@conference {804, title = {Users of Open Source Software - How do they get help?}, booktitle = {HICSS 2009}, year = {2009}, abstract = {A study was conducted across multiple open source software online technical help communities. This paper presents the types of discussions that occur, the types of questions asked and the type of responses that are given. The implications for socio-technical design are considered, exploring how help requests and discussions can be used to improve future help-giving, documentation and interface and functionality redesign.}, keywords = {technical help}, doi = {http://doi.ieeecomputersociety.org/10.1109/HICSS.2009.489}, author = {Singh, V and Twidale, M.B and Nichols, D.M} } @conference {1460670, title = {The confusion of crowds: non-dyadic help interactions}, booktitle = {CSCW {\textquoteright}08: Proceedings of the 2008 ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work}, year = {2008}, pages = {699{\textendash}702}, publisher = {ACM}, organization = {ACM}, address = {New York, NY, USA}, abstract = {Help-giving interactions in open source technical support often involve more people than the conventional help-giver help-seeker pair. Contributions include lightweight but useful me-too contributions from fellow help-seekers. Problems with the reuse of help documentation may be resolved by contextualized discussions, and those discussions themselves are found to be substantially reused. }, keywords = {help-giving, technical help}, isbn = {978-1-60558-007-4}, doi = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1460563.1460670}, author = {Singh, V and Twidale, M.B} } @conference {Twidale2008, title = {Infrastructures From the Bottom-Up and the Top-Down: Can They Meet in the Middle?}, booktitle = {Proceedings PDC 2008}, year = {2008}, pages = {238-241}, abstract = {Based on a study of participatory design in the development of cyberinfrastructure involving the rapid composition of open source software and web services, we consider cases where researchers create their own ad hoc infrastructures out of available software. We compare "top- down" and "bottom-up" cyberinfrastructure development and speculate on whether the two approaches can be productively combined.}, author = {Twidale, M.B and Floyd, I.R.} } @proceedings {813, title = {Infrastructures From the Bottom-Up and the Top-Down: Can They Meet in the Middle?}, year = {2008}, pages = {238-241.}, abstract = {Based on a study of participatory design in the development of cyberinfrastructure involving the rapid composition of open source software and web services, we consider cases where researchers create their own ad hoc infrastructures out of available software. We compare "top- down" and "bottom-up" cyberinfrastructure development and speculate on whether the two approaches can be productively combined.}, url = {http://hdl.handle.net/2142/9526}, author = {Twidale, M.B and Floyd, I.R.} } @inbook {812, title = {Patchworks of Open-Source Software: High-Fidelity Low-cost Prototypes. }, booktitle = {The Handbook of Research on Open Source Software. }, year = {2007}, pages = {126-140.}, publisher = {Idea Group, Inc.}, organization = {Idea Group, Inc.}, author = {Jones, M.C. and Floyd, I.R. and Twidale, M.B} } @conference {807, title = {Web Mash-ups and Patchwork Prototyping: User-driven technological innovation with Web 2.0 and Open Source Software}, booktitle = {2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS{\textquoteright}07)2007 40th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS{\textquoteright}07)}, year = {2007}, pages = {86 - 86}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Waikoloa, HI, USA}, abstract = {The recent emergence of web mash-ups and open source software is driving the development of new practices in software and systems development. In this paper we explore novel practices of user-driven innovation through an examination of several case studies which illustrate how users and developers are exploiting the proliferation of open APIs and open source systems. Developers can rapidly create proofs of concept that are robust enough for actual use by combining preexisting software components. The underlying programming processes involved make use of tried-and-true software development techniques, and may not appear innovative at first. However, the application of these practices and techniques to problem solving by non-programmers shows a high degree of creative innovation, giving rise to new ways of thinking about technology design and production.}, isbn = {0-7695-2755-8}, issn = {1530-1605}, doi = {10.1109/HICSS.2007.612}, author = {Floyd, I.R. and Jones, M.C. and Rathi, D. and Twidale, M.B} } @conference {814, title = {Open Source Technical Support: A Look at Peer Help-Giving}, booktitle = {39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS{\textquoteright}06)Proceedings of the 39th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS{\textquoteright}06)}, volume = {6}, year = {2006}, pages = {118c}, publisher = {IEEE}, organization = {IEEE}, address = {Kauia, HI, USA}, abstract = {We explore online technical support of open source software by a study of postings to discussion boards. Our results indicate that there are several types of detail that are required by the help-givers to be able to diagnose and remediate help-seekers{\textquoteright} difficulties. As a result help interactions may iterate somewhat inefficiently. These findings are compared with studies of telephone technical help lines for commercial software, and library reference interviews. By considering certain rather problematic interactions we can identify ways to improve the process.}, doi = {10.1109/HICSS.2006.370}, author = {Singh, V and Twidale, M.B and Rathi, D.} } @conference {815, title = {Wikifying your interface: Facilitating Community-Based Interface Translation}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the 6th ACM conference on Designing Interactive systems - DIS {\textquoteright}06}, year = {2006}, pages = {321-330}, publisher = {ACM Press}, organization = {ACM Press}, abstract = {We explore the application of a wiki-based technology and style of interaction to enabling the incremental translation of a collaborative application into a number of different languages, including variant English language interfaces better suited to the needs of particular user communities. The development work allows us to explore in more detail the design space of functionality and interfaces relating to tailoring, customization, personalization and localization, and the challenges of designing to support ongoing incremental contributions by members of different use communities.}, isbn = {1595933670}, doi = {10.1145/1142405.1142453}, author = {Jones, M.C. and Rathi, D. and Twidale, M.B} }