Have you ever asked yourself how can you leverage open source for selling your products or services, attracting talent and innovating? In the first part of this lecture I’ll give a historical context about how open source has transformed the Software industry and changed the way we develop, collaborate, communicate, organize and think about business values. In the second part I will talk about open source opportunities, challenges and what it means to successfully plan and implement an open source project from the practical side. I will also share my own Open Source management experience at Intuit.
Leveraging the Crowd: Supporting Newcomers to Build an OSS CommunityMarco Aurelio Gerosa
Keynote delivered at the Paris Workshop at the International Conference on Global Software Engineering
Abstract:
Open Source Software is an important economic driving force. Companies are aware of the benefits and are adopting OSS as a strategy, opening their source code. However, fostering an OSS developer community is challenging. Newcomers to OSS projects face many technical and social barriers and commonly drop out before making their first contribution. In this keynote, I will talk about how companies are opening their code, the barriers newcomers face to join OSS projects, and FLOSSCoach, a tool we developed to support newcomers first steps.
Bio:
Marco Aurélio Gerosa is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His research lies in the intersection between Software Engineering and Social Computing, focusing on the fields of empirical software engineering, mining software repositories, software evolution, and social dimensions of software development. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers. He served as Program Chair at ICGSE 2016 and PC member in several conferences, such as ACM CSCW, SANER, MSR, etc. In addition to his research, he also coordinates award-winning open source projects. For more information, visit http://www.ime.usp.br/~gerosa.
Have you ever asked yourself how can you leverage open source for selling your products or services, attracting talent and innovating? In the first part of this lecture I’ll give a historical context about how open source has transformed the Software industry and changed the way we develop, collaborate, communicate, organize and think about business values. In the second part I will talk about open source opportunities, challenges and what it means to successfully plan and implement an open source project from the practical side. I will also share my own Open Source management experience at Intuit.
Leveraging the Crowd: Supporting Newcomers to Build an OSS CommunityMarco Aurelio Gerosa
Keynote delivered at the Paris Workshop at the International Conference on Global Software Engineering
Abstract:
Open Source Software is an important economic driving force. Companies are aware of the benefits and are adopting OSS as a strategy, opening their source code. However, fostering an OSS developer community is challenging. Newcomers to OSS projects face many technical and social barriers and commonly drop out before making their first contribution. In this keynote, I will talk about how companies are opening their code, the barriers newcomers face to join OSS projects, and FLOSSCoach, a tool we developed to support newcomers first steps.
Bio:
Marco Aurélio Gerosa is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. His research lies in the intersection between Software Engineering and Social Computing, focusing on the fields of empirical software engineering, mining software repositories, software evolution, and social dimensions of software development. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed papers. He served as Program Chair at ICGSE 2016 and PC member in several conferences, such as ACM CSCW, SANER, MSR, etc. In addition to his research, he also coordinates award-winning open source projects. For more information, visit http://www.ime.usp.br/~gerosa.
Vous êtes un particulier, une organisation ou une entreprise et vous avez créé un logiciel open source très intéressant. Les utilisateurs le téléchargent, vous avez des retours, des rapports de bugs et des demandes d’ajout et de modification de code. Il est alors temps de réfléchir à la façon de faire rentrer d’autres personnes dans votre projet.
Lors de cette conférence, nous verrons quelles sont les étapes importantes pour attirer et impliquer des développeurs et des utilisateurs en balaynt depuis les fondamentaux, comme le guide de contribution ou la documentation, jusqu’aux prémices d’une gouvernance neutre.
Dr. Ibrahim Haddad, Head of Open Source Group, Samsung Research America, talks about Samsung's focus on improving it's open source leadership through contribution to key projects used in it's products.
