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Open Source Software, Computer Games, and other Socio-Technical Processes

Open Source Software, Computer Games, and other Socio-Technical Processes. Walt Scacchi Institute for Software Research and University of California Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3425 USA http://www.ics.uci.edu/~wscacchi. Game Culture and Technology.

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Open Source Software, Computer Games, and other Socio-Technical Processes

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  1. Open Source Software, Computer Games, and other Socio-Technical Processes Walt Scacchi Institute for Software Research and University of California Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3425 USA http://www.ics.uci.edu/~wscacchi

  2. Game Culture and Technology • Games as immersive, experiential literary form -- game play as emergent narrative • Gaming as rapidly growing global industry • “Modding” and making games as practice-based learning and career development • Games as new media and cultural form • Game culture as social movement

  3. Game play as emergent narrative and storymaking

  4. Game World Stats

  5. What is free/open source software development? • Free (as in “freedom”) vs. open source • Freedom to access, browse/view, study, modify and redistribute the source code • Free is always open, but open is not always free • F/OSSD is not “software engineering” • Different: F/OSSD can be faster, better, and cheaper than SE in some circumstances • F/OSSD involves more software development tools, Web resources, and personal computing resources

  6. OSS Development Models • Free Software (GPL) • Open Source (BSD/MIT, Mozilla, Apache) • Corporate Source (Hewlett-Packard) • Consortium/Alliance (OSDL, SugarCRM) • Corporate-Sponsored (IBM-Eclipse, Sun-Netbeans, Sun-OpenOffice, HP-Gelato) • Shared Source (Microsoft) • Community Source (Sakai, Westwood)

  7. OSSD Project Characteristics • OSS Developers are always users of what they build, while OSS users (>1%) are also OSS developers • Requires “critical mass” of contributors and OSS components connected through socio-technical interaction networks • OSSD projects emerge/evolve via bricolage • Unanticipated architectural (de)compositions • Multi-project component integrations • OSSD teams use 10-50 OSSD tools to support their development work

  8. OSSD Project Characteristics • Operational code early and often--actively improved and continuously adapted • Post-facto software system requirements and design • OSSD is not Software Engineering • OSSD has its own “-ilities” which differ from those for SE • Caution: the vast majority of OSSD projects fail to grow or to produce a beta release.

  9. F/OSS Processes for Requirements or Design • F/OSS Requirements/Designs • not explicit • not formal • F/OSS Requirements/Designs are embedded within “informalisms” • Example OSS informalisms to follow (as screenshot displays) • F/OSS Requirements/Design processes are different from their SE counterparts.

  10. Evolutionary redevelopment, reinvention, and redistribution • One recurring evolutionary dynamic of F/OSSD is reinvention • Reinvention enables continuous improvement • F/OSS evolve through continuously emerging mutations (incremental innovation/adaptation) • Expressed, recombined, redistributed via incremental releases

  11. Evolutionary redevelopment, reinvention, and redistribution • F/OSS systems co-evolve with their development community • Success of one depends on the success of the other • Closed legacy systems may be revitalized via opening and redistribution of their source • When enthusiastic user-developers want their cultural experience with such systems to be maintained.

  12. Project management and career development • F/OSSD projects self-organize as a meritocractic role-hierarchy and virtual project management • Meritocracies embrace incremental innovations over radical innovations • VPM requires people to act in leadership roles based on skill, availability, and belief in project community • F/OSS developers want to learn about new stuff (tools, techniques, skills, etc.), have fun building software, exercise their technical skill, try out new kinds of systems to develop, and/or interconnect multiple F/OSSD projects (freedom of choice and expression).

  13. A meritocractic role hierarchy for F/OSSD (images from A.J. Kim, Community Building on the Web, 2000)

  14. Making games as career development --------------------------- ---------------------

  15. Socio-technical and cultural evolution processes • New processes under study • Joining and contributing to a project in progress • Role-task migration: from project periphery to center • Alliance formation and community development • Independent and autonomous project communities can interlink via social networks that manipulate objects of interaction • Enables possible exponential growth of interacting and interdependent community as socio-technical interaction network

  16. Game related R&D efforts • one research problem for game software development • visual and performing arts • Games as cultural media • science and technology education • Games for informal education in science

  17. (One) software development research problem for games • What is the best way to rapidly create networked games, game worlds, and play experience? • “best” => • faster, better, cheaper • open source (e.g., BSD/MIT style license) • (global) community-based development, contribution and support • Fun, enjoyable, intrinsically motivating, disruptive, etc. • Modification, Construction, or Generation?

  18. Games as a new medium

  19. Informal Science Education • Science Games • (Mechanical) Systems Engineering Game • Dinosaur and Life Science Game • Physical game linked to online/virtual game • Venue for action research • Games for Libraries

  20. CERN Quantum Game

  21. T.Rex • Game story task 1 (grades 1-2) • How does a T.Rex stand and run with short arms (front legs) and a long tail? • How might the tail help the dinosaur when eating? • Domain requirement: must address national/CA science education standards • Example learning task: Place and (re)size tail and neck vertebra into “see-saw” balance system

  22. T.Rex SEE-SAW BALANCE PUZZLE • Demonstrates see-saw like T.Rex engineering • Kids add tail segments to achieve correct balance for raptor skeleton

  23. Computer Games in Libraries • Libraries as community centers for games culture and technology • New game opportunities for public libraries • Science learning games • Game-based graphic novels • Game modding • Library-specific games

  24. Library-Specific Games • Knowledge Quest • navigational, adventure/discovery game • find and assemble knowledge from library resources • acquire practice and skill of library researcher • resident librarians as game masters/mentors • “open source” game engine, content development, and community participation

  25. Summary observations • We find F/OSSD is helping to drive computer game culture and technology • We seek to break down barriers between art, science, technology, culture through computer games, game environments, and open source experiences • We seek to create a new generation of informal learning tools and techniques, together with a global community of developers and users, through a massively shared, participatory collaborative learning environments.

  26. Further information • ISR OSS Research site: www.isr.uci.edu/research-open-source.html • UCI Game Lab: www.ucgamelab.net • MASSIVE summit: www.isr.uci.edu/events/massive/ • W. Scacchi, Free/Open Source Software Development Practices in the Computer Game Community, IEEE Software, 21(1), 59-67, January/February 2004. • W. Scacchi, When Worlds Collide: Emerging Patterns of Intersection and Segmentation when Computerization Movements Interact, working paper, presented at the Social Informatics Workshop,  March 2005.

  27. Acknowledgements • Mark Ackerman (UMichigan), Margaret Elliott (ISR), Les Gasser (UIUC), Chris Jensen (ISR), Robert Nideffer (UCI Game Lab), John Noll (Santa Clara U), also others at ISR and UCI Game Lab. • National Science Foundation (no endorsement implied) #0083075, #0205679, #0205724, and #0350754. • Discovery Science Center

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