ITR: Collaborative Research: Organizational Dynamics of Software Problems, Bugs, Failures and Repairs

这个项目将通过在社会技术背景下研究软件问题来开发一个新的，综合的软件问题管理理论。研究人员将比较分析来自开源软件开发项目（如网络计算机游戏，互联网/Web基础设施，X射线天文学/深空成像和学术软件研究）的大量（千兆字节）问题报告数据，使用嵌入式理论和自动化概念，数据和文本挖掘方法。该项目将分析软件工件，问题事件，问题管理活动，问题管理基础设施和潜在的社会组织之间的（错误）对齐的实例。通过将这些要素之间的（错误）对齐模式与结果联系起来，例如易于修复，问题的持久性，交换的信息量，所需的技能种类以及社会组织结构，将建立解释模型。 由此产生的模型可以指导软件的新工具，基础设施和组织实践的发展。它们还将为全社区获取和管理知识的做法提供新的视角。这项研究将提供一个概念上的转变，了解系统的开发和使用是如何结合在一起的丰富性，多样性和时间演变的社会技术背景下提供的全球软件行业。

This project will develop a new, integrative theory of software problem management by studying softwareproblems in their ongoing sociotechnical contexts. The researchers willcomparatively analyze large bodies (gigabytes) of longitudinalproblem-report data from open-source software development projects such as networked computer games, Internet/Web infrastructure, X-ray astronomy/deep space imaging, and academic software research, using grounded-theory and automated concept, data, and text-miningmethods. The project will analyze instances of (mis-)alignment between software artifacts, problem episodes, problem-management activities, problem-management infrastructure, and underlying socialorganization. Explanatory models will be built by linking patterns of (mis-)alignment among these elements to outcomes such as ease-of-repair, persistence of problems, amount of information exchanged, kinds of skills needed, and structure of social organization. The resulting models can guide the development of newtools, infrastructures, and organizational practices for software. They will also provide new perspectives on community-wide practices of capturing and managing knowledge. This research will provide a conceptual shift in understanding how system development and use are bound together with the richness, variety, and temporal evolution of the socio-technical contexts provided by the global software industry.