Health and Sustainability of Open Source Software from a Public Sector Perspe...Johan Linåker
Open Source Software (OSS) makes up a critical part of today's digital infrastructure. As with physical infrastructure, its robustness and security depend on how well it is maintained. But how do you know how "well-maintained" and secure an OSS project is? Or what you can do to help? This presentation will shed light on the concept of health and sustainability of OSS projects, how to analyze it, and how to act on it. We will also discuss how this can help public as well as private entities in decisions related to OSS adoption and contributions, and consider how it may, and should, be part of a continuous and proactive security mindset and risk management process.
2019 12-10 ow2 - OSPO - Open Source Governance et grands utilisateursFrédéric Aatz
OSS & Corporate users: from awareness to sustainability.
Embrace, use, contribute and release .. lead to OSS Governance imperatives for Corporate users. #opensource #ospo #azure #microsoft #openatmicrosoft
Developing Open Source MDE Tools / Eclipse Stories and Lessons Learned - OSS4...Hugo Bruneliere
Return of experience on developing open source MDE tools based on Eclipse...
Cf. also http://fr.slideshare.net/HugoBruneliere/an-open-source-approach-for-industrializing-research-tools-ow2con-2011-session-open-source-innovation-catalyst
The popularization of the World Wide Web and its embedding in society as a techno-social artifact has experienced a huge growth during the last years. Different kind of social media platforms have become so popular and they have paved the way for a bigger presence of multimedia and user-generated contents. But at the same time, this predominance of new elements has also introduced new challenges in the standardization processes.
That is why a new version of hypertext standard called HTML5 has been developed from 2004 to 2014 in order to meet the requirements that new applications and users have raised during the advent of Web 2.0 paradigm.
In this paper we explore the history behind this new version of HTML and we put light on the different technological trajectories and social interactions that have occurred among the stakeholders interested in its development.
We argue that HTML5 is a tipping point in the history of hypertext standardization, not only by the different innovations that it has introduced but also by the way it has conceived as a “Living Standard”. We claim that this new approach has permitted technology users to enter in early stages of normalization processes but it also has allowed introducing commercial interests as main drivers for standardization committees.
-Paper presented at EURAS 2017 Conference-
Financial data is the last to go into the cloud - isn't it? Not as much as it seems. But if you are selecting then why and what should you be looking at?
I was asked if I would like to include a 5-10 minute presso for a panel I am moderating. I thought 'nah' this is about the people not me. But then I also thought...they should know something of what I believe, why I believe what I do and how they might get inspiration. This was the result. It should take no more than 5 minutes to run through.
All illos courtesy of Hugh MacLeod aka @gapingvoid
Vous êtes un particulier, une organisation ou une entreprise et vous avez créé un logiciel open source très intéressant. Les utilisateurs le téléchargent, vous avez des retours, des rapports de bugs et des demandes d’ajout et de modification de code. Il est alors temps de réfléchir à la façon de faire rentrer d’autres personnes dans votre projet.
Lors de cette conférence, nous verrons quelles sont les étapes importantes pour attirer et impliquer des développeurs et des utilisateurs en balaynt depuis les fondamentaux, comme le guide de contribution ou la documentation, jusqu’aux prémices d’une gouvernance neutre.
Dr. Ibrahim Haddad, Head of Open Source Group, Samsung Research America, talks about Samsung's focus on improving it's open source leadership through contribution to key projects used in it's products.
Health and Sustainability of Open Source Software from a Public Sector Perspe...Johan Linåker
Open Source Software (OSS) makes up a critical part of today's digital infrastructure. As with physical infrastructure, its robustness and security depend on how well it is maintained. But how do you know how "well-maintained" and secure an OSS project is? Or what you can do to help? This presentation will shed light on the concept of health and sustainability of OSS projects, how to analyze it, and how to act on it. We will also discuss how this can help public as well as private entities in decisions related to OSS adoption and contributions, and consider how it may, and should, be part of a continuous and proactive security mindset and risk management process.
2019 12-10 ow2 - OSPO - Open Source Governance et grands utilisateursFrédéric Aatz
OSS & Corporate users: from awareness to sustainability.
