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

本项目将通过在持续的社会技术背景下研究软件问题，发展一种新的、集成的软件问题管理理论。研究人员将比较分析大量（千兆字节）的纵向问题报告数据，这些数据来自开源软件开发项目，如网络电脑游戏、互联网/网络基础设施、x射线天文学/深空成像和学术软件研究，使用扎根理论和自动化概念、数据和文本挖掘方法。该项目将分析软件工件、问题集、问题管理活动、问题管理基础结构和底层社会组织之间（错误）对齐的实例。解释性模型将通过将这些元素之间的（错误）对齐模式与结果（如易于修复、问题的持久性、交换的信息量、所需的技能种类和社会组织结构）联系起来来建立。所产生的模型可以指导软件的新工具、基础结构和组织实践的开发。它们还将为整个社区获取和管理知识的实践提供新的视角。这项研究将在理解系统开发和使用如何与全球软件工业所提供的社会技术背景的丰富性、多样性和时间演变联系在一起方面提供一个概念上的转变。

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.