Multi‐disciplinary Advancement in Open Source Software and Processes

Citation

Chawner, B. (2012), "Multi‐disciplinary Advancement in Open Source Software and Processes", Online Information Review, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 327-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/14684521211240199

This edited book begins with a preface by the editor, which reviews literature about open source software (OSS) project effort and efficiency, noting that the most common technique involves mining data from source code repositories. The remainder of the book consists of 14 chapters by different authors, arranged in three sections. The three sections are not named, leaving the reader wondering why the chapters have been grouped in this way. Overall, the book represents a cross section of the topics and methods emerging in the OSS research community.

The topics covered in section 1 include: a longitudinal case study of an Irish public sector organisation that has adopted a number of OSS packages, tools and datasets for mining source code repositories, the use of sprinting (an agile development technique) to increase productivity in an OSS development project, and the use of OSS projects to teach software engineering. Section 2 includes chapters discussing an agent‐based model of FLOSS projects and competition between OSS and proprietary software, while Section 3 includes an analysis of the social network structure of 143 OSS projects and a survey investigation the relationship between developer motivation and license type and status hierarchy. The research methods include case studies, data mining, modelling and surveys.

Each chapter includes a list of references; the book also includes an integrated compilation of all references, plus a subject index. One unusual characteristic of the work is that all of the chapters previously appeared as articles in the International Journal of Open Source Software and Processes (IJOSSP) Volume 1, Issues 1, 2 and 4 (2009), though some titles have been changed. The only new part of the book appears to be the preface. Given the price and the duplication of content from the IJOSSP, the book is only recommended for libraries which do not subscribe to the journal, and which have strong collections on software development/open source software.