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Success-Abandonment-Classification

Workflow Entry: Success-Abandonment-Classification

Created at: 06/02/08 @ 14:35:41 Last updated: 02/07/08 @ 17:15:25

Version 3 (latest) (of 3)

Version created on: 06/02/08 @ 14:35:41 by: Andrea Wiggins | Revision comment Expand

Last edited on: 02/07/08 @ 17:15:25 by: Andrea Wiggins

Title: Success-Abandonment-Classification

Type: Taverna 1

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Description

Retrieves data from FLOSSmole and from the Notre Dame SourceForge repository to compute project statistics based on releases, downloads and project lifespan. Project statistics are then used to classify projects according to the criteria set up in English & Schweik, but comparison criteria are parameterized so that a different set of criterion thresholds can be used to evaluate the project characteristics.

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Workflow Components

Inputs (1)

Name	Description
sf_unixname	List of SourceForge unixnames for the projects of interest; accesses data for time periods through mid-2005.

Processors (18)

Name	Type	Description
mortality_threshold	stringconstant	Length of time for a project to be considered abandoned, if no releases have been made by this time. Unit: days, integer values only.
release_lag_threshold	stringconstant	Desired time between releases so that the releases are not made "too fast" for a sustainable rate of growth. Unit: days, integer values only.
download_threshold	stringconstant
initiation_age_threshold	stringconstant	The threshold for how long a project may remain in the "initiation" stage without having produced a release, and still be considered not abandoned. Unit: days, integer values only
release_rate_type	stringconstant	Allows switching between three versions of deriving the release rate values for comparison to a threshold to determine whether the releases are too frequent for sustainable growth; integer values should be 1 for first_last, 2 for recent_density, or 3 for average_rate.
release_count_threshold	stringconstant	Minimum number of releases to be considered a success.
delist_classtypes	local	Takes classtype output from iterated procedure out of list format and into CSV instead.
delist_stages	local	Takes stage output from iterated procedure out of list format and into CSV instead.
Stages_Analysis	rshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins Provides simple proportions for the stages of projects as output from the classification.
classifier	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins Uses the output of several criterion tests to determine the classification for a given SourceForge project. The if/else statements form a truth table of possible values based on the classification scheme in the English & Schweik article.
classification_csv	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins Assembles outputs of analysis procedures with raw criterion data and creates a single CSV file to record all of the relevant variables in a single file.
Class_Analysis	rshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins Provides simple proportions for the classes of projects as output from the classification.
release_count_test	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the number of releases meets the threshold value for minimum number of releases.
growth_stage_test	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the lifespan of the project (aggregate data from FLOSSmole: data collection date minus founding date) meets the threshold between initiation phase and growth phase.
release_lag_test	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the amount of time over which a given number of releases has occurred exceeds a threshold, which is intended to indicate an appropriate amount of time between releases for sustainable project activity, i.e. not too fast. There are three different methods to compare release rate and the lag threshold, based on: 1) "first_last" time elapsed between first and most recent release, 2) "recent_density" time elapsed between last X releases (where X is the workflow variable to indicate minimum number of releases for success), and 3) "average_releases" average time between each release since the first one. Note that method 3 will have a significantly different appropriate value for the release_lag_threshold variable, as it is based on average time between individual releases rather than aggregate time between several releases.
downloads_test	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the number of aggregate downloads for the project exceeds a minimum threshold for usefulness. This would be an interesting place to substitute a scaling function option for the download_threshold value, perhaps adjusting the threshold according to the project's lifespan or number of releases.
mortality_test	beanshell	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the time between the last release and the date of data collection is within a threshold limit that indicates whether the project is active or inactive.
GetData	workflow	Author: James Howison Procedure to fetch data from FLOSSmole and the Notre Dame SourceForge dumps based on the SourceForge unixname for a given project. Input is a list of project SourceForge unixnames, and a threshold value for the "recent release density" value. Not currently suited for running large batches of projects.

