On Understanding How to Introduce an Innovation to an Open Source Project

Abstract

We propose to research the introduction of Software Engineering inventions into Open Source projects (1) to help researchers with creating opportunities for evaluating their tools, methods and process designs in real-life settings, and (2) to help Open Source projects with improving their processes based on state-of-the-art knowledge. Such research will go beyond diffusion and dissemination of inventions to active introduction, and thus increase the chances of adoption. We will discuss the research approach, our preliminary insights, limitations of the approach, and why researchers interested in evaluating their own inventions should be interested in this research.