Review

Paulo Meireles
1 parent 61fb6781
Showing 6 changed files with 70 additions and 91 deletions Show diff stats
OSS-2017/00-abstract.tex
OSS-2017/01-introduction.tex
OSS-2017/02-platform.tex
OSS-2017/03-ux.tex
OSS-2017/04-finals.tex
OSS-2017/spb.tex
 \begin{abstract}
-  % Contexto
-  % Problema
-  % Soluções propostas
-  % Frase de impacto
+Brazilian Public Softwares have some differences from Open Source Softwares,
+in particular the software is considered a public good and the Federal
+Government assumes some responsibilities related to its use. Anyway, the
+software development principles are the same: trend towards decentralization in
+decision-making, information and development sharing, and feedback. In this
+context, we have designed a platform based on the integration and evolution of
+existing OSS tools. Nowadays, the Brazilian Public Software Portal provides
+several modern features for software collaborative development.
 \end{abstract}
@@ -3,23 +3,23 @@
 Since last few decades, the Brazilian Federal Government has been improving its
 software adoption and development processes. In 2003, the recommendation to
-adopt Open Source Software (OSS) become a public policy. In this context, in
-2007, the Brazilian Ministry of Planning, Budget, and Management had released a
-Portal to share projects like OSS called Brazilian Public Software
-(\textit{Software Público Brasileiro} -- SPB). In short, it is a website to
-share softwares developed by and for the Brazilian Government.
+adopt Open Source Software (OSS) become a public policy. In 2007, the Brazilian
+Government released a Portal to share projects like OSS called Brazilian Public
+Software (\textit{Software Público Brasileiro} -- SPB). In short, it is a
+website to share softwares developed by and for the Brazilian Government.
-On the one hand, the Brazilian legal instrument on software contracting (IN
-04/2012) indicates that public managers must consult the SPB Portal to
-adopt a software solution, as well as, justifying the acquisition of a
-proprietary software if there is no a similar project available in the SPB
-Portal. On the other hand, since 2009, the SPB Portal had several technical
-problems because there was no development activities to maintenance and evolve
-it. Thus, the initial SPB Portal version did not have another release.
+On the one hand, the Brazilian legal instrument on software contracting
+(\textit{Instrução Normativa} 04/2012) indicates that public managers must
+consult the SPB Portal to adopt a software solution, as well as, justifying the
+acquisition of a proprietary software if there is no a similar project
+available in the SPB Portal. On the other hand, since 2009, the SPB Portal had
+several technical problems because there was no development activities to
+maintenance and evolve it. Thus, the initial SPB Portal version did not have
+another release.
 From January 2014 until June 2016, a platform for the SPB Portal was designed
-and developed by the University of Brasília and the University of São Paulo.
-This new Portal was designed to be an integrated platform of software
-collaborative development environments with social networking, mailing list,
-control version system, and source code quality monitoring. In this paper, we
-present this new generation of the SPB Portal.
+and developed by the University of Brasília (UnB) and the University of São
+Paulo (USP).  This new Portal was designed to be an integrated platform of
+software collaborative development environments with social networking, mailing
+list, control version system, and source code quality monitoring. In this
+paper, we present this new generation of the SPB Portal.
 \section{Platform for software collaborative development}
-According to the Brazilian Federal Government requirements, first, we needed an
+First, according to the Brazilian Federal Government requirements, we needed an
 application that integrates existing OSS systems and provides a similar
 interface for each one, as well as, unique authentication. For that, we have a
 web-based integration platform called Colab that also works as a reverse proxy.
-We have developed its plug-in architecture to decouple the already integrated
+We have developed its plug-in architecture to decouple already integrated
 tools (Trac system, GNU Mailman, and Apache Lucene Solr) and integrate other
 platforms such as Noosfero, GitLab, and Mezuro. Figure \ref{fig:spb} shows the
 home page of this integrated platform.
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ home page of this integrated platform.
 \begin{figure}[hbt]
   \centering
     \includegraphics[width=.9\linewidth]{figures/home-SPB.png}
-  \caption{the new SPB Portal.}
+  \caption{The new SPB Portal.}
   \label{fig:spb}
 \end{figure}
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ C++, Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
 \begin{figure}[hbt]
   \centering
     \includegraphics[width=.8\linewidth]{figures/arquitetura.png}
-  \caption{SPB Architecture.}
+  \caption{SPB Portal Architecture.}
   \label{fig:architecture}
 \end{figure}
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ The new SPB Portal was deployed in 7 virtual machines with different functions,
 as we can see in Figure \ref{fig:architecture}. The \textit{reverseproxy}
 handles the HTTP requests and redirects them to the \textit{integration}, the
 \textit{email} sends and receives e-mails on behalf of the platform and the
-\textit{monitor} keeps the entire environment tracked.  These three
+\textit{monitor} keeps the entire environment tracked. These three
 \textit{VMs} mentioned - \textit{reverseproxy}, \textit{email} and
 \textit{monitor} - are accessible via Internet and the other ones are only
 available in the local network created between them.
-\section{User Experience evolution}
+\section{User eXperience evolution}
 The integration of collaborative environments goes beyond functional aspects.
 Offering the population an unified experience across these environments has
 been the key to encourage the use of the platform as it reduces the perception
-of the complexity.
-
-Thus, the portal information architecture was redesigned to provide a
-transparent navigation and to reach users with different profiles.  A process
-of harmonization has been employed on the interaction models of each tool in
-order to reduce the learning curve.  At the same time, a new visual style was
+of the complexity. Thus, the SPB Portal information architecture was redesigned
+to provide a transparent navigation and to reach users with different profiles.
+A process of harmonization has been employed on the interaction models of each
+tool to reduce the learning curve.  At the same time, a new visual style was
 created to unify the navigation experience and to comply with the guidelines of
 the digital communication identity pattern established by the Federal
 Government.
 With the increase of the system features and the addition of new tools, the
-visual style has steadily evolved in order to keep the navigation unified.
-Moreover, tools from different backgrounds, which in many cases run
-functionalities with similar concepts, made us face the challenge of developing
-a transparent interface that unifies various context.  For each required
-feature, we often have to conciliate data with distinct structure and
-information pattern from each used tool. The interface was the meeting point
-for this data with links that users will not notice.  The most common features
-(i.e. search, display and edition of profile information and content) have been
-brought in line with the structure and other existing features of the portal.
+visual style has steadily evolved to keep the navigation unified.  Moreover,
+tools from different backgrounds, which in many cases run functionalities with
+similar concepts, made us face the challenge of developing a transparent
+interface that unifies various context. For each required feature, we often
+have to conciliate data with distinct structure and information pattern from
+each used tool. The interface was the meeting point for this data with links
+that users will not notice.  The most common features (i.e. search, display,
+and edition of profile information and content) have been brought in line with
+the structure and other existing features of the SPB Portal.
-The other challenge is related to responsive web design.  The portal interface
-and each of its pages were designed following the bounds of responsiveness
-provided or supported by each tools.  In particular, in the case of Noosfero,
-which do not have any official branch dedicated to improve its responsiveness,
-our project needed to engage with the expansion of this platform, where we made
-a lot of contributions and dialogues with the community and maintainers.  All
-the project members got involved in the study, design and development of the
-Noosfero's new interface which support a responsive web design and that have
-not yet been completed.
+The other challenge is related to responsive web design. The SPB Portal
+interface and each of its pages were designed following the bounds of
+responsiveness provided or supported by each tools.  In particular, in the case
+of Noosfero, which do not have any official branch dedicated to improve its
+responsiveness, we needed to engage with the expansion of this platform, where
+we made a lot of contributions and dialogues with the community and
+maintainers.
-Users are part of the process.  In 2014, a survey among users of the existing
-platform was conducted to identify usability problems and to measure their
-satisfaction with the system.  After the release of the new SPB platform,
-several validations activities were implemented in 2015 and 2016, and the data
-collected during this phase helped to channel our efforts to identify and to
-improve the main fields of the new system.  The aim was to bring the users
-closer to features that they have more interest and designing a navigation
-which deepens in accordance with the user's depth of knowledge.
+In summary, after the release of the new SPB Portal in 2014, several
+validations activities were implemented in 2015 and 2016. The aim was to bring
+the users closer to features that they have more interest and designing a
+navigation which deepens in accordance with the user's depth of knowledge.
