ITR: Understanding Open Software Communities, Processes and Practices: A Socio-Technical Approach

本研究将发展基于经验的社会过程、技术系统配置、组织背景和产生开放软件的相互关系的模型和理论。“开放软件”，或者更狭义地说，开源软件，代表了一种新的方法，让志同道合的参与者社区开发旨在自由共享的软件系统，而不是作为商业产品提供。虽然有越来越多的流行文献证明开放软件，但很少有仔细系统的实证研究来告知这些社区如何生产软件；他们如何协调不同环境下的软件开发；什么样的社会过程、工作实践和组织环境对他们的成功是必要的。因此，在某种程度上，科学研究团体和商业企业寻求开放软件的假定功效，他们将需要更好的有根据的使用理论，以允许有效地投资他们的资源。本研究调查了四个从事开放软件的社区。将采用实地研究方法，从技术和社会的角度检查每个社区。研究社会和技术安排，可以在一个共同的社会-技术生态中检查两者的不断出现。案例研究方法将用于跨社区的比较。

This study will develop empirically grounded models and theories of the social processes, technical system configurations, organizational contexts, and interrelationships that give rise to open software. "Open software", or more narrowly, open source software, represents a new approach for communities of like-minded participants to develop software systems that are intended to be shared freely, rather than offered as commercial products. While there is a growing popular literature attesting to open software, there is little in the way of careful systematic empirical study that informs how such communities produce software; how they coordinate software development across different settings; and what social processes, work practices, and organizational contexts are necessary to their success. Thus, to the extent that science research communities and commercial enterprises seek the supposed efficacy of open software, they will need better grounded theories of use to allow effective investment of their resources. This study investigates four communities engaged in open software. Field study methods will be employed to examine each community from both a technical and social viewpoint. Studying both social and technical arrangements allows the examination of the continual emergence of both within a joint social-technical ecology. Case study methods will be used to compare across communities.