Category Archives: Full Research Papers

Information Evolution in Wikipedia

Announcement, Conference Contributions, Full Research Papers, OpenSym 2014, Research Contributions, Research Tracks, Wikipedia Track

Title: Information Evolution in Wikipedia

Authors: Ujwal Gadiraju, Mihai Georgescu, Marco Fisichella, Andrea Ceroni, Kaweh Djafari Naini

Abstract: The Web of data is constantly evolving based on the dynamics of its content. Current Web search engine technologies consider static collections and do not factor in explicitly or implicitly available temporal information, that can be leveraged to gain insights into the dynamics of the data. In this paper, we hypothesize that by employing the temporal aspect as the primary means for capturing the evolution of entities, it is possible to provide entity-based accessibility to Web archives. We empirically show that the edit activity on Wikipedia can be exploited to provide evidence of the evolution of Wikipedia pages over time, both in terms of their content and in terms of their temporally defined relationships, classified in literature as events. Finally, we present results from our extensive analysis of a dataset consisting of 31, 998 Wikipedia pages describing politicians, and observations from in-depth case studies. Our findings reflect the usefulness of leveraging temporal information in order to study the evolution of entities and breed promising grounds for further research.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

On Influences Between Software Standards and Their Implementations in Open Source Projects: Experiences from RDFa and Its Implementation in Drupal

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Title: On Influences Between Software Standards and Their Implementations in Open Source Projects: Experiences from RDFa and Its Implementation in Drupal

Authors: Björn Lundell (University of Skövde), Jonas Gamalielsson (University of Skövde), Alexander Grahn (University of Skövde), Jonas Feist (RedBridge AB), Tomas Gustavsson (PrimeKey Solutions AB), Henrik Strindberg (Findwise AB)

Abstract: It is widely acknowledged that standards implemented in open source software can reduce the risk for lock-in, improve interoperability, and promote competition on the market. However, there is limited knowledge concerning the relationship between standards and their implementations in open source software. This paper reports from an investigation of influences between software standards and open source software implementations of software standards. The study focuses on the RDFa standard and its implementation in the Drupal project. Specifically, issues in the W3C issue trackers for RDFa and the Drupal issue tracker for RDFa have been analysed. Findings show that there is clear evidence of reciprocal action between RDFa and its implementation in Drupal. The study contributes novel insights concerning effective processes for development and long-term maintenance of software standards and their implementations in open source projects.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

Not Only for Ideation, But Also for Signaling: Incorporating User-Profile-Webpages into Virtual Ideas Communities

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Title: Not Only for Ideation, But Also for Signaling: Incorporating User-Profile-Webpages into Virtual Ideas Communities

Authors: Ulrich Bretschneider, Philipp Ebel, Shkodran Zogaj, Jan Marco Leimeister

Abstract: This research-in-progress-paper describes the case of SAPiens, which is a Virtual Ideas Community (VIC). Typically, SAPiens – and VICs in general – focuses solely on supporting the ideation interactions among members. There is evidence from a survey that SAPiens members are also interested in actively signaling competences, experiences and skills to third parties. However, SAPiens does not offer IT functionalities that would allow for such a signaling. Against this backdrop, we propose to enrich SAPiens through User Profile Webpages allowing SAPiens members to construct a public profile within the community and thereby to signal individual capabilities, skills and experiences. The aim of this action design research is to design such an IT artifact by building on the signaling theory. After this initial design, our research constitutes a circular process of constant refinement as well as piloting and evaluation of the IT artifact in the real world setting of the SAPiens VIC.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

From Mashup Applications to Open Data Ecosystem

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Title: From Mashup Applications to Open Data Ecosystem

Authors: Timo Aaltonen (Tampere University of Technology), Tommi Mikkonen (Tampere University of Technology), Heikki Peltola (Tampere University of Technology), Arto Salminen (Tampere University of Technology)

Abstract: Web-based software is available all over the world instantly after the online release. Applications can be used and updated without need to install anything, with natural support for collaboration, which allows users to interact and share the same applications over the Web. In addition, numerous web services allowing users to upload, download, store and modify private and public resources have emerged. However, as the amount of web services and devices used to consume as well as generate data has exploded, it is difficult to access and manage relevant data. In this paper, we start from the principles of mashups, reflect their use to the concepts of software ecosystems, and finally extend the discussion to open data generated by users themselves. As a technical contribution, we also introduce our proof-of-concept implementation of a mashup system built on wellness data, and discuss the main lessons we have learned in the process.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

Utilization and Development Contribution of Open Source Software in Japanese IT Companies: An Exploratory Study of the Effect on Business Growth

