Category Archives: Research Contributions

Stick or Twist: Balancing Blockchain Decentralisation and Miner Pooling

Conference Contributions, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions, Research Posters

Title: Stick or Twist: Balancing Blockchain Decentralisation and Miner Pooling

Authors: David Sheehan:University College Cork; Rob Gleasure:University College Cork;
Joe Feller:University College Cork; Shanping Li:Zheijiang University; Jerry Cristiforo:State Street

Abstract: The Emerging Blockchain technologies have earned substantial attention in the area of Financial Technology in recent years. Its decentralized environment allows for the mining of Bitcoins by miners either independently or in groups. The community of miners have faith in the integrity of each other to sustain the network, through mining pools remaining at a reasonable level of mining power. Blockchain’s decentralized system is one of its main selling points and is a source of great attraction for users. However, when these mining pools start to grow and increase their mining power to dangerous levels it can result in a shift towards a centralized environment. This push goes against foundational principles of Bitcoin, leading to ongoing debate among various stakeholders.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

Managing Risk in Business Centric Crowdfunding Platforms

Conference Contributions, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions, Research Posters

Title: Managing Risk in Business Centric Crowdfunding Platforms

Authors: Peter Stack:University College Cork; Joe Feller:University College Cork;
Phil O’Reilly:University College Cork; Rob Gleasure:University College Cork;
Shanping Li:Zhejiang University; Jerry Cristoforo:State Street Corporation

Abstract: Crowdfunding is a rapidly growing phenomenon and is becoming a viable alternative to traditional financial institutions for small business fund seekers. Crowdfunding involves harnessing small individual investments from a large number of investors. This paper explores four key risks associated with crowdfunding: Money Laundering, IP Theft, Fraud, and “Failure by Success.” The paper then outlines key research questions for the next stage of the research, which will empirically investigate how crowdfunding platforms self-govern against these risks.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

Open Peer Review CMS Support

Conference Contributions, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions, Research Posters

Title: Open Peer Review CMS Support

Authors: Oliver Zendel:Austrian Institute of Technology; Matthias Schorghuber:Austrian Institute of Technology; Michela Vignoli:Austrian Institute of Technology

Abstract: Peer reviewing is a crucial step for quality assurance at scientific publishing. The task is time consuming and error-prone due to conflicts of interest, subjective opinions, and different education backgrounds. Open Peer Review (OPR) can solve many of said problems and is already applied to the journal publishing workflow. The poster visualizes the efforts done in the EU project OpenUP to evaluate the usefulness of OPR for conference submissions. Two conference venues will try out specific versions of OPR. The conference management software (CMS) needed to facilitate this process is summarized. The CMS solution HotCRP was chosen among the evaluated options for the pilots. The poster introduces the individual processes of open peer review at the two venues and how this is supported in HotCRP. This shall give conference organizers an insight into what is possible and allow for discussions with the OpenUP team about the selected approaches.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

How is Value Created within an Inner Source Environment?

Conference Contributions, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions, Research Posters

Title: How is Value Created within an Inner Source Environment?

Author: Noel Carroll:University of Limerick

Abstract: Awareness and indeed adoption of open source practices inside corporate entities, something termed Inner Source, has become quite popular in recent years. However, the majority of research efforts focus on industry-driven Inner Source adoption with little or no conceptual accounts of how value is created and sustained within Inner Source environments. This research-in-progress explains how an Inner Source Capability Maturity Model (IS-CMM) can offer a structure to guide Inner Source strategies and sustaining value co-creation.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

An Author Network to Classify Open Online Discussions

Conference Contributions, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions, Research Posters

Title: An Author Network to Classify Open Online Discussions

Authors: Mattias Mano:i3-Centre de Recherches en Gestion, Ecole Polytechnique;
Jean-Michel Dalle:University Pierre et Marie Curie;
Joanna Tomasik:Centrale Supelec

Abstract: Among other modalities, online coordination can notably rely on discussions and forums. However, and notwithstanding increasing research efforts, direct approaches that would help communities and moderators distinguish between gossip and serious debates are still largely missing. We present an innovative methodology to detect the different structures of online discussions in the sub-Reddit Change My View. Applying a clustering algorithm to the author networks, we highlight three distinct classes characterized by alternative behaviors. To better understand the underlying social dynamics, we implement a relational event model that provides evidence for three effects whose influence can affect the structure of online discussions.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2018 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

Current and alternate approaches to personalization in online learning

Conference Contributions, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions, Research Posters

Title: Current and alternate approaches to personalization in online learning

Authors: Debora Jeske:University College Cork; Mammed Bagher:Edinburgh Napier University; Nadia Pantidi:University College Cork

Abstract: In the context of distance (online) learning programs, the current paper focuses on two specific goals. First, we outline how personalization based on learning analytics has been implemented in online programs offered by traditional universities, but also providers of MOOCs and virtual institutions. However, this established approach is not without its limitations. Second, we introduce two alternate concepts that may support personalization based on work around readability indices and job crafting. These approaches may also help to address some of the limitations of learning analytics. The emphasis is on how personalization may support the development of individual learning paths that would provide means for both self-pacing and co-construction of the experience. The paper concludes with a review of facilitating and challenging factors for program leaders, online technical staff and designers working in open educational contexts.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

Interpolating Quality Dynamics in Wikipedia and Demonstrating the Keilana Effect

Conference Contributions, Full Research Papers, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions

Title: Interpolating Quality Dynamics in Wikipedia and Demonstrating the Keilana Effect

Author: Aaron Halfaker:Wikimedia Foundation

Abstract: For open, volunteer generated content like Wikipedia, quality is a prominent concern. To measure Wikipedia’s quality, researchers have historically relied on expert evaluation or assessments of article quality by Wikipedians themselves. While both of these methods have proven effective for answering many questions about Wikipedia’s quality and processes, they are both problematic: expert evaluation is expensive and Wikipedian quality assessments are sporadic and unpredictable. Studies that explore Wikipedia’s quality level or the processes that result in quality improvements have only examined small snapshots of Wikipedia and often rely on complex propensity models to deal with the unpredictable nature of Wikipedians’ own assessments. In this paper, I describe a method for measuring article quality in Wikipedia historically and at a finer granularity than was previously possible. I use this method to demonstrate an important coverage dynamic in Wikipedia (specifically, articles about women scientists) and offer this method, dataset, and open API to the research community studying Wikipedia quality dynamics.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

The Many Hats and the Broken Binoculars: State of the Practice in Developer Community Management

Conference Contributions, Full Research Papers, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions

Title: The Many Hats and the Broken Binoculars: State of the Practice in Developer Community Management

Authors: Hanna Maenpaa:Helsinki University; Fabian Fagerholm:Helsinki University;
Myriam Munezero:Helsinki University; Tommi Mikkonen:Helsinki University

Abstract: Open Source Software developer communities are susceptible to challenges related to volatility, distributed coordination and the interplay between commercial and ideological interests. Here, community managers play a vital role in growing, shepherding, and coordinating the developers’ work. This study investigates the varied tasks that community managers perform to ensure the health and vitality of their communities. We describe the challenges managers face while directing the community and seeking support for their work from the analysis tools provided by state-of-the-art software platforms. Our results describe seven roles that community managers may play, highlighting the versatile and people-centric nature of the community manager’s work. Managers experience hardship of connecting their goals, questions and metrics that define a community’s health and effects of their actions. Our results voice common concerns among community managers, and can be used to help them structure the management activity and to find a theoretical frame for further research on how health of developer communities could be understood.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

Understanding Organization and Open Source Community Relations through the Attraction-Selection-Attrition Model

Conference Contributions, Full Research Papers, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions

Title: Understanding Organization and Open Source Community Relations through the Attraction-Selection-Attrition Model

Authors: Georg J.P.Link:University of Nebraska at Omaha; Debora Jeske:University College Cork

Abstract: Organizations increasingly engage with open source communities. Extant research identified the benefits to organizations for engaging with open source and documented how open source communities operate to accommodate organizational engagement. The complexities involved in what attracts organizations to specific communities, how they choose to engage, and how subsequently the organizational-communal engagement shapes the community and organization are not yet well understood. In this paper, we explore how the Attraction-Selection-Attrition Model supports the study of how communities attract, retain, and lose members, and how these aspects relate to organizational-communal engagement between organizations and open source communities. This conceptual paper provides an introduction to the ASA model, having briefly outlined the lack of research connecting ASA and open source communities. Following this, the paper outlines how existing research related to the ASA model may be effectively related to existing open source research, resulting in several questions for future research.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.

Brazilian Public Software Portal: An Integrated Platform for Collaborative Development

Conference Contributions, Full Research Papers, OpenSym 2017, Proceedings, Research Contributions

Title: Brazilian Public Software Portal: An Integrated Platform for Collaborative Development

Authors: Paulo Meirelles:University of Brasilia; Hilmer Rodrigues Neri:Universidade de Brasilia; Antonio Terceiro:Colivre; Melissa Wen:Colivre; Rodrigo Siqueira:University of San Paulo; Lucas Kanashiro:University of San Paulo

Abstract: The Brazilian Public Software (SPB) is a program promoted by the Brazilian Federal Government to foster sharing and collaboration on Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) solutions for the public administration. In this context, a public software is considered a public good and the Federal Government assumes some responsibilities related to its use. Once its development principles is the same of the FLOSS projects, we have designed the SPB Portal, a platform based on the integration and evolution of existing FLOSS tools. It provides several modern features for software collaborative development, helping the Brazilian public administration in sharing its solutions. In this paper, we present this integrated software development platform that was developed for the SPB program by a heterogeneous team composed by professors, master students and undergraduate students, as well as by professionals from FLOSS communities. The development of this platform used several FLOSS projects, providing a non-trivial integration among them. This effort has also produced several new features that were contributed back to these projects. Alongside the architectural challenges, we also discuss in this paper our work process, based on agile and free software development practices, and the lessons learned during 30 months of work on the SPB project.

Download: This contribution is part of the OpenSym 2017 proceedings and is available as a PDF file.