Embrace, use, contribute and release .. lead to OSS Governance imperatives for Corporate users. #opensource #ospo #azure #microsoft #openatmicrosoft
Developing Open Source MDE Tools / Eclipse Stories and Lessons Learned - OSS4...Hugo Bruneliere
Return of experience on developing open source MDE tools based on Eclipse...
Cf. also http://fr.slideshare.net/HugoBruneliere/an-open-source-approach-for-industrializing-research-tools-ow2con-2011-session-open-source-innovation-catalyst
The popularization of the World Wide Web and its embedding in society as a techno-social artifact has experienced a huge growth during the last years. Different kind of social media platforms have become so popular and they have paved the way for a bigger presence of multimedia and user-generated contents. But at the same time, this predominance of new elements has also introduced new challenges in the standardization processes.
That is why a new version of hypertext standard called HTML5 has been developed from 2004 to 2014 in order to meet the requirements that new applications and users have raised during the advent of Web 2.0 paradigm.
In this paper we explore the history behind this new version of HTML and we put light on the different technological trajectories and social interactions that have occurred among the stakeholders interested in its development.
We argue that HTML5 is a tipping point in the history of hypertext standardization, not only by the different innovations that it has introduced but also by the way it has conceived as a “Living Standard”. We claim that this new approach has permitted technology users to enter in early stages of normalization processes but it also has allowed introducing commercial interests as main drivers for standardization committees.
-Paper presented at EURAS 2017 Conference-
Financial data is the last to go into the cloud - isn't it? Not as much as it seems. But if you are selecting then why and what should you be looking at?
I was asked if I would like to include a 5-10 minute presso for a panel I am moderating. I thought 'nah' this is about the people not me. But then I also thought...they should know something of what I believe, why I believe what I do and how they might get inspiration. This was the result. It should take no more than 5 minutes to run through.
All illos courtesy of Hugh MacLeod aka @gapingvoid
RightNow's CSA could be a game changer for SaaS vendors that will need to evolve their business models to reflect the changing needs of customers. This presentation discusses the detail of the CSA announcement.
Myths and realities of open source for FP7 projects: why OSS is important for the economy, benefits, drawbacks. Presented at the IST Internet of Services collaboration meeting 2011, in the FLOSS working group session. Data derived from previous Transfersummit presentation:
http://www.slideshare.net/cdaffara/transfersummit2011
Short presso given to #MELSIT 2013. There is one element missing - a lashup video that is NOT on YouTube. The video of this presso is available at the end of the slides.
mindtrek2016 - the economics of open source cloudsCarlo Daffara
When public cloud is better than the alternatives? What is the real economics of cloud computing? From my presentation at Mindtrek 2016 in Tampere, Finland
My presentation for OpenNebulaConf 2015, with a (slightly tongue-in-cheek) overview of the real difference between public and private clouds from the point of view of economics, utilization rate, complexity and more.
Employee class action v Google, Apple, Intel and othersDennis Howlett
Google, Apple, Intel and others are in the dock in a case where plaintiffs argue the operation of an illegal cartel designed to restrict pay to skilled workers.
A $5 Billion Value: Estimating the Total Development Cost of Linux Foundation’s Collaborative Projects
By Jeff Licquia and Amanda McPherson - A Linux Foundation publication
Open Source project failure often stems from not setting clear objectives or having a shared vision from the start. That said there are many success stories, including two well known Statistical examples: Demetra; and Eurostat SDMX tools (SDMX-RI). However, in all these examples there was at first a founding organisation/entity that created the right environment for its successful path into a new paradigm. In the context of my presentation this being the Statistical Information System Collaboration Community (SIS-CC / http://siscc.oecd.org).
Presented at the International Marketing and Output DataBase Conference, Gozd Martuljek, September 18 - 22, 2016.
