We’ve been advising EA Draffan and Seb Skuse at University of Southampton School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) on opening up the development of their StudyBar accessibility project. The development of this suit of accessibility tools for learners using the web is being funded by JISC TechDis as a replacement for their current web accessibility toolbar. Technically there are some interesting challenges, particularly the decision to support several browsers on various platforms. These technical complexities, the need for wide testing, and the varied user requirements and experiences are well matched to open development, which allows interested parties to bring resource to the project.
A concern we often hear voiced about open development is that it might involve a lot of extra effort when working with other people. In the case of Study Bar, Seb certainly has his work cut out as sole developer, and EA is busily involved in managing other accessibility projects. So what has been their experience after they took our advice and made initial steps towards open development? Initial steps that involved the introduction of a website (blog), issue tracker and code repository (Google Code) and a mailing list (Google Group).
EA had this to say after several users provided feed back on the the list:
It has been such a good idea having this list and Seb and I were just
saying how useful it will be for any future FAQs that could be made
into a web page
EA then expanded on this:
I really do think the way we have managed to get the group going and all the bug checking has really helped us speed up the process so much. It has been really useful!
This experience is not unusual, as projects find the value added by open development exceeds any extra cost. Providing easy access to code, tickets and project memory in the form of discussions and decisions, enables participants to be fully informed without constant questioning of the project members. This means interactions can be focused on adding value for all parties.
So while setting up and using these community tools is only the first step, the Study Bar team have already see benefits. OSS Watch will continue to guide them along the path towards fully embracing open development. The goal is to maintain a diverse community of users and developers, a community that provides requirements, resource, that encourages innovation and reaches sustainability.
I have been invited to explain the use open development to others at Southampton in a LSL seminar next week and I’m looking forward to helping others make the first steps. We will also be holding a workshop on Dec 7 in Oxford that explores community building in more detail.
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