[Air-l] 10 new papers + 1 updated paper on opensource.mit.edu

[Karim R. Lakhani]

Hello Friends,

School is back in session!  Happy to report another update to our community website.  We have 10 new papers and one updated paper.  Many thanks to all the contributors. Please provide feedback to the authors directly.

Thanks!

Karim R. Lakhani
MIT Sloan | The Boston Consulting Group
Mobile: +1 (617) 851-1224
http://spoudaiospaizen.net
http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www | http://opensource.mit.edu

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Paper 1
Author:
Chiao, Benjamin Hak-Fung

Title:
An Experimental Study of Open Innovation using MASTERMIND
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/chiao2.pdf

Abstract
This paper presents the first experimental results on open innovation, which is defined to be a method to solve problems with other people by revealing some or the complete history of algorithm already used. An important example is open source. Our data from human subjects show that non-modular payoff structure drives the convergence to a Nash equilibrium, in which commission price to helpers converge to zero but helpers will not stop solving problems for others. By non-modularity, we mean that the total production (or payoff) of a team is zero if either one of its members fails to produce at least at a certain level. In the experiment, subjects produce by solving a variant of a popular board game called MASTERMIND. Theoretically, free-riding leads to zero commission price. This removes a signaling function of price for the difficulty levels of work remaining. Empirically, however, it is not sufficient to cause the catastrophic outcome of zero payoff. This provides a basis f

or us to hypothesize that open innovation is a key explanation because it allows subjects to directly observe the history of work already done and potentially direct more resources to the more difficult tasks

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Paper 2
Authors:
Gruber, Marc & Joachim Henkel
    
Title:
New ventures based on open innovation - an empirical analysis of start-up firms in embedded Linux
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/gruberhenkel.pdf

Abstract:
An important and intriguing aspect of e-entrepreneurship is the formation of new ventures in the domain of open source software (OSS). Previous research on these ventures has primarily looked at the design of business models, yet has neglected other key questions relating to the management of these firms, despite clear indications that some existing insights on venture management cannot be applied to new ventures in OSS. The purpose of this paper is to explore how three key challenges of venture management - the liabilities of newness and smallness of start-ups and market entry barriers - affect new ventures in OSS. Based on empirical data from personal interviews and a large scale survey we find that many of the liabilities that are typically discussed in the entrepreneurship literature are much less of a challenge for new ventures in OSS. Our findings have interesting implications for the emerging theory on e-entrepreneurship, and for entrepreneurs considering to exploit b

usiness opportunities in OSS, and more generally business opportunities based on open innovations.

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Paper 3
Authors
Spinellis, Diomidis & Clemens Szyperski   

Title:
How is Open Source affecting software development?
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/spinellisszyperski.pdf

Abstract:
Paper describes impact of using open source software in general development environments. (From the intro):" The dynamism of open source software development efforts, numerous high-profile success stories, and the novel economic, business, and legal aspects of open source software adoption are justifiably creating a stir in the development community. We software practitioners increasingly face the possibility of using or basing our work on open source components, libraries, frameworks, systems, platforms, and development environments."

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Paper 4
Author:
Stenborg, Markku
Title:
Waiting for F/OSS: Coordinating the Production of Free/Open Source Software
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/stenborg.pdf

Abstract:
Trade-off between producing F/OSS module and free-riding is analyzed as game of war of attrition, in which modules developed and potential are heterogeneous. It may be optimal to produce "high-profile" module that creates reputation and signals programming ability. It may be optimal to volunteer strategically for "low-profile" module even if high-profile module is available to speed up development process and reduce costs of waiting. Even if waiting brings opportunity to free ride, there may be rush to develop high-profile module at the opportunity. Model provides explanation for how large-scale F/OSS projects can be coordinated without markets and prices nor hierarchies such as firms.
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Paper 5
Authors:
Viegas, Fernanda, Martin Wattenberg & Kushal Dave
Title:
Studying Cooperation and Conflict between Authors with history flow Visualizations
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/viegaswattenbergdave.pdf

Abstract:   
The Internet has fostered an unconventional and powerful style of collaboration: wiki web sites, where every visitor has the power to become an editor. In this paper we investigate the dynamics of Wikipedia, a prominent, thriving wiki. We make three contributions. First, we introduce a new exploratory data analysis tool, the history flow visualization, which is effective in revealing patterns within the wiki context and which we believe will be useful in other collaborative situations as well. Second, we discuss several collaboration patterns highlighted by this visualization tool and corroborate them with statistical analysis. Third, we discuss the implications of these patterns for the design and governance of online collaborative social spaces. We focus on the relevance of authorship, the value of community surveillance in ameliorating antisocial behavior, and how authors with competing perspectives negotiate their differences. content of the page.
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Paper 6
Authors: Jesús M. González-Barahona, Luis López and Gregorio Robles
Title: Community structure of modules in the Apache project
httP://opensource.mit.ed/papers/barahona-apache_structure.pdf

Abstract:
The relationships among modules in a software project of a certain size
can give us much information about its internal organization and a way
to control and monitor development activities and evolution of large
libre software projects. In this paper, we show how information
available in CVS repositories can be used to study the structure of the
modules in a project when they are related by the people working in
them, and how techniques taken from the social networks fields can be
used to highlight the characteristics of that structure. As a case
example, we also show some results of applying this methodology to the
Apache project in several points in time. Among other facts, it is shown
how the project evolves and is self-structuring, with developer
communities of modules corresponding to semantically related families of
modules.

