Analysis of the core team role in open source communities

Open source software represents a new paradigm of software development based on a subjacent community. It is widely accepted in the literature the layered structure of open source communities, being the core group the most active contributors usually located at the center of the community. The tasks of this group include not only an intense activity in terms of contributions but also to promote participation among the rest of the community members. In this paper, the general role of this group is analyzed by modeling communities as Social Networks and applying Social Network Analysis techniques. Findings related their brokerage activity with open source software succes

Could you define that in bot terms?:Requesting, creating and using bots on Reddit

Bots are estimated to account for well over half of all web traffic, yet they remain an understudied topic in HCI. In this paper we present the findings of an analysis of 2284 submissions across three discussion groups dedicated to the request, creation and discussion of bots on Reddit. We set out to examine the qualities and functionalities of bots and the practical and social challenges surrounding their creation and use. Our findings highlight the prevalence of misunderstandings around the capabilities of bots, misalignments in discourse between novices who request and more expert members who create them, and the prevalence of requests that are deemed to be inappropriate for the Reddit community. In discussing our findings, we suggest future directions for the design and development of tools that support more carefully guided and reflective approaches to bot development for novices, and tools to support exploring the consequences of contextually-inappropriate bot ideas

“Could You Define That in Bot Terms?” : Requesting, Creating and Using Bots on Reddit

Bots are estimated to account for well over half of all web traffic, yet they remain an understudied topic in HCI. In this paper we present the findings of an analysis of 2284 submissions across three discussion groups dedicated to the request, creation and discussion of bots on Reddit. We set out to examine the qualities and functionalities of bots and the practical and social challenges surrounding their creation and use. Our findings highlight the prevalence of misunderstandings around the capabilities of bots, misalignments in discourse between novices who request and more expert members who create them, and the prevalence of requests that are deemed to be inappropriate for the Reddit community. In discussing our findings, we suggest future directions for the design and development of tools that support more carefully guided and reflective approaches to bot development for novices, and tools to support exploring the consequences of contextuallyinappropriate bot ideas

A Case Study on Software Vulnerability Coordination

Context: Coordination is a fundamental tenet of software engineering. Coordination is required also for identifying discovered and disclosed software vulnerabilities with Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs). Motivated by recent practical challenges, this paper examines the coordination of CVEs for open source projects through a public mailing list. Objective: The paper observes the historical time delays between the assignment of CVEs on a mailing list and the later appearance of these in the National Vulnerability Database (NVD). Drawing from research on software engineering coordination, software vulnerabilities, and bug tracking, the delays are modeled through three dimensions: social networks and communication practices, tracking infrastructures, and the technical characteristics of the CVEs coordinated. Method: Given a period between 2008 and 2016, a sample of over five thousand CVEs is used to model the delays with nearly fifty explanatory metrics. Regression analysis is used for the modeling. Results: The results show that the CVE coordination delays are affected by different abstractions for noise and prerequisite constraints. These abstractions convey effects from the social network and infrastructure dimensions. Particularly strong effect sizes are observed for annual and monthly control metrics, a control metric for weekends, the degrees of the nodes in the CVE coordination networks, and the number of references given in NVD for the CVEs archived. Smaller but visible effects are present for metrics measuring the entropy of the emails exchanged, traces to bug tracking systems, and other related aspects. The empirical signals are weaker for the technical characteristics. Conclusion: [...

Current trends in free software research

This report analyzes how scientific research is studying free software. We find which research is being done on free software by looking into scientific journals and conferences publications. The data thus obtained is analized and the most salient trends related to free software discovered. We also reviewed the main works published in each free software research area.Postprint (published version

Not Just for Support: Companionship Activities in Healthcare Virtual Support Communities

The phenomenon of social support―aid and assistance exchanged through social relationships and interpersonal transactions―has been studied extensively for decades. In the context of healthcare virtual support communities, researchers have focused on exploring community members’ support behavior and its effects on individuals’ health outcomes. This emphasis, however, has led to the neglect of another type of social interaction that also promotes individual health―companionship activities. We argue that in order to gain a deeper insight into the online support phenomenon, the consideration of companionship activities, in addition to social support exchange, is necessary. To bridge this gap in the literature, this article attempts to contrast community members’ support behavior and companionship activities in two large healthcare virtual support communities―one for patients with breast cancer and the other for patients with prostate cancer. Based on the identification of the two types of social activities from the two cancer support communities, the relationship between individuals’ participation in these activities, and gender differences in their activity engagement are also hypothesized and tested. Our goal is to advance the understanding of online socio-behavioral dynamics of virtual support communities. We also wish to provide insights into the design of such communities and the delivery of patient-focused healthcare interventions

The periphery on stage: The intra-organizational dynamics in online communities of creation

This paper theorizes the intra-organizational dynamics of online communities of creation such as Free and Open Source software projects. It describes the role of the participants at the peripheries of these online communities and analyze how the division of labor among peripheral and core members is handled. The paper further demonstrates that this mode of labor division is possible only if the periphery is able to acquire and absorb the standards associated with the developers' activities, described here as a social practice. We describe how the propagation of such standards takes place through non-material artifacts such as code and virtual discussions. We show that because of the capacity of these artifacts to effectively disseminate the standards of a social practice, such standards can be transferred not only face to face, but also asynchronously, asymmetrically and openly