How e-Entrepreneurs operate in the context of open source software

The Internet has become an integral part of our everyday lives and it is often difficult to imagine how we ever functioned without it. This chapter presents experiences of two entrepreneurial companies, one of which has survived the 'dot-com bubble burst.' The chapter identifies current and future online business environments especially in light of open source software (OSS)   being accepted globally. Unlike proprietary software (such as Windows), OSS comes with its internal implementation details (source code) visible both to its developers and users, along with the freedom to change and redistribute this source. The significant implications of this unique style of software distribution for e-entrepreneurs are examined. Having a flexible  strategic plan; possessing management skills; providing excellent service; and having patience are some of the recommendations provided by  interviewed e-entrepreneurs. When made part of the decision making  process, these recommendations would enhance current and future e_entrepreneurs in sustaining their business.

E-entrepreneurship and open source software

As the first stage of a larger project, this paper presents experiences of two e-Entrepreneurs in the light of Open Source Software (OSS) being accepted globally. Unlike proprietary software (such as Windows), OSS comes with its internal details visible to its users. The significant implications of this unique style of software distribution for e-Entrepreneurs are examined. Recommendations arising from the interviews include the need to be technically competent; understanding the reasons behind adopting this strategy; and identifying and addressing customers' requirements. Authors also found similarities between traits (such as being visionary; being responsive to market changes) which make an entrepreneur and e-Entrepreneurs successful.

An open source approach for regional cortical bone mineral density analysis

Objective: Cortical porosity, particularly at the endocortical region, is recognised to play a central role in the pathogenesis of bone fragility. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to: 1) demonstrate how cortical volumetric BMD (vBMD) distribution can be analysed from (p)QCT images and 2) highlight the clinical significance of assessing regional density distribution of cortical bone. 

Methods: We used pQCT to compare mid-tibial cortical volumetric BMD distribution of 20 young (age 24(SD2) years, mass 77(11) kg, height 178(6) cm) and 25 elderly (72(4) years, 75(9) kg, 172(5) cm) men. Radial and polar cortical vBMD distributions were analysed using a custom built open source analysis tool which allowed the cortex to be divided into three concentric cortical divisions and in 36 cortical sectors originating from the centroid of the bone.

Results: Mean vBMD did not differ between the groups (1135(16) vs. 1130(28) mg/cm, P=0.696). In contrast, there was a significant age-group by radial division interaction for radial cortical vBMD (P<0.001).

Conclusions: The proposed analysis method for analysing cortical bone density distribution of pQCT images was effective for detecting regional differences in cortical density between young and elderly men, which would have been missed by just looking at mean vBMD values.

Performance evaluation of open source seismic data processing packages

In many businesses, including hydrocarbon industries, reducing cost is of high priority. Although hydrocarbon industries appear able to afford the expensive computing infrastructure and software packages used to process seismic data in the search for hydrocarbon traps, it is always imperative to find ways to minimize cost. Seismic processing costs can be significantly reduced by using inexpensive, open source seismic data processing packages. However, hydrocarbon industries question the processing performance capability of open source packages, claiming that their seismic functions are less integrated and provide almost no technical guarantees for one to use. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate, through a comparative analysis, that open source seismic data processing packages are capable of executing the required seismic functions on an actual industrial workload. To achieve this objective we investigate whether or not open source seismic data processing packages can be executed using the same set of seismic data through data format conversions, and whether or not they can achieve reasonable performance and speedup when executing parallel seismic functions on a HPC cluster. Among the few open source packages available on the Internet, the subjects of our study are two popular packages: Seismic UNIX (SU) and Madagascar.

Squatting at the digital campfire: researching the open source software community

This paper describes an internet-mediated netnography of the open source software (OSS) community. A brief history of OSS is presented, along with a discussion of the defining characteristics of the phenomenon. A theoretical rationale for the method is then offered and several unique features detailed. The evolution of the methodology in practice is described and salient lessons highlighted. In addition to gathering a large volume of rich data as intended, early phases of the implementation of this method produced a number of unanticipated but significant findings. The paper concludes by summarising the key methodological considerations for conducting a phenomenology of a true online community

Open-source vs proprietary VLE: An explanatory study of staff perceptions

This paper explores staff perceptions of two open-source Virtual learning environments (VLEs), Sakai 2.4.1 and Moodle 1.8, compared to Blackboard Vista 4. In general, staff felt that Sakai was simpler to use, but lacked some of the richer functionality available in Blackboard. A general dissatisfaction with both Sakai and Blackboard led to trialling of Moodle which was percieved more favourably than Blackboard

XBRL: an (open) source of enlightenment or disillusion?

Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) is being adopted byEuropean regulators as a data standard for the exchange of business information. Thispaper examines the approach of XBRL International (XII) to the meta-data standard’sdevelopment and diffusion. We theorise the development of XBRL using conceptsdrawn from a model of successful open source projects. Comparison of the open sourcemodel to XBRL enables us to identify a number of interesting similarities anddifferences. In common with open source projects, the benefits and progress of XBRLhave been overstated and ‘hyped’ by enthusiastic participants. While XBRL is an opendata standard in terms of access to the equivalent of its ‘source code’ we find that thegovernance structure of the XBRL consortium is significantly different to a model opensource approach. The barrier to participation that is created by requiring paidmembership and a focus on transacting business at physical conferences and meetingsis identified as particularly critical. Decisions about the technical structure of XBRL,the regulator-led pattern of adoption and the organisation of XII are discussed. Finallyareas for future research are identified.

Reporting usability defects: limitations of open source defect repositories and suggestions for improvement

Capturing good quality defect reports is critical for ensuring quick resolution of defects. While a range of studies into defect reporting exists, to date, very few focused on usability defect reporting issues can be found. To better understand issues specific to usability defect reporting, we carried out a survey of 56 contributors to the Mozilla and Google Chromium software projects spanning both usability defect reporters and developers. We discovered a range of limitations and key issues in current usability defect reporting tools and approaches identified as important by reporters and developers. In addition, we highlight opportunities to improve defect-reporting tools based on these open source communities' needs.

Fitting fuzzy measures by linear programming. Programming library fmtools

We discuss the problem of learning fuzzy measures from empirical data. Values of the discrete Choquet integral are fitted to the data in the least absolute deviation sense. This problem is solved by linear programming techniques. We consider the cases when the data are given on the numerical and interval scales. An open source programming library which facilitates calculations involving fuzzy measures and their learning from data is presented.

Using social software to support the teaching of IT professional practice

Social software has been used to support problem-based learning activities in a wholly online information technology (IT) professional practice course at Deakin University since 2006. When the course was first delivered, the authentic learning environment was a website, with an intranet and team forums created in Drupal, the open source content management system (CMS). Although this environment was suitable, feedback from students and teaching staff highlighted areas where improvements could be made. In the second year of the course, Joomla!, the open source CMS, in combination with Simple Machines Forum (SMF), the open source online discussion community software, was used to provide the website, as well as the intranet and team forums respectively. Feedback in 2007 was more positive, suggesting that the Joomla!-SMF social software combination and the features implemented, improved the learning and teaching experience in comparison to the 2006 version of the course.

Global text project : new horizons in textbook marketing

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the global text project (GTP) case. The unique developments of the case provide insight of the many challenges and opportunities created within the open source movement.

Design/methodology/approach: A case study was used to illustrate some of the most pertinent and interesting developments in the field of marketing, alluding to the open source environment. A Wikibook was created in collaboration with all the participants of a graduate course and the development of this offering initiated a project called the GTP.

Findings: The open source movement has created new ways of thinking and acting. The contributions, modifications and improvements by all users to the original product provide a platform of continuous improvement and development.

Originality/value: The value of the paper lies in the lessons and challenges learnt from the case especially by those managing the GTP.

Identifying annotations for adventure game generation from fiction text

Recent advancements in Text-to-Scene research have lead to the development of systems which automatically extract key concepts from the text of a fiction book and generate computer animated movies depicting the story. Extracting such annotations from raw fiction text is a laborious process and so in this work we evaluate appropriate candidates to serve as the basis for the required annotations for generating interactive virtual worlds.

We validate our choice by generating adventure games: inter-active virtual worlds which create a stylized representation of the environment described in the text, populate it with characters related to the story and define game goals related to the plot of the fiction story. Our prototype produces a fully playable game, making use of an existing open-source game engine.

The process is evaluated using user tests in which participants are asked to measure the accuracy with which the game represents the events, characters and goals described in the story. The response indicates that the chosen annotation set is sufficient to define a game that is a plausibly acceptable representation of the text.

Analysis of malicious and benign Android applications

Since its establishment, the Android applications market has been infected by a proliferation of malicious applications. Recent studies show that rogue developers are injecting malware into legitimate market applications which are then installed on open source sites for consumer uptake. Often, applications are infected several times. In this paper, we investigate the behavior of malicious Android applications, we present a simple and effective way to safely execute and analyze them. As part of this analysis, we use the Android application sandbox Droidbox to generate behavioral graphs for each sample and these provide the basis of the development of patterns to aid in identifying it. As a result, we are able to determine if family names have been correctly assigned by current anti-virus vendors. Our results indicate that the traditional anti-virus mechanisms are not able to correctly identify malicious Android applications.