Tapestries of Innovation: Structures of Contemporary Open Source Project Engagements

Since the origins of the free-software movement, open source projects have fostered an environment for innovative ideas that has transformed much of our understanding of technology in everyday life. In our quest to learn more about the structures of large-scale contemporary open source engagements, we examine three open source networks as part of an ongoing field study (Van Maanen, 2011). We explore the innovation networks described by Lyytinen, Yoo, & Boland (2016) and resolve whether any of the open source innovative networks that we have been studying can be classified as Project, Clan, Federated, or Anarchic networks. We examine two collaborative open source projects (SPDX and OpenMAMA) housed at the Linux Foundation, and determine that they correspond to the Federated and Project innovation networks respectively. Further, we determined that the Linux Foundation itself, as an organization that houses numerous open source projects, did not fit any of the four types of networks. We therefore propose and authenticate a fifth type of network that we characterize as a Tapestry innovation network, which can illuminate the Linux Foundation’s complexity of horizontal “weft threads” of participating organizations with the vertical, less visible “warp threads” of responsibilities and endeavors. Our study reveals important implications for research and practice by challenging the accepted view of open source projects, which still largely regards engagement around loosely structured groups of volunteers working on publicly available software. It also reveals that foundations are playing increasingly strategic roles in creating and stabilizing open source projects

Practical considerations for pathological diagnosis and molecular profiling of cholangiocarcinoma:an expert review for best practices

INTRODUCTION: Advances in precision medicine have expanded access to targeted therapies and demand for molecular profiling of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) patients in routine clinical practice. However, pathologists face challenges in establishing a definitive intrahepatic CCA (iCCA) diagnosis while preserving sufficient tissue for molecular profiling. Additionally, they frequently face challenges in optimal tissue handling to preserve nucleic acid integrity.AREAS COVERED: This article first identifies the challenges in establishing a definitive diagnosis of iCCA in a lesional liver biopsy while preserving sufficient tissue for molecular profiling. Then, the authors explore the clinical value of molecular profiling, the basic principles of single gene and next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, and the challenges in tissue sampling for genomic testing. They also propose an algorithm for best practice in tissue management for molecular profiling of CCA.EXPERT OPINION: Several practical challenges face pathologists during tissue sampling and processing for molecular profiling. Optimized tissue processing, careful tissue handling, and selection of appropriate approaches to molecular testing are essential to ensure that the highest possible quality of diagnostic information is provided in the greatest proportion of cases.</p

TUTORIAL: A Tutorial On Organizational Participation In Open Communities.

With the growing use of crowd-sourcing, the interaction between self-forming, open communities and traditional organizations is increasing in importance. Existing research has focused on factors affecting an individual\u27s level of participation in open sourced work and on the organization of open source efforts, but scant attention has been paid to the significant strategic organizational involvement in these endeavors (75% of Linux kernel contributions are from paid developers). As design and development evolves within open communities, there are an increasing number of ways that organizations may seek to balance ‘contributions to’ and ‘differentiation from’ an open community, for reasons of cost, resource management, and time to market. Open communities provide real options for organizations seeking to improve systems design, development, and support. This tutorial helps develop a solution to this practical problem in the creation of new pedagogical knowledge. Building on principles of public sharing, collaboration, and organizational learning, this tutorial focuses on why and how organizations participate with open communities. We explore how the open-source environment interacts and merges with traditional organizations. A two-by-two classification scheme is used to present the value chain of participation for organizations that differ in their degree of contributions to a common product and degree of downstream product differentiation. Per the tutorial, a pedagogical framework and curricular materials are presented to improve student understanding about open community participation

Organizational Participation in Open Communities: Conceptual Framing and Early Findings

As design and development evolves within open communities, new affordances present new possibilities andorganizations must balance ‘contributions to’ and ‘differentiation from’ the open community for reasons of cost, resourcemanagement, and time to market. Organizational participation in open communities is timely in light of recent analysesby the Linux Foundation indicating that 75% of kernel contributions are by paid developers. In this proposal, we build onprinciples of public sharing and collaboration using the Linux open-source community as our basis for understandingopen communities (Fitzgerald, 2006). The focus of this project is why organizations participate with open communitiesand how they participate with open communities. We apply action research as a methodological approach within which aqualitative field study will be conducted (Chiasson et al., 2009). Action research supports our dual goal of developing asolution to a practical problem which is of value to the people with whom we are working, while at the same timedeveloping theoretical knowledge of value to an academic community involved in research and pedagogy (Mathiassen etal., 2009). We found organizational participation to be primarily derived from the leveraged support, contribution to, anddifferentiation from open communities

The Third Design Space: A postcolonial perspective on corporate engagement with open source software communities