Pathways to Technology Transfer and Adoption: Achievements and ChallengesTao Xie
Dongmei Zhang and Tao Xie. Pathways to Technology Transfer and Adoption: Achievements and Challenges. In Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2013), Software Engineering in Practice (SEIP), Mini-Tutorial, San Francisco, CA, May 2013. http://people.engr.ncsu.edu/txie/publications/icse13seip-techtransfer.pdf
ICSME 2016 keynote: An ecosystemic and socio-technical view on software maint...Tom Mens
These are the slides of my ICSME 2016 keynote, presented on 5 October 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina. I focus on the difficulties of maintaining and evolving software ecosystems, large collections of interacting software components that are maintained by a large and active community of contributors and that evolve together in the same environment. Software ecosystems are becoming ubiquitous due to the omnipresence of open source software. I present several problems that arise during maintenance and evolution of software ecosystems, and I argue how some of these challenges should be addressed by adopting a socio-technical view and by relying on a multidisciplinary and mixed methods research approach. I illustrate this with examples of social network analysis, complex systems research, ecological biodiversity, and survival analysis.
Research Software Sustainability takes a VillageCarole Goble
The Research Software Alliance (ReSA) and the Netherlands eScience Center hosted a two-day international workshop to set the future agenda for national and international funders to support sustainable research software.
As the importance of software in research has become increasingly apparent, so has the urgent need to sustain it. Funders can play a crucial role in this respect by ensuring structural support. Over the past few years, a variety of methods for sustaining research software have been explored, including improving and extending funding policies and instruments. During the workshop, funding organizations joined forces to explore how they can effectively contribute to making research software sustainable.
This keynote helped frame the discussion from the perspective of community involvement in research software sustainability.
https://future-of-research-software.org/
this talk is available at Goble, Carole. (2022, November 8). Research Software Sustainability takes a Village. International funders workshop, The Future of Research Software, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7304596
Open Source, Sourceforge Projects, & Apache FoundationMohammad Kotb
This presentation is made by my group in our Computer and Increasing Productivity Course in 2nd term - 1st year - Computer and Systems Engineering Department - Faculty of Engineering - Alexandria University...
GOST TEAM
Una panoramica di come l'economia di hardware e software cambiano il mercato IT, in una panoramica storica dal 1940 al futuro. Quali sono le motivazioni dietro la nascita del PC, il cloud, il prossimo futuro basato su HTML5. Presentazione preparata per le scuole superiori per conto del DITEDI.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of technologies, XML continues to play a vital role in structuring, storing, and transporting data across diverse systems. The recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) present new methodologies for enhancing XML development workflows, introducing efficiency, automation, and intelligent capabilities. This presentation will outline the scope and perspective of utilizing AI in XML development. The potential benefits and the possible pitfalls will be highlighted, providing a balanced view of the subject.
We will explore the capabilities of AI in understanding XML markup languages and autonomously creating structured XML content. Additionally, we will examine the capacity of AI to enrich plain text with appropriate XML markup. Practical examples and methodological guidelines will be provided to elucidate how AI can be effectively prompted to interpret and generate accurate XML markup.
Further emphasis will be placed on the role of AI in developing XSLT, or schemas such as XSD and Schematron. We will address the techniques and strategies adopted to create prompts for generating code, explaining code, or refactoring the code, and the results achieved.
The discussion will extend to how AI can be used to transform XML content. In particular, the focus will be on the use of AI XPath extension functions in XSLT, Schematron, Schematron Quick Fixes, or for XML content refactoring.
The presentation aims to deliver a comprehensive overview of AI usage in XML development, providing attendees with the necessary knowledge to make informed decisions. Whether you’re at the early stages of adopting AI or considering integrating it in advanced XML development, this presentation will cover all levels of expertise.
By highlighting the potential advantages and challenges of integrating AI with XML development tools and languages, the presentation seeks to inspire thoughtful conversation around the future of XML development. We’ll not only delve into the technical aspects of AI-powered XML development but also discuss practical implications and possible future directions.
