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CALL FOR CHAPTERS
Submission Deadline: November 30th, 2005
Extended Submission Deadline: Friday 16th, December 2005
Emerging Free and Open Source Software Practices
Extended Submission Deadline: Friday 16th, December 2005
Emerging Free and Open Source Software Practices
A book edited by Sulayman K Sowe, Dr. Ioannis Stamelos and Ioannis Samoladas
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
For more information See Info board
Introduction
Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) successes in the area of operating systems (Linux), Web Services (Apache), database applications (MySQL, PostgreSQL), etc., demonstrates that the Bazaar model is a viable software development approach. These successes may be attributed to the idiosyncratic practices adopted by F/OSS projects, which have not been the common practices in traditional software engineering projects. This 'new' way of developing software continues to attract the research interest of many individuals and organisations.
However, trends in research findings coupled with the popularity of F/OSS have highlighted a number of challenges the development model and projects face. These challenges range from issues of inactive volunteerism, quality assurance, changes in the ecology and dynamics of the communities, effective tools and practices to manage and support the software process, the lack of explicit guidelines and specifications inherent in traditional software development, knowledge management issues, to the technicalities of how to meet the needs of a new generation of F/OSS developers, testers, and users.
F/OSS projects have adopted practices to address some of these critical issues and help them succeed. On the other hand, a large number of projects never made it beyond the first version. However, each project is distinct and each hosting platform or portal poses unique challenges projects must surmount to succeed. Researches have also gathered momentum in some of these areas but information remains sparse and mainly consist of a collection of conference presentations, journal research papers, postings in projects web sites and personal blogs. Thus, the primary aim of this book is to produce a compilation of (best and worst) software practices adopted in various F/OSS projects.
Overall Objective of the Book
The objective of the book is to provide a collection of empirical research on emerging F/OSS practices and to bring together the scattered research relating to the status of F/OSS in general. The book will report on past and on-going F/OSS case studies, covering a wide range of F/OSS application domains. These will provide a framework and state-of-the-art reference on F/OSS and postulate trends in the evolution of F/OSS and its ubiquitous nature in general.
The Target Audience
The book is not targeted to the much-stereotyped F/OSS hackers alone, but also to individuals having their first experience in the F/OSS environment. Industries and agencies implementing and adopting F/OSS strategies will also benefit as it addresses decisive technical and managerial issues. Practitioners and academic research establishments interested in the inner-working of F/OSS projects will benefit from this publication. Universities and colleges implementing F/OSS as part of their computer science curricular can use the text as a supplementary to computer science textbooks to teach the students how to select, get involved in and make the best use of what F/OSS has to offer.
Possible Topics
Recommended topics include (but are not limited to):
- Emerging trends in initiating/hosting of F/OSS projects
- Community participation at various levels of project activities
- Motivation and members roles
- Managing of F/OSS projects (Software, people, distributions)
- Software development and coordination tools that foster collaboration
- Conflict and coordination in F/OSS projects
- Case studies (qualitative and quantitative investigations of academic projects, commercial projects, hybrid projects, successful and failed projects)
- F/OSS projects. Perspectives from commercial and public organisations
- Economic aspects of F/OSS projects
- Surveys of quality practices of a number of F/OSS projects
- Emerging research directions into F/OSS. For example, the use of social and collaborative networks, the role of knowledge management in understanding knowledge sharing in F/OSS projects.
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before November 30th, 2005, a 2-5 page manuscript proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by December 31st, 2005 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter organisational guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by April 30th, 2006. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. The book is scheduled to be published by Idea Group Inc., www.idea-group.com, publisher of the Idea Group Publishing, Information Science Publishing, IRM Press, CyberTech Publishing and Idea Group Reference imprints, in 2007.
Important Dates
Chapter proposal due: November 30th, 2005
Proposal acceptance notification: December 31st, 2005
Full chapter due: April 30th, 2006
Final chapter status notification: August 31st, 2006
Contact Information
Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word or PDF document) or by mail to:
Sulayman K. Sowe
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
54124 Thessaloniki, Greece.
Tel:+30 2310 991927
Fax:+30 2310 998419
E-mail:sksowe@csd.auth.gr
Copyright (cc) 2006, Software Engineering Group, Department of Informatics, A.U.Th.