Beanshells (23)

Name	Description	Inputs	Outputs
ConvertEpochToXSD		epoch	xsdDateTime
MergeReleasesToYamlArray		datetimes	releases_xml
buildQueryWhere		sf_unixname	where_clause
buildFLOSSmoleStatisticsQueryString		sf_unixname	queryString
split_SQL_results		result_row	aggregate_downloads lifespan_days data_for_date
ConvertSQLDateToXSDDateTime		sql_date	xsd_datetime
BuildFLOSSmoleURLQueryString		sf_unixname	url_query_string
MatchSFURL		result_row sf_unixname	has_sf_url
count_releases		releases	release_count
GetFirstRelease		datetimes	chosen_datetime
CalcDensityLength		datetime_1 datetime_2	seconds_between
GetLastRelease		index_wanted datetimes	chosen_datetime
TruncateReleasesList		release_datetimes cutoff_date	trunc_release_datetimes
TimeBetweenLastAndCutoff		datetime_1 datetime_2	seconds_between
GetReleaseForDensityCalc		index_wanted datetimes	chosen_datetime
CalcTimeBetweenFirstAndLast		datetime_1 datetime_2	seconds_between
classifier	Author: Andrea Wiggins Uses the output of several criterion tests to determine the classification for a given SourceForge project. The if/else statements form a truth table of possible values based on the classification scheme in the English & Schweik article.	stage usage releases release_mortality release_rate web_site downloads	classtype
classification_csv	Author: Andrea Wiggins Assembles outputs of analysis procedures with raw criterion data and creates a single CSV file to record all of the relevant variables in a single file.	downloads_list lifespan_list sf_unixname_list release_count_list time_last_first_list release_density_list time_last_current_list has_sf_url_list stages_list classification_list release_lag_test_list release_count_test_list downloads_test_list mortality_test_list	out_csv
release_count_test	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the number of releases meets the threshold value for minimum number of releases.	release_count_threshold num_releases	releases
growth_stage_test	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the lifespan of the project (aggregate data from FLOSSmole: data collection date minus founding date) meets the threshold between initiation phase and growth phase.	lifespan initiation_threshold	stage
release_lag_test	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the amount of time over which a given number of releases has occurred exceeds a threshold, which is intended to indicate an appropriate amount of time between releases for sustainable project activity, i.e. not too fast. There are three different methods to compare release rate and the lag threshold, based on: 1) "first_last" time elapsed between first and most recent release, 2) "recent_density" time elapsed between last X releases (where X is the workflow variable to indicate minimum number of releases for success), and 3) "average_releases" average time between each release since the first one. Note that method 3 will have a significantly different appropriate value for the release_lag_threshold variable, as it is based on average time between individual releases rather than aggregate time between several releases.	release_rate_type first_last_release recent_release_density num_releases release_lag_threshold	release_rate
downloads_test	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the number of aggregate downloads for the project exceeds a minimum threshold for usefulness. This would be an interesting place to substitute a scaling function option for the download_threshold value, perhaps adjusting the threshold according to the project's lifespan or number of releases.	downloads download_threshold	usage
mortality_test	Author: Andrea Wiggins For each project, determines whether the time between the last release and the date of data collection is within a threshold limit that indicates whether the project is active or inactive.	mortality_threshold time_since_last_release	release_mortality

Outputs (3)

Name	Description
Class_Output	Proportions of each class of project in the sample. Potential values include: SG (success-growth), TG (tragedy-growth), IG (indeterminate-growth), TI (tragedy-initiation), II (indeterminate-initiation), unclassifiable (has 0 downloads, 0 releases, and a non-SourceForge web site), and other (cannot be classified.) Any project producing an "other" value should be closely scrutinized to determine why it does not fit into the classification scheme; the most likely reason would be the presence of null values due to missing data from one of the repositories.
Stages_Output	Proportions of projects classified as being in the growth or initiation phase.
Classification_Data	CSV output of all the data used for classification, the classification criterion values, and the final class assigned to each project. Suitable for use with R or Excel for later ad-hoc analysis.