GridMate - End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid...ThomasParaiso2
End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid regressions. In this session, we share our journey building an E2E testing pipeline for GridMate components (LWC and Aura) using Cypress, JSForce, FakerJS…
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 6DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 6. In this session, we will cover Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI webinar offers an in-depth exploration of leveraging cutting-edge technologies for test automation within the UiPath platform. Attendees will delve into the integration of generative AI, a test automation solution, with Open AI advanced natural language processing capabilities.
Throughout the session, participants will discover how this synergy empowers testers to automate repetitive tasks, enhance testing accuracy, and expedite the software testing life cycle. Topics covered include the seamless integration process, practical use cases, and the benefits of harnessing AI-driven automation for UiPath testing initiatives. By attending this webinar, testers, and automation professionals can gain valuable insights into harnessing the power of AI to optimize their test automation workflows within the UiPath ecosystem, ultimately driving efficiency and quality in software development processes.
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into integrating generative AI.
2. Understanding how this integration enhances test automation within the UiPath platform
3. Practical demonstrations
4. Exploration of real-world use cases illustrating the benefits of AI-driven test automation for UiPath
Topics covered:
What is generative AI
Test Automation with generative AI and Open AI.
UiPath integration with generative AI
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Unlocking Productivity: Leveraging the Potential of Copilot in Microsoft 365, a presentation by Christoforos Vlachos, Senior Solutions Manager – Modern Workplace, Uni Systems
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
Goodbye Windows 11: Make Way for Nitrux Linux 3.5.0!SOFTTECHHUB
As the digital landscape continually evolves, operating systems play a critical role in shaping user experiences and productivity. The launch of Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 marks a significant milestone, offering a robust alternative to traditional systems such as Windows 11. This article delves into the essence of Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, exploring its unique features, advantages, and how it stands as a compelling choice for both casual users and tech enthusiasts.
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
2. quot;Open source software is the most significant all-encompassing
●
and long-term trend that the software industry has seen since
the early 1980squot; [IDC]
The social innovation of collaborative development (one of the
●
possible development models, in the spectrum between
quot;cathedralquot; and quot;bazaarquot; has been considered unable to produce
software secure and of good quality, and in general uncapable of
creating innovative artifacts
quot;quot;The Linux operating system is being developed by an open
●
source process -- a cooperative effort by a loose association of
software developers from all over the world. 'The very nature of
the open source process should rule Linux out of defense
applications,' O'Dowd said. 'The open source process violates
every principle of security. It welcomes everyone to contribute to
Linux. Now that foreign intelligence agencies and terrorists know
that Linux is going to control our most advanced defense
systems, they can use fake identities to contribute subversive
software that will soon be incorporated into our most advanced
defense systems.'quot; (Green Hills Software CEO, Dan O'Dowd)
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
3. quot;The hypothesis that open-source software fosters more
●
creativity is supported by our analysis.
The growing rate, or the number of functions added, was greater
●
in the open-source projects than in the closed-source projects.
This indicates that the open-source approach may be able to
provide more features over time than by using the closed-source
approach. Practitioners interested in capturing market share by
providing additional features should look to the open-source
methodology as a method to achieve this.
In terms of defects, our analysis finds that the changing rate or
●
the functions modified as a percentage of the total functions is
higher in open-source projects than in closed-source projects.
This supports the hypothesis that defects may be found and
●
fixed more quickly in open-source projects than in closed-source
projects and may be an added benefit for using the open-source
development model.quot; [Succi, Paulson, Eberlein. An Empirical
Study of Open-Source and Closed-Source Software Products,
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SOFTWARE ENGINEERING, V.30/4, april
2004]
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
4. The cooperative development model for software in a sense is
●
self-moderated, since code contributions cannot be arbitrary but
should be compilable and not include regressions
quot;working codequot; is in itself a gating barrier
●
Can the collaborative model be used in non-code projects?
●
The first observation is that most (medium and large scale)
●
software projects already contain a large part of non-code
artifacts
For example, localization data, documentation, graphical
●
material like icons and splash screens, pre-designed structures...
For example, in the OpenOffice.org project:
●
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
7. Some non-code experiments have generated the same kind of
●
criticism originally reserved for open source projects, that
collaborative development cannot reach the same quality or
control of non-OSS ones.
