@article {9999, title = {Building an apparatus: Refractive, reflective and diffractive readings of trace data}, journal = {Journal of the Association for Information Systems}, volume = {21}, year = {2020}, pages = {Article 10}, abstract = {

We propose a set of methodological principles and strategies for the use of trace data, i.e., data capturing performances carried out on or via information systems, often at a fine level of detail. Trace data comes with a number of methodological and theoretical challenges associated with the inseparable nature of the social and material. Drawing on Haraway and Barad{\textquoteright}s distinctions among refraction, reflection and diffraction, we compare three approaches to trace data analysis. We argue that a diffractive methodology allows us to explore how trace data are not given but created though construction of a research apparatus to study trace data. By focusing on the diffractive ways in which traces ripple through an apparatus, it is possible to explore some of the taken-for-granted, invisible dynamics of sociomateriality. Equally, important this approach allows us to describe what and when distinctions within entwined phenomena emerge in the research process. Empirically, we illustrate the guiding principles and strategies by analyzing trace data from Gravity Spy, a crowdsourced citizen science project on Zooniverse. We conclude by suggesting that a diffractive methodology may help us draw together quantitative and qualitative research practices in new and productive ways that also raises interesting design questions.

}, doi = {10.17705/1jais.00590 }, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/RA-JAIS-17-0130.R3.1_FIN\%20to\%20share.pdf}, author = {Carsten {\O}sterlund and Kevin Crowston and Corey Brian Jackson} } @inbook {9999, title = {Levels of trace data for social and behavioural science research}, booktitle = {Big Data Factories: Collaborative~Approaches}, year = {2017}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, organization = {Springer Nature}, abstract = {

The explosion of data available from online systems such as social media is creating a wealth of trace data, that is, data that record evidence of human activity. The volume of data available offers great potential to advance social and behavioural science research. However, the data are of a very different kind than more conventional social and behavioural science data, posing challenges to use. This paper adopts a data framework from Earth Observation science and applies it to trace data to identify possible issues in analyzing trace data. Application of the framework also reveals issues for sharing and reusing data.

}, isbn = {978-3-319-59186-5}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-59186-5_4}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/160529\%20levels\%20book\%20chapter_0.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston}, editor = {Sorin Matei and Sean Goggins and Nicolas Jullien} } @article {2016, title = {Manifesto on Engineering Academic Software (Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 16252)}, volume = {6}, year = {2016}, month = {12/2106}, institution = {Schloss Dagstuhl {\textendash} Leibniz Center for Informatics}, address = {Wadern, Germany}, abstract = {Software is often a critical component of scientific research. It can be a component of the academic research methods used to produce research results, or it may itself be an academic research result. Software, however, has rarely been considered to be a citable artifact in its own right. With the advent of open-source software, artifact evaluation committees of conferences, and journals that include source code and running systems as part of the published artifacts, we foresee that software will increasingly be recognized as part of the academic process. The quality and sustainability of this software must be accounted for, both a priori and a posteriori. The Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop on {\textquotedblleft}Engineering Academic Software{\textquotedblright} has examined the strengths, weaknesses, risks, and opportunities of academic software engineering. A key outcome of the workshop is this Dagstuhl Manifesto, serving as a roadmap towards future professional software engineering for software-based research instruments and other software produced and used in an academic context. The manifesto is expressed in terms of a series of actionable {\textquotedblleft}pledges{\textquotedblright} that users and developers of academic research software can take as concrete steps towards improving the environment in which that software is produced.}, author = {Alice Allen and Cecilia Aragon and Christoph Becker and Jeffrey Carver and Andrei Chi{\c s} and Benoit Combemale and Mike Croucher and Kevin Crowston and Daniel Garijo and Ashish Gehani and Carole Goble and Robert Haines and Robert Hirschfeld and James Howison and Kathryn Huff and Caroline Jay and Daniel S. Katz and Claude Kirchner and Katie Kuksenok and Ralf L{\"a}mmel and Oscar Nierstrasz and Matt Turk and van Nieuwpoort, Rob and Matthew Vaughn and Jurgen Vinju} } @proceedings {9999, title = {The Rise and Fall of an Online Project. Is Bureaucracy Killing Efficiency in Open Knowledge Production?}, year = {2015}, address = {San Francisco, CA}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/CrowstonJullienOrtegawork_2014_life-cycle.pdf , https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/OpenSym\%20presentation\%20NJKCFO\%2008-20-15.pdf}, author = {Nicolas Jullien and Kevin Crowston and Felipe Ortega} } @proceedings {2013, title = {Open Source Software Adoption: A Technological Innovation Perspective}, year = {2013}, month = {5/2013}, address = {Lyon, France}, abstract = {This research-in-progress aims to indentify the salient factors explaining adoption of open source software (OSS), as a technological innovation. The theoretical background of the paper is based on the technological innovation literature. We choose to focus on the open ERP case, as it is considered as a promising innovation for firms {\textendash} especially medium firms - but open ERP also faces numerous challenges. The paper provides a framework and a method for investigation that has to be implemented.}, url = {http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2244222}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Fran{\c c}ois Deltour and Nicolas Jullien} } @article {646, title = {Sustainability of Open Collaborative Communities: Analyzing Recruitment Efficiency}, journal = {Technology Innovation Management Review}, year = {2013}, month = {01/2013}, pages = {20{\textendash}26}, publisher = {Talent First Network}, address = {Ottawa}, abstract = {Extensive research has been conducted over the past years to improve our understanding of sustainability conditions for large-scale collaborative projects, especially from an economic and governance perspective. However, the influence of recruitment and retention of participants in these projects has received comparatively less attention from researchers. Nevertheless, these concerns are significant for practitioners, especially regarding the apparently decreasing ability of the main open online projects to attract and retain new contributors. A possible explanation for this decrease is that those projects have simply reached a mature state of development. Marwell and Oliver (1993) and Oliver, Marwell, and Teixeira (1985) note that, at the initial stage in collective projects, participants are few and efforts are costly; in the diffusion phase, the number of participants grows, as their efforts are rewarding; and in the mature phase, some inefficiency may appear as the number of contributors is greater than required for the work. In this article, we examine this possibility. We use original data from 36 Wikipedias in different languages to compare their efficiency in recruiting participants. We chose Wikipedia because the different language projects are at different states of development, but are quite comparable on the other aspects, providing a test of the impact of development on efficiency. Results confirm that most of the largest Wikipedias seem to be characterized by a reduced return to scale. As a result, we can draw interesting conclusions that can be useful for practitioners, facilitators, and managers of collaborative projects in order to identify key factors potentially influencing the adequate development of their communities over the medium-to-long term.}, issn = {1927-0321}, url = {http://timreview.ca/article/646}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Nicolas Jullien and Felipe Ortega} } @proceedings {438, title = {Is Wikipedia Inefficient? Modelling Effort and Participation in Wikipedia}, year = {2013}, month = {1/2013}, address = {Wailea, HI}, url = {http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1960696}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/hicss2013_CrowstonJullienOrtegawork_revised.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and Nicolas Jullien and Felipe Ortega} }