Links (43)

Source	Sink
GetData:downloads	classification_csv:downloads_list
GetData:downloads	downloads_test:downloads
GetData:first_last_release	classification_csv:time_last_first_list
GetData:lifespan_days	classification_csv:lifespan_list
GetData:lifespan_days	growth_stage_test:lifespan
GetData:num_releases	classification_csv:release_count_list
GetData:num_releases	release_count_test:num_releases
GetData:recent_release_density	classification_csv:release_density_list
GetData:recent_release_density	release_lag_test:recent_release_density
GetData:time_since_last_release	classification_csv:time_last_current_list
GetData:time_since_last_release	mortality_test:time_since_last_release
GetData:web_site	classification_csv:has_sf_url_list
GetData:web_site	classifier:web_site
classifier:classtype	classification_csv:classification_list
delist_stages:concatenated	Stages_Analysis:stages
download_threshold:value	downloads_test:download_threshold
downloads_test:usage	classification_csv:downloads_test_list
downloads_test:usage	classifier:usage
growth_stage_test:stage	classification_csv:stages_list
growth_stage_test:stage	classifier:stage
growth_stage_test:stage	delist_stages:stringlist
initiation_age_threshold:value	growth_stage_test:initiation_threshold
mortality_test:release_mortality	classification_csv:mortality_test_list
mortality_test:release_mortality	classifier:release_mortality
mortality_threshold:value	mortality_test:mortality_threshold
release_count_test:releases	classifier:releases
release_lag_test:release_rate	classifier:release_rate
release_lag_threshold:value	release_lag_test:release_lag_threshold
release_rate_type:value	release_lag_test:release_rate_type
sf_unixname	GetData:sf_unixname
GetData:downloads	classifier:downloads
GetData:first_last_release	release_lag_test:first_last_release
GetData:num_releases	release_lag_test:num_releases
classifier:classtype	delist_classtypes:stringlist
delist_classtypes:concatenated	Class_Analysis:classtypes
sf_unixname	classification_csv:sf_unixname_list
release_count_test:releases	classification_csv:release_count_test_list
release_count_threshold:value	GetData:release_density_threshold
release_count_threshold:value	release_count_test:release_count_threshold
release_lag_test:release_rate	classification_csv:release_lag_test_list
Class_Analysis:analysis_output	Class_Output
Stages_Analysis:analysis_output	Stages_Output
classification_csv:out_csv	Classification_Data

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Andrea Wiggins

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Information Statistics

3717 viewings

8789 downloads

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Version History

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FLOSS Success-Abandonment Classification

Created by Andrea Wiggins on Wednesday 06 February 2008 @ 14:35:41 (UTC)

Last edited by Andrea Wiggins on Monday 11 February 2008 @ 16:50:39 (UTC)
Success-Abandonment-Classification

Created by Andrea Wiggins on Wednesday 06 February 2008 @ 14:35:41 (UTC)

Last edited by Andrea Wiggins on Thursday 19 June 2008 @ 02:14:31 (UTC)

Revision comment:

This version of the classifier is fully functional, drawing on data from FLOSSmole and the Notre Dame SourceForge repositories. The thresholds for classification decisions are set as string constants, which you can change as you like.

In addition, this workflow offers three versions of the recent release rate classification: the original version (first_last) based on the time between first and last releases; an averaged version (average_rate) which uses the average time between releases, and a version suggested by English & Schweik as future work (recent_density), which uses the time between the last X releases where X is the threshold number of releases to be considered successful.
Success-Abandonment-Classification

Created by Andrea Wiggins on Wednesday 06 February 2008 @ 14:35:41 (UTC)

Last edited by Andrea Wiggins on Wednesday 02 July 2008 @ 17:15:25 (UTC)

Revision comment:

This revision replaces the large RShell classifier component with a series of Beanshell components that execute the pre-classification criterion comparisons, do the project classification, and assemble a nice CSV output for ad-hoc analysis.

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Khalid Belhajjame

I quite the way this workflow is designed. The author used nested-workflows to favor modularity, and the data links seems to be carefully designed. On the downside, I couldnt execute teh workflow, which may be due to the fact that some constituent services are no longer available. Would be good if the author (or someone knowledgeable) to repair and create a new version of this workflow :-)

khalid