Among the most famous examples, Wikipedia:
●
● more than 2 million english articles
● 356000 italian ones
● more than 8 million articles in more than 100 languages
quot;Using it is like asking questions of a bloke you met in the pub.
●
He might be a nuclear physicist. Or he might be a fruitcakequot;. P.
Valley, The Independent
In december 2005, Nature published a study comparing
●
Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica (in its web edition) on 42
randomly selected scientific articles:
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
8. quot;In the study, entries were chosen from the websites of
●
Wikipedia and Encyclopaedia Britannica on a broad range of
scientific disciplines and sent to a relevant expert for peer
review. Each reviewer examined the entry on a single subject
from the two encyclopaedias; they were not told which article
came from which encyclopaedia. A total of 42 usable reviews
were returned out of 50 sent out, and were then examined by
Nature's news team.
Only eight serious errors, such as misinterpretations of
●
important concepts, were detected in the pairs of articles
reviewed, four from each encyclopaedia. But reviewers also
found many factual errors, omissions or misleading statements:
162 and 123 in Wikipedia and Britannica, respectively.quot; [Nature,
2005]
This demonstrates that in ideal conditions, OSS-like approaches
●
can be used in non-software environments with similar results
In the context of the OpenTTT project we are evaluating the
●
conditions for the applicability of cooperative development
models for non-software projects
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
9. We have identified 65 projects, covering fields as different as
●
politics, journalism and physical objects
Most of those projects follow an internal structure quite similar
●
to that of software; for example, all the collaborative writing
projects (like Wikipedia, Amapedia, TripAdvisor, WikiTravel,
RichDex, Wikia) are structured in a modular way, article-
centered, and users add or modify (quot;bug fixingquot;) leaving a visible
trace that can be modified or undone, not different from the use
of software versioning system common in OSS
Consensus is reached through an explicit and public decision;
●
when consenus is not possible, in Wiki-based system the article
is marked as quot;controversialquot; and decision is left to the user (with
both sides visible)
This is different from software, where usually a quot;forkquot; happens
●
and the project takes two separate ways that can later fold back
into a single one (examples of this are the GCC/EGCS fork or
EMACS/XEMACS)
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
10. Graphics and multimedia projects tend to have a much limited
●
degree of collaborative work, and artifacts are mainly quot;reusedquot;
(remixed in the case of audio and video) with limited
modifications
Physical objects (through their 3D CAD files) tend to quot;appearquot; at
●
the end of development, and successive modifications are
limited
The exception is open hardware (electronics): the use of
●
descriptive languages like VHDL or Verilog makes the
development process and the tools used similar to pure software
By studying the development patterns of the 65 projects, it is
●
clear that the collaborative platform is the main enabler; the
lack of unifying software is the main difference between activity
areas like software, audio/video, 3D, etc.
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
13. An example of design with external,
●
strict constraints:
quot;The MultiMachine is an accurate all-
●
purpose machine tool that can be
used as a metal or wood lathe, end
mill, horizontal mill, drill press, wood
or metal saw or sander, surface
grinder and sheet metal quot;spinnerquot;.
It can be built by a semi-skilled
●
mechanic using just common hand
tools.
For machine construction, electricity
●
can be replaced with quot;elbow greasequot;
and all the necessary material can
come from discarded vehicle parts.
It can be built in a closet size version
●
or one that would weigh 4 or 5 tons.quot;
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts
14. In the last 2 years several new projects have been created in
●
quite uncommon areas; for example, the Open Source Judaism
project is creating religious books (Haggadah), Politicopia in
politic debate, Groklaw in legal cases
Some enhancements have been proposed in the basic
●
collaboration software: provenance and color-coding for
reliability representation in Wikipedia are two examples
A promising approach to collaboration is the extension of
●
traditional Wiki tools with domain-specific plugins, or the
creation of dedicated platforms:
Not only software: collaborative models in non-software artifacts