Working Area for SPIP

Abstract as submitted

This is the abstract we submitted to SPIP

SPIP Work Plan

 

Source Papers and presentations

The three papers, ICIS 2003, ICSE Workshop and HICSS 2005 papers that are the source of much of the background and theory for the SPIP paper. Also the powerpoint presentation from the WISER workshop.

Data for the paper

 

A Portfolio of FLOSS Project Success Measures (original submission)

Information systems success is one of the most widely used dependent variables in information systems research, but research on Free/Libré and Open Source software (FLOSS) often fails to appropriately conceptualize this important concept. In this paper, we reconsider what success means within a FLOSS context. We first review existing models of IS success and success variables used in FLOSS research and assess them for their usefulness, practicality and fit to the FLOSS context. Then, drawing on a model of group effectiveness in the FLOSS development process, we present a series of additional measures that might be used as part of a portfolio, to assess success in FLOSS. We assess these measures for face validity by comparing them to the opinions of FLOSS developers gathered through interviews and on an on-line discussion group. We then further empirically test several measures using data from SourceForge: the project’s effectiveness in team building, the speed of the project at responding to bug reports and its popularity. We conclude by discussing possibilities for improving measurement of FLOSS project success.

Information Systems Success in Free and Open Source Software Development: Theory and Measures (revised submission)

Information systems success is one of the most widely used dependent variables in information systems (IS) research, but research on Free/Libre and Open Source software (FLOSS) often fails to appropriately conceptualize this important concept. In this paper, we reconsider what success means within a FLOSS context. We first review existing models of IS success and success variables used in FLOSS research and assess them for their usefulness, practicality and fit to the FLOSS context. Then, drawing on a theoretical model of group effectiveness in the FLOSS development process, as well as an online discussion group with developers, we present additional concepts that are central to an appropriate understanding of success for FLOSS. In order to examine the practicality and validity of this conceptual scheme, the second half of our paper presents an empirical study that demonstrates its operationalization of the chosen measures and assesses their internal validity. We use data from SourceForge to measure the project’s effectiveness in team building, the speed of the project at responding to bug reports and the project’s popularity. We conclude by discussing the implications of this study for our proposed extension of IS success in the context of FLOSS development and highlight future directions for research.