Corporations increasingly engage with open source software communities in the co‐creation of software. This collaboration between corporate professionals and open source software community members is strikingly different from the early days of software development where for‐profit firms attempted to dominate and control the industry while attempting to throttle the success of independent developers offering an alternative, open source option. While many metaphors like trading zones, common pool resources and ecosystems have helped understand the phenomenon, the metaphors do not portray what the industry was like before and after the transition. We adopt a postcolonial metaphor as an analytical lens to examine such collaboration based on qualitative data gathered over three years from executives, managers and developers within corporations that engage in open source software development. Drawing on these insights, we then theorize a “Third Design Space,” based on the concept of the third space proposed by Bhabha. This metaphor encourages the cultivation of a new design environment, creation of new design associations and circulation of shared design resources. Together these practices and behaviours make it possible to nurture innovative methods and new rituals for designing software with results and methods that represent a distinct departure from the competitive and proprietary past, even creating innovative artefacts that could not have been created without the Third Design Space

The Domestication of Open Source

Open source is becoming domesticated through the advancement of organizational practices, foundation sponsorships, and communal standards. Over the past ten years, organizational participation with open source has become a viable business proposition, opening new paths for service management, innovation discovery, and product development. Traditionally, engagement with open source has recognized how organizations leverage resources from an open source community into new practice. Such recognition assumes stabilizing efforts located within organizations to address open source community complexities. However, recent trends have led organizations to advance durability into open source communities in efforts to stabilize practices within communities themselves. In essence, domesticating open source. In this research-in-progress we provide a theoretical frame of risk, agency, and technology-in-practice to understand open source domestication and reveal it roots, trajectories, and evolutionary nature. This work has been funded through the National Science Foundation VOSS-IOS Grant

Irrigation Companies and the Great Salt Lake: Managing Water in Utah Amidst Climate Change

The Great Salt Lake, a key ecosystem and major component of Utah’s identity and economy, is threatened by rapidly declining water levels. This problem has caused widespread and ongoing concern from the public, and the Utah Legislature is faced with making water allocation and management decisions to adapt to the state’s growing population and changing environment. One important group in this discussion is irrigation companies. Here, we examine how irrigation companies receive and maintain water rights in Utah, their significant role in water management, and recent legislative efforts to incentivize efficient water use so more water reaches the Great Salt Lake. It is critical to understand the role of irrigation companies in water management as regional demands for water increase and supply decreases due to climate change

Pressbooks and Associated Technologies: Innovative Projects, Creating and Publishing Books by Libraries

This panel presentation shares innovative ways to engage patrons from a variety of library types and patrons including students, faculty, and teachers. In one case study, Winona State University has collaboratively published three books written by graduate students in Leadership Education. WSU used a variety of technologies, one of which is Pressbooks. Fortunately WSU has supported and has access to the subscription level Pressbooks through the statewide subscription available by Minnesota Libraries Publishing Project (MLPP) initiative. In addition to Pressbooks, Canva, Ingramspark, Adobe Creative Cloud, and bepress Digital Commons are all used in our process to create and publish print and ebooks written and edited by our graduate students. This process can be replicated in a variety of ways with alternative platforms

Risk Mitigation in Corporate Participation with Open Source Communities: Protection and Compliance in an Open Source Supply Chain

Open source communities exist in large part through increasing participation from for-profit corporations. The balance between the seemingly conflicting ideals of open source communities and corporations creates a number of complex challenges for both. In this paper, we focus on corporate risk mitigation and the mandates on corporate participation in open source communities in light of open source license requirements. In response to these challenges, we aim to understand risk mitigation options within the dialectic of corporate participation with open source communities. Rather than emphasizing risk mitigation as ad hoc and emergent process focused on bottom lines and shareholder interests, our interest is in formalized instruments and project management processes that can help corporations mitigate risks associated with participation in open source communities through shared IT projects. Accordingly, we identify two key risk domains that corporations must be attendant to: property protection and compliance. In addition, we discuss risk mitigation sourcing, arguing that tools and processes for mitigating open source project risk do not stem solely from a corporation or solely from an open source community. Instead they originate from the interface between the two and can be paired in a complementary fashion in an overall project management process of risk mitigation. This work has been funded through the National Science Foundation VOSS-IOS Grant: 112264

Biogeographic characterization of essential fish habitats affected by human activities in the coastal zone of Puerto Rico

The overall purpose of this project was to collect available information on the characteristics of essential fish habitats in protected and non-protected marine areas around the islands of Puerto Rico. Specifically, this project compiled historical information on benthic habitats and the status of marine resources into a Geographic Information System (GIS) by digitizing paper copies of existing marine geologic maps that were developed for the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (CFMC) for areas around the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In addition, information on benthic habitat types, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) requirements, and fishing and non-fishing impacts to marine resources were compiled for two priority areas: La Parguera and Vieques. The information obtained will help to characterize and select habitats for future monitoring of impacts of fishing and non-fishing activities and to develop management recommendations for conservation of important marine habitats. The project focused specifically on areas identified as priorities for conservation by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER) and the Local Action Strategy Overfishing Group