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Paper 7
Authors: Luis López, Jesús M. González-Barahona and Gregorio Robles

Title: Applying Social Network Analysis to the Information in CVS
Repositories
httP://opensource.mit.ed/papers/llopez-sna-short.pdf

Abstract:
The huge quantities of data available in the CVS repositories of
large, long-lived libre (free, open source) software projects, and the
many interrelationships among those data offer opportunities for
extracting large amounts of valuable information about their  structure, evolution and internal processes. Unfortunately, the sheer
volume of that information renders it almost unusable without applying
methodologies which highlight the relevant information for a given
aspect of the project. In this paper, we propose the use of a well known
set of methodologies (social network analysis) for characterizing libre
software projects, their evolution over time and their internal
structure. In addition, we show how we have applied such methodologies
to real cases, and extract some preliminary conclusions from that
experience.

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Paper 8
Authors: Gregorio Robles and Jesús M. González-Barahona

Title: Executable source code and non-executable source code:
analysis and relationships
httP://opensource.mit.ed/papers/robles-barahona_source_code.pdf

Abstract:
The concept of source code, understood as the source components used to
obtain a binary, ready to execute version of a program, comprises
currently more than source code written in a programming language.
Specially when we move apart from systems-programming and enter the
realm of end-user applications, we find source files with documentation,
interface specifications, internationalization and localization modules,
multimedia files, etc. All of them are source code in the sense that the
developer works directly with them, and the application is built
automatically using them as input.

This paper discusses the relationship between 'classical' source code
(usually written in a programming language) and these other files by
analyzing a publicly-available software versioning repository. Aspects
that have been studied include the nature of the software repository,
the different mixtures of source code found in several software projects
stored in it, the specialization of developers to the different tasks,
etc.

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Paper 9
Authors: Gregorio Robles, Stefan Koch, Jesús M. González-Barahona
Title: Remote analysis and measurement of libre software systems by
means of the CVSAnalY tool
httP://opensource.mit.ed/papers/robles-koch-barahona_cvsanaly.pdf

Abstract:
Libre (free, open source) software is one of the paradigmatic cases
where heavy use of telematic tools and user-driven software development
are key points. This paper proposes a methodology for measuring and
analyzing remotely big libre software projects using publicly-available
data from their version control repositories. By means of a tool called
CVSAnalY that has been implemented following this methodology,
measurements and analyses can be made in an automatic and non-intrusive
way, providing real-time and historical data about the project and its
contributors.

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Paper 10
Authors: Gregorio Robles, Jesús M. González-Barahona and Rishab A. Ghosh

Title: GlueTheos: Automating the Retrieval and Analysis of Data from
Publicly Available Software Repositories
httP://opensource.mit.ed/papers/robles-barahona-ghosh_gluetheos.pdf

Abstract:
For efficient, large scale data mining of publicly available information
about libre (free, open source) software projects, automating the
retrieval and analysis processes is a must. A system implementing such
automation must have into account the many kinds of repositories with
interesting information (each with its own structure and access
methods), and the many kinds of analysis which can be applied to the
retrieved data. In addition, such a system should be capable of
interfacing and reusing as much existing software for both retrieving
and analyzing data as possible.

As a proof of concept of how that system could be, we started sometime
ago to implement the GlueTheos system, featuring a modular,flexible
architecture which has been already used in several of our studies of
libre software projects. In this paper we show its structure, how it can
be used, and how it can be extended.

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Updated paper 1

Authors:
Stewart, Katherine J & Sanjay Gosain

Title:
The Impact of Ideology on Effectiveness in Open Source Software Development Teams
http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/stewartgosain.pdf

Abstract
The emerging work on understanding open source software has argued for the importance of understanding what leads to effectiveness in OSS development teams and has pointed to the importance of ideology. This paper develops a framework of the OSS ideology (including specific norms, beliefs, and values) and a theoretical model to show how adherence to components of the ideology impact effectiveness in OSS teams. The model is based on the idea that ideology provides clan control, which is important in OSS development settings because OSS teams generally lack formal behavioral and outcome controls. The paper hypothesizes both direct effects of ideology on OSS team effectiveness and indirect effects via influences on affective trust, cognitive trust, and communication quality. Hypotheses are tested using survey and objective data on OSS projects. Four effectiveness measures are used to capture unique aspects of effectiveness in OSS including both the extent to which a team attrac

ts input from the community and the team's success in accomplishing project outcomes. Results support the main thesis that OSS team members' adherence to the tenets of the OSS community ideology enhances OSS team effectiveness. The study uncovers several differences in the importance of OSS norms, beliefs, and values to different kinds of OSS team effectiveness and discusses implications for theory and practice