A DELPHI STUDY OF OBSOLETE ASSUMPTIONS IN FREE/LIBRE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE

Free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) has evolved significantly over the past 20 years and estimates suggest that it accounts for 80-90% of any given piece of modern software. A consequence of this evolution is that many of the assumptions made by FLOSS researchers may be obsolete. This would have major negative implications for research validity and hampers theory generation on FLOSS. This study sought to identify significant obsolete assumptions that persist in FLOSS research. Using Delphi research design with a panel of 20 expert researchers, 21 obsolete assumptions about FLOSS were identified and ranked. We performed a thematic analysis and grouped these obsolete assumptions into six themes: Sampling, Project/Community, Product, Contributor, Evaluation, and Development Process. The Sampling theme was ranked as having the most significant obsolete assumptions although only two assumptions were associated with this theme. The Project/Community theme contained six obsolete assumptions – the most of any theme

Information Systems Development as a Social Process: A Structurational Model

Prior research has shown that social interactions are important in order to understand the phenomena involved in information systems development. However, most traditional research largely ignores these issues. DeSanctis and Poole (1994) made an important contribution to the study of social dynamics in information systems research with their Adaptive Structuration Theory (AST). Although the concepts have found broad acceptance for the study of information technology (IT) uses and effects, AST has not been widely used for studying the process of designing IT artifacts and developing information systems. In this paper we transfer AST to studying information systems development as a social process. We build on Markus and Silver\u27s (2008) redefinition of AST’s core concepts ‘structural features’ and ‘spirit’ as technical objects, functional affordances, and symbolic expressions, and we extend them with relational concepts for agents and activities that we derive from social construction of technology (SCOT) studies. The result is an AST-based model that describes the information systems development process. We illustrate and discuss how researchers might use these concepts to generate hypotheses in studies of information systems development processes

La santé des écosystèmes logiciels à code source ouvert : une revue de littérature systématique

Un logiciel à code source ouvert (LCSO) ou Open Source Software est un logiciel dont le code source est accessible et modifiable par quiconque, et dont la licence assure que ce code demeure dans le domaine public. Le développement des LCSO a connu une montée fulgurante au cours des deux dernières décennies. Étant considérés comme un élément clé de l’écosystème logiciel à code source ouvert (ECLSO), les projets de LCSO abondent et deviennent de plus en plus essentiels et indispensables pour les systèmes utilisés par plusieurs organisations à l’échelle mondiale. L’évolution rapide de la recherche sur les ECLSO a permis de nombreuses contributions significatives. Cependant, cette croissance suscite des interrogations et interpelle la communauté des chercheurs et praticiens en ce qui concerne la santé de ces ECLSO. Qu’adviendrait-il s’ils se dégradaient ou cessaient d'exister ? Dans le but de mieux comprendre comment ce domaine a été abordé dans littérature, nous avons effectué une revue de littérature systématique descriptive afin d’avoir un aperçu des études qui ont été faites dans ce domaine. Au total, 98 articles ont été retenus dans notre échantillon et les résultats de notre analyse de ces articles montrent que la recherche dans ce domaine est encore immature. Il n’existe pas encore de consensus quant à la définition de la santé, ni à celle de l’écosystème logiciel, ni d’outils adéquats pour appuyer l’évaluation de la santé des ELCSO. Notre étude a révélé qu’aucun auteur n’a réellement défini ce que c’est que la « santé d’un ELCSO ». Néanmoins, certains aspects de la santé ont été étudiés pour divers composants d’un ELCSO. Notre revue de littérature permet de souligner que le domaine offre de réelles opportunités pour des recherches futures.Open Source Software (OSS) is software whose source code is accessible and modifiable by anyone, and whose license ensures that this code remains in the public domain. The development of OSSs has skyrocketed over the past two decades. As a key component of the Open Source Software (OSS) ecosystem, OSS projects abound and become increasingly essential and indispensable for various systems used most organizations worldwide. The rapid evolution of OSS ecosystem research has resulted in many significant contributions. However, this growth raises questions and challenges the community of researchers and practitioners as far as health of these OSS ecosystem is concerned. What would happen if they deteriorated or ceased to exist? To better understand how researchers addressed this area, we conducted a descriptive systematic literature review to gain insight into the studies that have been done in this area. In total, 98 articles were selected in our sample and the results of our analysis of these articles show that research in this area is still immature. There is still no consensus on the definition of health, the software ecosystem, nor adequate tools to support the health assessment of the ELCSO. Our study revealed that no author has really defined the "health of an OSS ecosystem". Although some aspects of health have been studied for various components of an OSS ecosystem, our literature review highlights that the field offers real opportunities for future research

Exploring distributed collaboration and the potential of blockchain as an enabling technology

Since the emergence of the internet, the growth and development of communication technologies have presented new opportunities for collaboration. Practitioners in almost every industry can now collaborate with the skilled personnel across a range of fields, regardless of their geographic location. This contemporary working arrangement is referred to as Distributed Collaboration, which I define as the pursuit of a shared objective by groups that include non-proximate members, whose participation is facilitated by ICT. However, Distributed Collaboration is not without drawbacks. The dispersed and volatile nature of numerous participants makes these groups vulnerable to many challenges, primarily, free-riding, production blocking, evaluation apprehension, and perceptions of fairness. Meanwhile, Blockchain technology has emerged over the last decade, initially to facilitate the cryptocurrency market. However, research interest has recently focused on its potential to support non-financial use-cases such as the ability to track assets, both digital and physical, in a secure, transparent, and immutable manner. These technological capabilities of Blockchain would suggest it has the potential to support Distributed Collaboration by tracking individual contributions across a distributed ledger. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to explore Distributed Collaboration and the potential of Blockchain as an enabling technology. This research was initiated by examining the potential of Blockchain to enable Distributed Collaboration from a macro-level perspective through the lens of the cryptocurrency market. The market can be considered a network of distributed participants, communicating to evaluate Blockchain as a technology. The findings show that in the absence of established factors and methods to evaluate cryptocurrencies, market participants rely on social cues to evaluate the assets. Next, I conducted a first iteration of Design Science Research (DSR) by exploring the potential for Blockchain to address the issue of free-riding in cross-functional groups. This endeavour found that there was potential. However, a more comprehensive understanding of the components of this research was required in order to extract theoretical and practical contributions. Therefore, a systematic literature review was performed to synthesise a comprehensive definition of Distributed Collaboration, as well as developing an understanding of the factors which lead to the success of these groups. Following this, qualitative interview data were gathered and analysed from practitioners operating in Distributed Collaboration to develop an understanding of the challenges faced when operating in this environment and the necessary components for a potential system to alleviate these issues. Finally, I completed a second iteration of DSR to rigorously investigate the potential of Blockchain to support Distributed Collaboration. A Blockchain-enabled system was developed, implementing the design construct of Creative Ancestry to improve perceptions of fairness in Distributed Collaboration. Findings show that Blockchain increases perceptions of fairness and thus improves overall collaboration. My research has implications for theory, practice, and future research. I provide a core model for successful Distributed Collaboration and detail how to implement a Blockchain-enabled system that addresses key issues. I also illustrate the presence of herding behaviour in the cryptocurrency market and how market participants are prone to amplified reactions to changes in the price of assets. These findings and their implications are discussed at length in the final chapter