 \section{Final remarks}
-A Brazilian Public Software has some differences from of an Open Source
-Software, in particular the software is considered a public good and the
-Government assumes some responsibilities related to the use of this kind of
-software. From the software development point of view, the principles are the
-same: trend towards decentralization in decision-making, information and
-development sharing, and feedback. Therefore, we have designed a platform based
-on the integration and evolution of existing OSS tools. Nowadays, the SPB Portal
-provides several modern features for the collaborative software development.
-
-The new SPB platform was launched for approval in December 2014 and is
-available at softwarepublico.gov.br. All the integrated tools are free software
-and all of them were developed by UnB and USP teams and are published in open
-repositories, available on the SPB Portal itself.  An important aspect is that
-the necessary improvements in the tools were provided and these returned to the
-respective communities. This is not only the right thing to do from the point
-of view of the free software community, but also it has reduced the costs of
-maintenance, which allowed us to carry out the continued evolution of the
-platform in synergy with other organizations that use the same tools.
-
-Providing a set of tools and improving the user experience in the environment
-is part of the SPB reformulation process. Cultural aspects of network
-collaboration for an effective use of what is provided on the platform need to
-be matured by the MP conjointly with the communities of the SPB and even among
-the government entities themselves. In addition, the demand for greater impact
-of public software in the software supply in the adoption the solutions, as
-well as the attraction of employees and collaborators, required a broad
-redefinition of the user experience. Finally, a study for licensing proposals
-and their impacts on the SPB, also in order to solve the contradictions present
-in the Normative Instruction MP/SLTI 01/2011 (which states about SPB
-procedures) was conducted by UnB as a complement to what has been developed
-from the technological point of view.
+The new SPB Portal was launched for approval in December 2014 and it is
+available at \url{softwarepublico.gov.br}. All the integrated tools are OSS and
+our contributions are published in open repositories, available on the SPB
+Portal itself. We also returned these features to the respective communities.
+Thus, it has reduced the costs of maintenance, which allowed us to carry out
+the continued evolution of the platform in synergy with other organizations
+that use the same tools.
+Providing a set of tools and improving the user experience in the portal is a
+technical part of the SPB evolution process. Cultural and legal aspects of
+network collaboration for an effective use of the new SPB Portal also was
+matured. A study for licensing proposals and their impacts on the SPB was
+conducted as a complement to what has been developed from the technological
+point of view, generating a new legal instrument (\textit{Portaria} 46/2016
+STI/MP) on software collaborative development.
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 \titlerunning{Brazilian Public Software}
 \author{Paulo Meirelles\inst{1,2}, Himer Neri\inst{1}, Antonio Terceiro\inst{1}\\
-        Lucas Kanashiro\inst{2}, Melissa Wen\inst{1}}
+        Melissa Wen\inst{1}, Lucas Kanashiro\inst{2}}
 \authorrunning{Meirelles et al.}
1	\begin{abstract}	1	\begin{abstract}
2	- % Contexto
3	- % Problema
4	- % Soluções propostas
5	- % Frase de impacto	2	+Brazilian Public Softwares have some differences from Open Source Softwares,
		3	+in particular the software is considered a public good and the Federal
		4	+Government assumes some responsibilities related to its use. Anyway, the
		5	+software development principles are the same: trend towards decentralization in
		6	+decision-making, information and development sharing, and feedback. In this
		7	+context, we have designed a platform based on the integration and evolution of
		8	+existing OSS tools. Nowadays, the Brazilian Public Software Portal provides
		9	+several modern features for software collaborative development.
6	\end{abstract}	10	\end{abstract}
1	\section{Platform for software collaborative development}	1	\section{Platform for software collaborative development}
2		2
3	-According to the Brazilian Federal Government requirements, first, we needed an	3	+First, according to the Brazilian Federal Government requirements, we needed an
4	application that integrates existing OSS systems and provides a similar	4	application that integrates existing OSS systems and provides a similar
5	interface for each one, as well as, unique authentication. For that, we have a	5	interface for each one, as well as, unique authentication. For that, we have a
6	web-based integration platform called Colab that also works as a reverse proxy.	6	web-based integration platform called Colab that also works as a reverse proxy.