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Title: Utilization and Development Contribution of Open Source Software in Japanese IT Companies: An Exploratory Study of the Effect on Business Growth

Authors: Terutaka Tansho (Shimane University, Japan), Tetsuo Noda (Shimane University, Japan)

Abstract: The usage of Open Source Software (OSS) has been more general these days and OSS are utilized in a wide range of business fields not only IT industries. Behind the expansion, there exist OSS development communities, where voluntary engineers dedicate their time and effort for the improvement. Considering development engineers in the companies as input resources, it is important to investigate the output of business growth. In this study, we conducted questionnaire survey to Japanese IT companies in 2013, and then analyzed the present state and relation between OSS utilization and development contribution. Our study revealed that Japanese IT companies are rather free riders of OSS, the volume of development contributions are far less than that of utilization. With regard to the effect on the business growth, the results of correlation analysis implicate that OSS utilization is related to the sales growth in the present term and that development contribution is related to the future growth of the employee number in the company. In order to explore the direct effect on the business growth, we constructed the models of multiple-logistic and logistic analyses, however, no direct and explicit determinants are found from the results of the analyses. Our research endeavors to investigate the OSS effect on the business growth are still on the way, but it is meaningful to provide the present state in numbers and hopefully this will lay some foundation for further study in this field.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

Designing an Integrated Open Innovation System: Towards Organizational Wholeness

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Title: Designing an Integrated Open Innovation System: Towards Organizational Wholeness

Authors: Vasiliki Baka

Abstract: Increasing use of collaborative technologies has transformed organizational dynamics in novel ways. In this paper, we adopt the principle of wholeness in designing an  integrated open innovation system. We provide an overview of existing collaborative technologies and situate the proposed sociotechnical arrangement within the paradigm of open innovation. We explore how effectively technological platforms address emergent collaboration and innovation practices within and across organizations and to which extent existing technologies act as strategic catalysts of open innovation. We argue that in embracing wholeness and in treating technologies as inseparable constitutive  parts of organizational architecture, we foster organizational and institutional collaboration and encourage innovative practices. The focus of the paper is on how the design of sociotechnical systems as wholes, that is systems that are concurrently acting as corporate websites, internal collaboration spaces, extranets and social media aggregators, actively promotes open innovation in practice. We close with a presentation of six cases that are illustrative of how such a system could be applicable within the open innovation paradigm, namely, citizen participation, crowdsourcing and open innovation contests, open source innovation, reviews and social media, social enterprises and open teaching.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

Socio-Technical Congruence in the Ruby Ecosystem

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Title: Socio-Technical Congruence in the Ruby Ecosystem

Authors: Mahbubul Syeed (Tampere University of Technology), Klaus Marius Hansen (University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark), Imed Hammouda (Chalmers and University of Gothenburg, Sweden), Konstantinos Manikas (University of Copenhagen Copenhagen, Denmark)

Abstract: Existing studies show that open source projects may enjoy high levels of socio-technical congruence despite their open and distributed character. Such observations are yet to be confirmed in the case of larger open source ecosystems in which developers contribute to different projects within the ecosystem. In this paper, we empirically study the relationships between the developer coordination activities and the project dependency structure in the Ruby ecosystem. Our motivation is to verify whether the ecosystem context maintains the high socio-technical congruence levels observed in many smaller scale FLOSS (Free/Libre Open Source Software) projects. Our study results show that the collaboration pattern among the developers in Ruby ecosystem is not necessarily shaped by the communication needs indicated by the dependencies among the ecosystem projects.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.

The Impact of Automatic Crash Reports on Bug Triaging and Development in Mozilla

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Title: The Impact of Automatic Crash Reports on Bug Triaging and Development in Mozilla

Authors: Iftekhar Ahmed (Oregon State University), Nitin Mohan (Oregon State University), Carlos Jensen (Oregon State University)

Abstract: Free/Open Source Software projects often rely on users submitting bug reports. However, reports submitted by novice users may lack information critical to developers, and the process may be intimidating and difficult. To gather more and better data, projects deploy automatic crash reporting tools, which capture stack traces and memory dumps when a crash occurs. These systems potentially generate large volumes of data, which may overwhelm developers, and their presence may discourage users from submitting traditional bug reports. In this paper, we examine Mozilla’s automatic crash reporting system and how it affects their bug triaging process. We find that fewer than 0.00009% of crash reports end up in a bug report, but as many as 2.33% of bug reports have data from crash reports added. Feedback from developers shows that despite some problems, these systems are valuable. We conclude with a discussion of the pros and cons of automatic crash reporting systems.

This contribution to OpenSym 2014 will be made available as part of the OpenSym 2014 proceedings on or after August 27, 2014.