@article {2017, title = {Work~features to support stigmergic coordination in distributed teams}, year = {2017}, type = {Interactive paper}, abstract = {

When work products are shared via a computer system, members of distributed teams can see the work products produced by remote colleagues as easily as those from local colleagues. Drawing on coordination theory and work in computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW), we theorize that these work products can provide information to support team coordination, that is, that work can be coordinated through the outcome of the work itself, a mode of coordination analogous to the biological process of stigmergy. Based on studies of documents and work, we postulate three features of work products that enable them to support team coordination, namely having a clear genre, being visible and mobile, and being combinable. These claims are illustrated with examples drawn from free/libre open source software development teams. We conclude by discussing how the proposed theory might be empirically tested.

}, keywords = {Coordination, Stigmergy}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/Stigmergy\%20theory\%20paper\%20to\%20share.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and James Howison and Bolici, Francesco and Carsten {\O}sterlund} } @article {9998, title = {Stigmergic coordination in FLOSS development teams: Integrating explicit and implicit mechanisms}, journal = {Cognitive Systems Research}, volume = {38}, year = {2016}, pages = {14{\textendash}22}, keywords = {Coordination, Stigmergy}, doi = {10.1016/j.cogsys.2015.12.003}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/COGSYS-RS-\%28HHS\%29-\%282015\%29-\%283\%29.pdf}, author = {Bolici, Francesco and James Howison and Kevin Crowston} } @article {2010, title = {The under-appreciated role of stigmergic coordination in software development}, year = {2010}, abstract = {

Coordination in software development teams has been a topic of perennial interest in empirical software engineering research. The vast majority of this literature has drawn on a conceptual separation between work and coordination mechanisms, separate from the work itself, which enable groups to achieve coordination. Traditional recommendations and software methods focused on planning: using analysis to predict and manage dependencies. Empirical research has demonstrated the limits of this approach, showing that many important dependencies are emergent and pointing to the persistent importance of explicit discussion to managing these dependencies as they arise. Drawing on work in Computer-Supported Collaborative Work and building from an analogy to collaboration amongst insects (stigmergy), we argue that the work product itself plays an under-appreciated role in helping software developers manage dependencies as they arise. This short paper presents the conceptual argument with empirical illustrations and explains why this mechanism would have significant implications for Software Engineering coordination research. We discuss issues in marshaling clear positive evidence, arguing that these issues are responsible, in part, for the under-consideration of this mechanism in software engineering and outlining research strategies which may overcome these issues.

}, keywords = {Coordination, FLOSS, Stigmergy}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/stigmergy-short.pdf}, author = {Bolici, Francesco and James Howison and Kevin Crowston} } @article {Crowston:2006, title = {Information systems success in Free and Open Source Software development: Theory and measures}, journal = {Software Process{\textendash}Improvement and Practice}, volume = {11}, number = {2}, year = {2006}, pages = {123{\textendash}148}, abstract = {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{\textquoteright}s effectiveness in team building, the speed of the project at responding to bug reports and the project{\textquoteright}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.}, keywords = {FLOSS, Success}, doi = {10.1002/spip.259}, attachments = {https://floss.syr.edu/sites/crowston.syr.edu/files/InformationSystemsSuccessInFree.pdf}, author = {Kevin Crowston and James Howison and Annabi, Hala} }