460 research outputs found
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
Analysis of virtual communities supporting OSS projects using social network analysis
This paper analyses the behaviour of virtual communities for Open Source Software (OSS) projects. The
development of OSS projects relies on virtual communities, which are built on relationships among members,
being their final objective sharing knowledge and improving the underlying project. This study
addresses the interactive collaboration in these kinds of communities applying social network analysis
(SNA). In particular, SNA techniques will be used to identify those members playing a middle-man role
among other community members. Results will illustrate the importance of this role to achieve successful
virtual communitiesMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2007- 60128Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa P07-TIC-0262
Modelling mailing list behaviour in open source projects: the case of ARM embedded Linux
One of the benefits firms can derive from using Open Source Software (OSS) is
informal development collaboration, and the primary tool for collaboration and coordination
are group mailing lists. The purpose of the paper is modelling mailing lists behaviour in OSS
projects, using a set of descriptors that could inform about their quality and their evolution. As
a case study, a mailing list focused on ARM embedded Linux has been selected. Messages
posted to this list from 2001 to 2006 have been extracted, and factor analysis has been applied
to obtain the underlying patterns of behaviours. Theory about communities of practice has been
used to understand the meaning of the extracted patterns. Their time distribution is finally
described. The paper provides new insights into the behaviour of mailing list as a source of
support for OSS projects and highlights the importance of an involved core of individuals
inside the communityMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia DPI2007-60128Junta de Andalucía. Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa P07-TIC-0262
Analysis of activity in open-source communities using social network analysis techniques
The success of an open-source software project is closely linked to the successful organization
and development of the underlying virtual community. In particular, participation is the most
important mechanism by which the development of the project is supported. The main
objective of this paper is to analyse the online participation in virtual communities using
social network analysis techniques in order to obtain the main patterns of behaviour of users
within communities. Several open-source communities related to Linux ports to embedded
processors have been studied, obtaining a set of indicators by modelling them as a social
network. Exploratory factor analysis has been used to extract the main dimensions related to
the participation process. Participation inequality, hierarchy and the cohesion of the
community constitute the main dimensions characterizing the participation mechanism
within communities. Obtained results highlight the necessity of guiding the organization and
development of the community to achieve successful target softwareJunta de Andalucía. Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo P12-SEJ-32
Preparing the Ne(x)t Generation: Lessons learnt from Free / Libre Open Source Software Why free and open are pre-conditions and not options for higher
With reference to round table discussions on ‘preparing the new generation’ and ‘renewing knowledge creation’ this paper will illustrate why higher education (HE) needs to reposition itself to be prepared for the ne(x)t generation and which are the lessons to be learnt from well established virtual and informal open participatory learning ecosystems, in particular the Free / Libre Open and Source Software (FLOSS) communities.
As has become clear; FLOSS communities succeed in providing and distributing in a sustainable manner the knowledge necessary for the production of good quality software, thereby using a different development approach than proprietary software producers. One characteristic of FLOSS is that it is built by a community of volunteers and frequently backed by companies that generate their revenues by providing services related to FLOSS projects and the software.Peer Reviewe
A genetic search of patterns of behaviour in OSS communities
This paper proposes the identification of patterns of behaviour of open source software (OSS) communities
using factor analysis and their social network analysis (SNA) features. OSS communities can be
modelled as a social network in which nodes represent the community members and arcs represent
the social interactions among them, and factor analysis is able to provide the factors that explain the
latent patterns of behaviour. Due to the complexity of the problem and the high number of SNA features
that can be extracted, this paper proposes a genetic search of an optimum subset of indicators leading to a
group of latent patterns of behaviour maximizing the explained data variance and the interpretation of
factors. Obtained results illustrate the feasibility of the proposed framework to extract relevant information
from a large set of dat
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: [...
Integrating Data from Multiple Repositories to Analyze Patterns of Contribution in FOSS Projects
The majority of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) developers are mobile and often use different identities in the projects or communities they participate in. These characteristics not only poses challenges for researchers studying the presence (where) and contributions (how much) of developers across multiple repositories, but may also require special attention when formulating appropriate metrics or indicators for the certification of both the FOSS product and process. In this paper, we present a methodology to study the patterns of contribution of 502 developers in both SVN and mailing lists in 20 GNOME projects. Our findings shows that only a small percentage of developers are contributing to both repositories and this cohort are making more commits than they are posting messages to mailing lists. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the patterns of contribution in FOSS projects and on the quality of the final product are discussed
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