7	-We have developed its plug-in architecture to decouple the already integrated	7	+We have developed its plug-in architecture to decouple already integrated
8	tools (Trac system, GNU Mailman, and Apache Lucene Solr) and integrate other	8	tools (Trac system, GNU Mailman, and Apache Lucene Solr) and integrate other
9	platforms such as Noosfero, GitLab, and Mezuro. Figure \ref{fig:spb} shows the	9	platforms such as Noosfero, GitLab, and Mezuro. Figure \ref{fig:spb} shows the
10	home page of this integrated platform.	10	home page of this integrated platform.
	@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ home page of this integrated platform.		@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ home page of this integrated platform.
12	\begin{figure}[hbt]	12	\begin{figure}[hbt]
13	\centering	13	\centering
14	\includegraphics[width=.9\linewidth]{figures/home-SPB.png}	14	\includegraphics[width=.9\linewidth]{figures/home-SPB.png}
15	- \caption{the new SPB Portal.}	15	+ \caption{The new SPB Portal.}
16	\label{fig:spb}	16	\label{fig:spb}
17	\end{figure}	17	\end{figure}
18		18
	@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ C++, Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP.		@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ C++, Java, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
28	\begin{figure}[hbt]	28	\begin{figure}[hbt]
29	\centering	29	\centering
30	\includegraphics[width=.8\linewidth]{figures/arquitetura.png}	30	\includegraphics[width=.8\linewidth]{figures/arquitetura.png}
31	- \caption{SPB Architecture.}	31	+ \caption{SPB Portal Architecture.}
32	\label{fig:architecture}	32	\label{fig:architecture}
33	\end{figure}	33	\end{figure}
34		34
	@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ The new SPB Portal was deployed in 7 virtual machines with different functions,		@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ The new SPB Portal was deployed in 7 virtual machines with different functions,
36	as we can see in Figure \ref{fig:architecture}. The \textit{reverseproxy}	36	as we can see in Figure \ref{fig:architecture}. The \textit{reverseproxy}
37	handles the HTTP requests and redirects them to the \textit{integration}, the	37	handles the HTTP requests and redirects them to the \textit{integration}, the
38	\textit{email} sends and receives e-mails on behalf of the platform and the	38	\textit{email} sends and receives e-mails on behalf of the platform and the
39	-\textit{monitor} keeps the entire environment tracked. These three	39	+\textit{monitor} keeps the entire environment tracked. These three
40	\textit{VMs} mentioned - \textit{reverseproxy}, \textit{email} and	40	\textit{VMs} mentioned - \textit{reverseproxy}, \textit{email} and
41	\textit{monitor} - are accessible via Internet and the other ones are only	41	\textit{monitor} - are accessible via Internet and the other ones are only
42	available in the local network created between them.	42	available in the local network created between them.
1	-\section{User Experience evolution}	1	+\section{User eXperience evolution}
2		2
3	The integration of collaborative environments goes beyond functional aspects.	3	The integration of collaborative environments goes beyond functional aspects.
4	Offering the population an unified experience across these environments has	4	Offering the population an unified experience across these environments has
5	been the key to encourage the use of the platform as it reduces the perception	5	been the key to encourage the use of the platform as it reduces the perception
6	-of the complexity.
7	-
8	-Thus, the portal information architecture was redesigned to provide a
9	-transparent navigation and to reach users with different profiles. A process
10	-of harmonization has been employed on the interaction models of each tool in
11	-order to reduce the learning curve. At the same time, a new visual style was	6	+of the complexity. Thus, the SPB Portal information architecture was redesigned
		7	+to provide a transparent navigation and to reach users with different profiles.
		8	+A process of harmonization has been employed on the interaction models of each
		9	+tool to reduce the learning curve. At the same time, a new visual style was
12	created to unify the navigation experience and to comply with the guidelines of	10	created to unify the navigation experience and to comply with the guidelines of
13	the digital communication identity pattern established by the Federal	11	the digital communication identity pattern established by the Federal
14	Government.	12	Government.
15		13
16	With the increase of the system features and the addition of new tools, the	14	With the increase of the system features and the addition of new tools, the
17	-visual style has steadily evolved in order to keep the navigation unified.
