Survey about newcomer experience for LibreOffice project contributors

users
#1

Hi,
I am currently conducting a survey that looks at the influence of newcomer
experience on contributor behavior and performance in Free/Open Source
Software communities.

If you have joined the LibreOffice community within the last 2 years, I
would like to invite you to complete the survey. I am interested in hearing
from people who are either technical or non-technical contributors, and who
have had either positive or negative newcomer experiences.

The survey is available HERE
<https://limesurvey.sim.vuw.ac.nz/index.php?sid=14153&lang=en> .
It will be available until Monday, 29 October, 2012.

The data you provide will help understand the experience of newcomers within
the LibreOffice community. It will also be used to refine the survey before
it is later administered to contributors from other FOSS projects.

This survey is anonymous, and no information that would identify you is
being collected. The School of Information Management Human Ethics Committee
has approved this research project.

If you know members of the LibreOffice community who you think would be
interested in completing it, please do not hesitate to let them know about
this research.

I will post news about my progress with this research, and the results on my
blog: http://kevincarillo.org.

Thanks.

Kevin Carillo
PhD candidate
School of Information Management
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand

#2

Hi :slight_smile:
So, pretty much everyone in LO then! :)  Even people that worked in OOo for a decade and Star Office before that are likely to have been in LO for 2 years and a couple of weeks.  LO celebrated it's 2nd birthday just a couple of weeks ago.  So everyone is eligible :slight_smile:
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#3

Just to clarify, is this only for official members? There is a difference
between the main community and official members of TDF. Most people are not
official members, there's a long process that has some requirements to it.
I started the survey and stopped when I cam across Question #5, I'm not an
official member of TDF.

Please clarify and we'll move forward. Thanks!

Regards,
Joel

#4

Hi :slight_smile:
Hmmm, i still haven't looked but would be very disappointed if it really is only official members.  However fast the application membership process is it's unlikely to ever meet demand.  I'm hoping for a bit of a "snowball effect" = as more people become members it becomes faster to process the applications.

I'm not an official member either and even amongst those that contribute a lot only a tiny percentage are officially members.  It seems likely that i might even be thrown off the lists soon due to a few disagreements i am currently having with the BoD.  I'm often in that position so it's unlikely i would ever be allowed to be a member!  On the other hand some in the BoD applaud me :)  [shrugs]
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#5

I don't know much about their process. I know I applied and am waiting for
feedback. I know that to be a member there are a few requests from TDF.
They want commitment and I think that's the biggest thing. I've only been a
contributor for about 4 months but in that time I've become really involved
so we'll see. I agree, the survey shouldn't be just for members, that being
said, wording should change to not confuse people if that's the case .

Regards,
Joel

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
The trick is not to take it personally even if they have to reject you first time you apply.  Part of the process is to try to find 2 people that are already members who are willing to and who have time to support your application.  One bunch of us were somewhat depending on getting accepted in the right order but it kinda fell through.  So, just apply again [shrugs] if you don't get in first time.  Copy&paste is good. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

What's an official member? How to become one? What are the advantages for the member and for the community?
Thx
O.

www.orlandofigueiredo.net
LinkedIn/facebook/skype/twitter: of1967

#8

Official membership is for contributors, there is a process of commitment,
verification, etc... to become one. To become one the first step is to
become a contributor (meaning developer, marketing team, etc...)

Regards,
Joel

#9

thx 8-

www.orlandofigueiredo.net
LinkedIn/facebook/skype/twitter: of1967

#10

Thanks for those who have already taken part in the survey.

It has been brought to my attention that several questions refer to the notion of membership within the LibreOffice community. By membership I am not asking about TDF membership, instead I am referring to the point when you began contributing to the LibreOffice software project (developing, reporting bugs, writing documentation, etc...). TDF members however fully qualify for taking part in the survey. It will be interesting to compare both types of newcomer experience.

However, regular users are not included. I am definitely not saying that LibreOffice users are not important for the community (since LibO would not exist without its users) but simply that the survey targets the experience of new contributors when joining the LibO project. It encompasses the tasks they had to undertake to learn how to contribute as well as the interactions with other community members while learning about how to contribute to the software project.

Potential survey participants shall have joined the LibO community within the last 2 years. LibO celebrated its 2-year birthday recently, and you may argue that everyone in LibO then joined within the last 2 years. The survey applies to people who joined the LibO community since it was created but who were not previously involved in the OpenOffice project.

The survey description has been updated to clarify both aspects.

For those who are at the LibO conference right now, have fun!

Kevin (kevouze on irc)

#11

Hi :slight_smile:
The survey software is apparently released under a GPL licence and you can save the survey at any point and then carry on later.  It doesn't need to take much time although i can imagine a few people agonising over non-Yes/No questions.  It's multiple choice so just whizz through and then maybe glance over the page and make corrections

It seems like a good thing to do but it's a free choice
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#12

Thanks, Tom.
I have used LimeSurvey to design the survey and it is indeed under a GPL license. For those who want to save the survey and carry on some time later, you just have to click on the ‘Resume later’ button and you will get a popup asking you to enter your email address (don’t worry, I am not saving the email addresses, it is all happening within LimeSurvey and I have no control). You will then be sent an email giving you a link which when clicked will take you exactly where you had left the survey.

I thought it was some convenient feature for those who are pretty busy and cannot dedicate 20 minutes in one go.

Please everyone, do not hesitate to give me any feedback about survey. Feedback is always good!

Kevin

#13

Hi :slight_smile:
Most studies about desktop users are funded by MS.  It's pretty rare to see one that mentions OpenSource at all.  Mysteriously, the ones that get published tend to favour MS, so it's really quite amazing to find one that might be independent and might even discover some truths.  So, I think anyone that can take the survey might well be helping both us and the people doing the survey.

https://limesurvey.sim.vuw.ac.nz/index.php?sid=14153〈=en

It doesn't take long to complete the survey and it can be done in chunks quite easily.  I think we should support it so i am forwarding it to another couple of lists.  It's interesting that their definition of 'newcomer' (they mean someone in LO around 2 years or less) covers just about everyone using LO.  I wasn't in OpenOffice.org but i get the impression that there are significant differences in infrastructure, attitudes and approach.  Also their definition of "member" is a lot more open than TDF's so if
you are not officially a member then you can probably still fill it in.

Regards from
Tom Davies

#14

Remember that you must be a contributor though. A user who just asks questions on the user forum should not fill out the survey. If you regularly help others on the user forum, I would say you're easily a contributor, but a person who only asks a question here or there, probably shouldn't fill out the survey

Regards,
Joel

#15

Hi :slight_smile:
The questions in the survey cover a lot of that.  Even if you don't think you contribute much then it's still worth starting to fill it in.  It is likely that you underestimate how much you contribute so let the form be the judge of whether you do enough to be able to make sensible answers.

Some of the questions seemed to have certain assumptions about why you might agree, or disagree with that particular question but then a subsequent question would often allow me "to set the record straight" or at least push it in the right direction a bit.

Kinda reminded me of a meeting where an intellectual voted in favour of an amendment, which got accepted but then he voted against the main proposal (which also passed which upset him a little).  People were completely baffled about his actions until they really thought about it. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: