Regression Analysis of Open Source Project Impact: Relationships with Activity and Rewards

Engagement with open source projects is becoming an increasingly important part of how people work. In this regard, there is a growing interest in how we can better understand the dynamics within an open source project related to project activity, project contributor rewards, and project impact. In this paper, we summarize our work of exploring the relationships between these items

Open Innovation via Open Source: Collaboration of Companies to Infuse Automobiles with Digital Technologies

Open innovation is a process through which companies open their borders and collaborate with external stakeholders like open source communities to bring new ideas and develop novel digital technologies to gain a competitive position. In this paper, we studied an open source project, i.e., Automotive Grade Linux (AGL) – a Linux Foundation project started by automobile manufacturers and technology companies to innovate technologies for automobiles. By analyzing the code contribution of AGL, we show that much of the code contribution is made by external companies supplying technology to automotive companies and later using the open innovation process to benefit from it. We find evidence that automobile manufacturers engage in open source communities for outside-in, inside-out, and coupled open innovation. As such, this paper shows to managers in larger companies the importance of open source as a way to do open innovation

“Something to talk about” Exploring open source design spaces

Open source projects are dynamic environments where individuals and organizations collaborate to accomplish mutually beneficial design tasks. Open source designers utilize different design spaces, including discussion spaces (where conversation happens) and implementation spaces (where work happens) to complete design tasks. To investigate the relationship between discussion spaces, implementation spaces, and the completion of design tasks in open source projects, this research explores design as it occurs in organizational-communal open source projects under the umbrella of the Linux Foundation and focuses on design processes of three projects – Kubernetes, GRPC, and Zephyr. Design tasks - that include discussion spaces linked to implementation spaces - are successfully completed at a higher rate, than those with no link. This research demonstrates that the discussion space - implementation space relationship plays a key role in open source design processes

Phish Finders: Improving Cybersecurity Training Tools Using Citizen Science

Malicious web content includes phishing emails, social media posts, and websites that imitate legitimate sites. Phishing attacks are rising, and human-centered phishing risk mitigation is often an afterthought eclipsed by technical system-centric efforts like firewalls. Training tools can be deployed for combating phishing but often lack sufficient labeled training content. Using signal detection theory, this paper assesses the feasibility of using citizen science and crowdsourcing volunteers to label images for use in cybersecurity training tools. Crowd volunteer performance was compared to gold standard content and prior studies of Fortune 500 company employees. Findings show no significant statistical differences between crowd volunteers and corporate employees\u27 performance on gold standard content in identifying phishing. Based on these findings, citizen scientists can be valuable for generating annotated images for cybersecurity training tools

Effect of dizocilpine (MK-801) on the working memory of rats on a three-panel runway apparatus

Background: Understanding the processes underlying cognitive functions is a prerequisite to develop strategies for the treatment of cognitive deficits. There is a great need for valid animal models for investigating the cognitive enhancing effects of potential therapeutics. Many studies have investigated animal models of cognitive deficits by using animals treated with compounds that compromise cognitive abilities. Glutamate, an excitatory neurotransmitter and abundantly distributed in the central nervous system is involved in memory processes through N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. The behavioural consequences of blocking the NMDA receptor provide the rationale for cognitive impairment as an animal model for the cognitive deficits associated with dementia. Authors investigated the effect of dizocilpine (MK-801), an NMDA-receptor antagonist (non-competitive) on the working memory in rats using the three-panel runway apparatus.Methods: Total 24 trained male albino rats were randomly divided into 4 groups of 6 animals each. Varying doses of MK-801 were administered to the animals. Working memory errors and latency periods were evaluated on the three panel Runway apparatus.Results: Treatment with MK-801 at the dose of 0.03mg/ kg did not result in any significant change in working memory errors or latency period in comparison to saline control. MK-801 treatment at dose of 0.1mg/kg and 0.3mg/kg resulted in a significant increase in the number of working memory errors and latency period as compared to control.Conclusions: Authors conclude that MK-801 treatment in the dose of 0.1mg/ kg and 0.3mg/kg resulted in working memory deficits on the three-panel runway apparatus. Rats with cognitive deficits induced by the prototypical N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist MK-801 may provide a relevant animal model of dementia based on the mechanistic approach of blocking NMDA/glutamatergic signalling

OPEN COMMUNITY HEALTH: WORKSHOP REPORT

This report summarizes key outcomes from a workshop on open community health conducted at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in April 2018. Workshop members represented research and practice communities across Citizen Science, Open Source, and Wikipedia. The outcomes from the workshop include (1) comparisons among these communities, (2) how a shared understanding and assessment of open community health can be developed, and (3) a taxonomical comparison to begin a conversation between these communities that have developed disparate languages

Business Value Creation Through Open Source Engagement

In open source software development, individuals voluntarily contribute to the development of software. Recently, corporations like Microsoft, IBM, and others invest in open source by making their proprietary software freely available, by providing funding, and by dedicating their full-time employees to work in open source projects. This raises questions such as: Why do corporations dedicate money and resources to open source? What do they gain from it? How does this add value for their business? In sum, how do they make money engaging in open source? Literature provides various business models that companies adopted for their engagement in open source, for example, by focusing on one either hardware or software and let the complement be developed by open source projects, or by selling value-added services for open source software. To understand this value proposition of corporate engagement in open source, I will design a survey for firms already engaged in open source to get insights into how their engagement in open source adds value to their business. This study explores how companies do internal planning and budgeting to invest in open source, what factors they consider when they allocate their resource to open source, how they decide to invest in open source, and how they measure the return on their investment in open source? With this understanding, an existing business can realign their strategic business model for engaging in open source

Measuring the Impact of Open-Source Projects

Foundations and communities for open-source projects often want to determine the impact of their software projects. This impact can be understood in a variety of ways, and this research explores this subject by examining the interdependencies between an open-source project and other projects. In this context, the open-source project is dependent on components created upstream by the other projects. Conversely, software is used downstream by other projects. This thesis proposes an index called the V-index, through which impact of an open-source project, as used in downstream projects, can be measured. The V-index is developed using the open database libraires.io, which provides the requisite dependencies and, thus, a determination of the impact of open-source projects. Further, to explore how the V-index can be understood, project-specific open-source health metrics are identified as potentially easier targets for change than is project impact. A correlation matrix is formed among the identified metrics and the V-index is calculated to determine the corresponding relationships among them. Finally, the conclusions and implications of this research are drawn

Where companies draw the line: Understanding the corporate boundaries in the collaborative creation of a digital artifact - The Case Study of Automotive Grade Linux

Open source software is a digital artifact that individuals and corporations collaboratively develop. Open source started as a way for individual developers to solve personal problems by building and fixing software that they used. As open source has matured, corporations have become participants, and through this participation, open source has evolved into a more organized, corporate-driven activity where individuals, as well as corporations, contribute to large, critically important projects such as the Linux kernel. Corporations have even started forming open source communities. These corporate open source communities develop software that every member corporation can use, modify, enhance, and monetize. In creating open source software, tensions arise for corporations on deciding what features to contribute to open source that everyone can use and what features to keep proprietary to remain competitive. This research aims to explore how corporations manage boundaries in their engagement with open source communities to decide when to collaborate and when to compete. This research will use boundary theory to study Automotive Grade Linux, an open source project of Linux Foundation started by automobile manufacturers and other related corporations who collaboratively develop the Automotive Grade Linux Operating System. As open source software has become a de facto part of corporate software development, knowing how corporations participate with each other in these open communities is vital to know where the future of software development work is headed