monotonous increase in the size of the standards.     

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.     

Using grounded theory to study the experience of software development

Grounded Theory is a research method that generates theory from data and is useful for understanding how people resolve problems that are of concern to them. Although the method looks deceptively simple in concept, implementing Grounded Theory research can often be confusing in practice. Furthermore, despite many papers in the social science disciplines and nursing describing the use of Grounded Theory, there are very few examples and relevant guides for the software engineering researcher. This paper describes our experience using classical (i.e., Glaserian) Grounded Theory in a software engineering context and attempts to interpret the canons of classical Grounded Theory in a manner that is relevant to software engineers. We provide model to help the software engineering researchers interpret the often fuzzy definitions found in Grounded Theory texts and share our experience and lessons learned during our research. We summarize these lessons learned in a set of fifteen guidelines.     

From contexts to constructs: the use of grounded theory in operationalising contingent process models

In software and systems engineering, process models have been suggested that partly develop artifacts and then deploy them to evaluate the degree of their success in satisfying requirements, using the results of the evaluation to inform further engineering efforts. This paper discusses the important role of evaluation in non-sequential process models, and suggests an interpretive framework for effecting such evaluation, as well as the determination of risks and constraints to operationalise such models. We outline a particular mode of the Grounded Systems Engineering Methodology (GSEM) which aims at supporting the application of non-sequential process models, thus enabling them to be more responsive to the development context. GSEM utilises the philosophy and procedures of the Grounded Theory method, an interpretive research strategy which is being widely used for the inductive analysis of qualitative data in theory building. An illustrative case study is used to show how the framework can be applied in practice.     

An empirically-based characterization and quantification of information seeking through mailing lists during Open Source developers’ software evolution

ContextSeveral authors have proposed information seeking as an appropriate perspective for studying software evolution. Empirical evidence in this area suggests that substantial time delays can accrue, due to the unavailability of required information, particularly when this information must travel across geographically distributed sites.ObjectiveAs a first step in addressing the time delays that can occur in information seeking for distributed Open Source (OS) programmers during software evolution, this research characterizes the information seeking of OS developers through their mailing lists.MethodA longitudinal study that analyses 17 years of developer mailing list activity in total, over 6 different OS projects is performed, identifying the prevalent information types sought by developers, from a qualitative, grounded analysis of this data. Quantitative analysis of the number-of-responses and response time-lag is also performed.ResultsThe analysis shows that Open Source developers are particularly implementation centric and team focused in their use of mailing lists, mirroring similar findings that have been reported in the literature. However novel findings include the suggestion that OS developers often require support regarding the technology they use during development, that they refer to documentation fairly frequently and that they seek implementation-oriented specifics based on system design principles that they anticipate in advance. In addition, response analysis suggests a large variability in the response rates for different types of questions, and particularly that participants have difficulty ascertaining information on other developer’s activities.ConclusionThe findings provide insights for those interested in supporting the information needs of OS developer communities: They suggest that the tools and techniques developed in support of co-located developers should be largely mirrored for these communities: that they should be implementation centric, and directed at illustrating “how” the system achieves its functional goals and states. Likewise they should be directed at determining the reason for system bugs: a type of question frequently posed by OS developers but less frequently responded to.     

Open source software success: Measures and analysis

Despite a growing body of research on OSS production, much remains to be learned. One important issue concerns the measures of OSS project success and its determinants. In this paper, we empirically study the determinants of OSS success as measured by the number of subscribers and developers working on an OSS project. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our model forecasts these success measures more accurately as compared to a naive model.We find that OSS projects that develop software to work on Windows/UNIX/Linux operating systems, and developed using C or its derivative languages experience larger increase in subscribers and attract more developers than projects that do not have these characteristics. OSS projects with semi-restrictive licenses have fewer subscribers and attract fewer developers. Interestingly, OSS projects that accept financial donations and are targeted at IS/IT professionals have more subscribers than others, although these characteristics do not affect the developer base. The number of subscribers and developers increases with the age of the OSS project. Finally, the impact of developers on subscribers and subscribers on developers is positive and significant.     

Antecedents of open source software defects: A data mining approach to model formulation, validation and testing

This paper develops tests and validates a model for the antecedents of open source software (OSS) defects, using Data and Text Mining. The public archives of OSS projects are used to access historical data on over 5,000 active and mature OSS projects. Using domain knowledge and exploratory analysis, a wide range of variables is identified from the process, product, resource, and end-user characteristics of a project to ensure that the model is robust and considers all aspects of the system. Multiple Data Mining techniques are used to refine the model and data is enriched by the use of Text Mining for knowledge discovery from qualitative information. The study demonstrates the suitability of Data Mining and Text Mining for model building. Results indicate that project type, end-user activity, process quality, team size and project popularity have a significant impact on the defect density of operational OSS projects. Since many organizations, both for profit and not for profit, are beginning to use Open Source Software as an economic alternative to commercial software, these results can be used in the process of deciding what software can be reasonably maintained by an organization.     

Using mixed methods to discover emergent patterns of local eDemocracy

Research in an emergent field requires the researcher to consider appropriate methodologies. This paper describes research that attempts to discover how new technologies can influence local democratic engagement. It describes an interpretive research project informed by critical social theory that uses an explanatory mixed methods approach, combining two sequential data collection methods. The study incorporates a survey instrument and qualitative interviewing, analysed using Grounded Theory Methodology. The paper will describe the context for the research, the choice of a mixed methods approach and relate this to an epistemology and ontology. The paper does not discuss the research findings but focuses on the research process and methodology and provides reflection on the outcomes and the challenges of the chosen approach. It demonstrates that mixed methods research is appropriate in a narrow and emergent field of study and that it offers methodological flexibility whilst promoting rigour and grounded results.     

