Invitation for Round 2 of Delphi Survey

This email was originally sent on 22 Aug.

Subject : Round 2 of Delphi Survey on Infrastructure For Hosting Open Source Project (IFHOSP)

For quick reference, please refer to the point form summary in the attachment.

Dear Sir/Madam,

You are invited to participate in round 2 of the Delphi survey on the topic of Infrastructure For Hosting Open Source Project (IFHOSP). Round 1 of the survey was completed and we would like to ask you to rate the summarised answers from round 1 out of a 1-7 scale. Comment giving is optional in this round. Please go to http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/register.htm to login to the survey directly. Your UserID and password are XXX and YYY. The result of round 1 is also available at http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/result/round1/

Infrastructure For Hosting Open Source Project (IFHOSP) is defined as the infrastructure, which supports and co-ordinates the development of Open Source software projects on the Internet. This survey is being organised by myself, Haggen So, a doctoral student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Nigel Thomas and Mr. Hossein Zadeh. Experts from academic circles as well as practitioners, such as Open Source developers and maintainers of IFHOSP sites, are invited to participate.

We hope that the results of the survey will be useful to Open Source Communities as well as all those who are interested in the topic. We also intend that this survey will be a learning process for everyone involved and will facilitate the interaction of experts and practitioners in an area of direct relevance to their common interest.

The results of the survey will be used to develop an evaluation model for IFHOSP and each item within the model will be prioritised in order of its importance to the model. The results and the evaluation model will be released to the public under the Open Content License. We also intend that this survey will be a learning process for everyone involved and will facilitate the interaction of experts and practitioners in an area of direct relevance to their common interest.

You will find more details of this survey at http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/invited/ and if you have a few minutes now please follow this link (you'll probably find it easier to get it over now and then you'll have the satisfaction of having helped the Open Source Communities today!) Your UserID and password are XXX and YYY. (IP address of seven.bf.rmit.edu.au is 131.170.198.7 in case DNS does not work.)

Please be assured that participation is entirely voluntary and you will be able to withdraw from the process at any time. All data collected will be kept completely confidential and no results will be reported in any manner that would associate yourself with your answers. On the other hand, you can also choose to have your name listed in the credit section of the survey and a special procedure will be setup for this propose. The results of the Delphi survey will published on the web as well as other academic publications and the final doctoral dissertation.

If you would like to obtain any further information on details of the survey, please visit my web on http://www.businessit.bf.rmit.edu.au/haggen/ or contact me via e-mail at haggen@seven.bf.rmit.edu.au. Regarding issues of ethics in research, please contact Professor Robert Brooks, Chair of the RMIT Business Research Ethics Sub-Committee by phone (613) 9925 5593 or by e-mail Robert.Brooks@rmit.edu.au.

Your assistance is highly appreciated. I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours Sincerely

Haggen So


[ Attached Text ]

You are invited to participate in round 2 of the Delphi survey on the topic of Infrastructure For Hosting Open Source Project (IFHOSP). Round 1 of the survey was completed and we would like to ask you to rate the summarised answers from round 1 out of a 1-7 scale. Comment giving is optional in this round. Please go to http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/register.htm to login to the survey directly. Your UserID and password are XXX and YYY. The result of round 1 is also available at http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/result/round1/

Overall Goal of the Research Project:
To suggest improvements to the design of web sites that support and co-ordinate Open Source Project (i.e. Infrastructure For Hosting Open Source Project (IFHOSP)) by building an evaluation model.

Method:
1. To identify important issues on IFHOSP by employing Delphi survey and build an evaluation model.
2. Apply the model in different situations and the model will be assessed and refined.
Refer to
http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/whatdelphi.htm
http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/howdelphi.htm
(IP address of seven.bf.rmit.edu.au is 131.170.198.7 in case DNS does not work.)

Who will benefit
The results will be made available on the web under the Open Content License ( http://www.opencontent.org/opl.shtml). As such, anyone can use the results to understand, design and evaluate IFHOSP.
Refer to:
http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/results.htm

How does this survey differ from newsgroups or online forums?
1. The responses from all participants will be summarized. Then, the summarized responses will be re-examined in the next round for refinement (Refer to http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/howdelphi.htm).
2. The survey includes a ranking mechanism so that the most important issues can be elicited (Refer to http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/howdelphi.htm).
3. All participants invited are 'experts' from different areas including developers, administrators and academics. Hopefully the survey can become a platform of communication for everyone (Refer to http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/whodelphi.htm).

How can you help?
Go to http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/invited/ now if you have time (You'll probably find it easier to get it over now and then you'll have the satisfaction of having helped the Open Source Communities today!)
Your UserID and password are XXX and YYY.

Your Rights
1. Participation is entirely voluntary.
2. Can withdraw from the process at any time.
3. All comments collected will be kept completely confidential and no results will be reported in any manner that would associate yourself with your comments.
4. It is also possible to have your name listed in the credit section of the survey. The credits listing procedure will be setup after the survey is completed.
5. The results of the Delphi survey will published on the web as well as other academic publications and the final doctoral dissertation.

Organisers of the survey
Haggen So, a doctoral student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology under the supervision of Dr. Nigel Thomas and Mr. Hossein Zadeh.

More Questions?
Please refer to
Explanation of the Survey
http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/
Or FAQ
http://seven.bf.rmit.edu.au/~haggen/Delphi/ExplainDelphi/faq.htm

If you would like to obtain any further information on details of the survey, please visit my web on http://www.businessit.bf.rmit.edu.au/haggen/ or contact me via e-mail at haggen@seven.bf.rmit.edu.au. Regarding issues of ethics in research, please contact Professor Robert Brooks, Chair of the RMIT Business Research Ethics Sub-Committee by phone (613) 9925 5593 or by e-mail Robert.Brooks@rmit.edu.au.