Newcomers’ Barriers… Is That All? An Analysis of Mentors’ and Newcomers’ Barriers in OSS Projects

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dc.contributor.authorBalali, Sogol
dc.contributor.authorSteinmacher, Igor
dc.contributor.authorAnnamalai, Umayal
dc.contributor.authorSarma, Anita
dc.contributor.authorGerosa, Marco
dc.date.accessioned2018-06-01T22:02:01Z
dc.date.available2018-06-01T22:02:01Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.description.abstractNewcomers’ seamless onboarding is important for open collaboration communities, particularly those that leverage outsiders’ contributions to remain sustainable. Nevertheless, previous work shows that OSS newcomers often face several barriers to contribute, which lead them to lose motivation and even give up on contributing. A well-known way to help newcomers overcome initial contribution barriers is mentoring. This strategy has proven effective in offline and online communities, and to some extent has been employed in OSS projects. Studying mentors’ perspectives on the barriers that newcomers face play a vital role in improving onboarding processes; yet, OSS mentors face their own barriers, which hinder the effectiveness of the strategy. Since little is known about the barriers mentors face, in this paper, we investigate the barriers that affect mentors and their newcomer mentees. We interviewed mentors from OSS projects and qualitatively analyzed their answers. We found 44 barriers: 19 that affect mentors; and 34 that affect newcomers (9 affect both newcomers and mentors). Interestingly, most of the barriers we identified (66%) have a social nature. Additionally, we identified 10 strategies that mentors indicated to potentially alleviate some of the barriers. Since gender-related challenges emerged in our analysis, we conducted nine follow-up structured interviews to further explore this perspective. The contributions of this paper include: identifying the barriers mentors face; bringing the unique perspective of mentors on barriers faced by newcomers; unveiling strategies that can be used by mentors to support newcomers; and investigating gender-specific challenges in OSS mentorship. Mentors, newcomers, online communities, and educators can leverage this knowledge to foster new contributors to OSS projects.en
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s10606-018-9310-8
dc.identifier.pissnISSN 0925-9724
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSpringer, London
dc.relation.ispartofComputer Supported Cooperative Work 27(3-4)- ECSCW 2018: Proceedings of the 16th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work
dc.relation.ispartofseriesECSCW
dc.subjectChallenges
dc.subjectDifficulties
dc.subjectObstacles
dc.subjectJoining process
dc.subjectOnboarding
dc.subjectMentor
dc.subjectCoach
dc.subjectTutor
dc.subjectNewbie
dc.subjectNewcomer
dc.subjectNovice
dc.subjectOpen source software
dc.titleNewcomers’ Barriers… Is That All? An Analysis of Mentors’ and Newcomers’ Barriers in OSS Projectsen
dc.typeText/Journal Article
gi.conference.date4-8 June 2018
gi.conference.locationNancy, France
gi.conference.sessiontitleLong Papers
mci.conference.reviewfull

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