Understanding OSS development in communities: the perspectives of ideology and knowledge sharing

This study aims to understand why open source software (OSS) developers contribute and how their dispersed efforts are controlled to lead to viable outputs. Drawing on theories related to ideology and information sharing, a model is proposed and tested empirically. We found that OSS values are positively associated with collaborative elaboration and communication competence, which in turn affect the performance of OSS task in terms of task completion. Our results also delineate the relationship among OSS norms, collaborative elaboration and source credibility, and task completion. This research contributes to advancing theoretical understanding of OSS performance as well as providing OSS practitioners with guidelines on how OSS communities use OSS ideology to achieve better performance.     

The user–developer communication process: a critical case study

Abstract. Although user participation in systems development is widely believed to have positive impacts on user acceptance, it does not guarantee success and there is still much that we do not know about how and why user participation sometimes delivers positive benefits, but not always. Much of the prior research on user participation assumes that user–developer communication will ensure that the resulting system will be designed to meet users' needs and will be accepted by them. The nature and quality of the communication between users and developers, however, remains an understudied aspect of user participation. In this paper, we focus on the user–developer communication process. We propose a process model that delineates four stages of communication between users and software developers, and we argue that these stages must occur for user participation to lead to effective outcomes. To illustrate our model, we apply it to analyse a 'critical case study' of a software project that failed despite high levels of user involvement. We show that when 'communication lapses' occurred in several of the user–developer communication stages, developers failed to be informed regarding the underlying reasons that users avoided the system. Based on the insights from this case study, we advise researchers and practitioners how to leverage the potential benefits of user participation, rather than take them for granted.     

Users’ perception of open source usability: an empirical study

The number of open source software (OSS) users has increased in recent years. No longer are they limited to technically adept software developers. Many believe that the OSS market share could increase tremendously provided OSS had systems that were easier to use. Although examples of good usable open source software exist, it is agreed that OSS can be made more usable. This study presents an empirical investigation into the impact of some key factors on OSS usability from the end users’ point of view. The research model studies and establishes the relationship between the key usability factors from the users’ perspective and OSS usability. A data set of 102 OSS users from 13 open source projects of various sizes was used to study the research model. The results of this study provide empirical evidence by indicating that the highlighted key factors play a significant role in improving OSS usability.     

A social history of Bitnet and Listserv, 1985-1991

After the engineers had built computer networks, users had to build the social networks that made them useful. Listserv, the combined mailing list and file server, was an important tool for those interested in building network-based organizations. It first appeared on Bitnet, an academic network based on IBM computers. The early versions of Listserv became operational in the mid-1980s and its early archives show how network users learned to use the software and, perhaps more importantly, how to manage network-based organizations     

A Methodological Framework for Socio-Cognitive Analyses of Collaborative Design of Open Source Software

Open Source Software (OSS) development challenges traditional software engineering practices. In particular, OSS projects are managed by a large number of volunteers, working freely on the tasks they choose to undertake. OSS projects also rarely rely on explicit system-level design, or on project plans or schedules. Moreover, OSS developers work in arbitrary locations and collaborate almost exclusively over the Internet, using simple tools such as email and software code tracking databases (e.g. CVS).All the characteristics above make OSS development akin to weaving a tapestry of heterogeneous components. The OSS design process relies on various types of actors: people with prescribed roles, but also elements coming from a variety of information spaces (such as email and software code). The objective of our research is to understand the specific hybrid weaving accomplished by the actors of this distributed, collective design process. This, in turn, challenges traditional methodologies used to understand distributed software engineering: OSS development is simply too “fibrous” to lend itself well to analysis under a single methodological lens.In this paper, we describe the methodological framework we articulated to analyze collaborative design in the Open Source world. Our framework focuses on the links between the heterogeneous components of a project’s hybrid network. We combine ethnography, text mining, and socio-technical network analysis and visualization to understand OSS development in its totality. This way, we are able to simultaneously consider the social, technical, and cognitive aspects of OSS development. We describe our methodology in detail, and discuss its implications for future research on distributed collective practices.The order of the co-authors names is not significant.     

Socialization in an Open Source Software Community: A Socio-Technical Analysis

Open Source Software (OSS) development is often characterized as a fundamentally new way to develop software. Past analyses and discussions, however, have treated OSS projects and their organization mostly as a static phenomenon. Consequently, we do not know how these communities of software developers are sustained and reproduced over time through the progressive integration of new members. To shed light on this issue I report on my analyses of socialization in a particular OSS community. In particular, I document the relationships OSS newcomers develop over time with both the social and material aspects of a project. To do so, I combine two mutually informing activities: ethnography and the use of software specially designed to visualize and explore the interacting networks of human and material resources incorporated in the email and code databases of OSS. Socialization in this community is analyzed from two perspectives: as an individual learning process and as a political process. From these analyses it appears that successful participants progressively construct identities as software craftsmen, and that this process is punctuated by specific rites of passage. Successful participants also understand the political nature of software development and progressively enroll a network of human and material allies to support their efforts. I conclude by discussing how these results could inform the design of software to support socialization in OSS projects, as well as practical implications for the future of these projects.