18	-Moreover, tools from different backgrounds, which in many cases run
19	-functionalities with similar concepts, made us face the challenge of developing
20	-a transparent interface that unifies various context. For each required
21	-feature, we often have to conciliate data with distinct structure and
22	-information pattern from each used tool. The interface was the meeting point
23	-for this data with links that users will not notice. The most common features
24	-(i.e. search, display and edition of profile information and content) have been
25	-brought in line with the structure and other existing features of the portal.	15	+visual style has steadily evolved to keep the navigation unified. Moreover,
		16	+tools from different backgrounds, which in many cases run functionalities with
		17	+similar concepts, made us face the challenge of developing a transparent
		18	+interface that unifies various context. For each required feature, we often
		19	+have to conciliate data with distinct structure and information pattern from
		20	+each used tool. The interface was the meeting point for this data with links
		21	+that users will not notice. The most common features (i.e. search, display,
		22	+and edition of profile information and content) have been brought in line with
		23	+the structure and other existing features of the SPB Portal.
26		24
27	-The other challenge is related to responsive web design. The portal interface
28	-and each of its pages were designed following the bounds of responsiveness
29	-provided or supported by each tools. In particular, in the case of Noosfero,
30	-which do not have any official branch dedicated to improve its responsiveness,
31	-our project needed to engage with the expansion of this platform, where we made
32	-a lot of contributions and dialogues with the community and maintainers. All
33	-the project members got involved in the study, design and development of the
34	-Noosfero's new interface which support a responsive web design and that have
35	-not yet been completed.	25	+The other challenge is related to responsive web design. The SPB Portal
		26	+interface and each of its pages were designed following the bounds of
		27	+responsiveness provided or supported by each tools. In particular, in the case
		28	+of Noosfero, which do not have any official branch dedicated to improve its
		29	+responsiveness, we needed to engage with the expansion of this platform, where
		30	+we made a lot of contributions and dialogues with the community and
		31	+maintainers.
36		32
37	-Users are part of the process. In 2014, a survey among users of the existing
38	-platform was conducted to identify usability problems and to measure their
39	-satisfaction with the system. After the release of the new SPB platform,
40	-several validations activities were implemented in 2015 and 2016, and the data
41	-collected during this phase helped to channel our efforts to identify and to
42	-improve the main fields of the new system. The aim was to bring the users
43	-closer to features that they have more interest and designing a navigation
44	-which deepens in accordance with the user's depth of knowledge.	33	+In summary, after the release of the new SPB Portal in 2014, several
		34	+validations activities were implemented in 2015 and 2016. The aim was to bring
		35	+the users closer to features that they have more interest and designing a
		36	+navigation which deepens in accordance with the user's depth of knowledge.
1	\section{Final remarks}	1	\section{Final remarks}
2		2
3	-A Brazilian Public Software has some differences from of an Open Source
4	-Software, in particular the software is considered a public good and the
5	-Government assumes some responsibilities related to the use of this kind of
6	-software. From the software development point of view, the principles are the
7	-same: trend towards decentralization in decision-making, information and
8	-development sharing, and feedback. Therefore, we have designed a platform based
9	-on the integration and evolution of existing OSS tools. Nowadays, the SPB Portal
10	-provides several modern features for the collaborative software development.
11	-
12	-The new SPB platform was launched for approval in December 2014 and is
13	-available at softwarepublico.gov.br. All the integrated tools are free software
14	-and all of them were developed by UnB and USP teams and are published in open
15	-repositories, available on the SPB Portal itself. An important aspect is that
16	-the necessary improvements in the tools were provided and these returned to the
17	-respective communities. This is not only the right thing to do from the point
18	-of view of the free software community, but also it has reduced the costs of
19	-maintenance, which allowed us to carry out the continued evolution of the
20	-platform in synergy with other organizations that use the same tools.
21	-
22	-Providing a set of tools and improving the user experience in the environment
23	-is part of the SPB reformulation process. Cultural aspects of network
24	-collaboration for an effective use of what is provided on the platform need to
25	-be matured by the MP conjointly with the communities of the SPB and even among
26	-the government entities themselves. In addition, the demand for greater impact
27	-of public software in the software supply in the adoption the solutions, as
28	-well as the attraction of employees and collaborators, required a broad
29	-redefinition of the user experience. Finally, a study for licensing proposals
30	-and their impacts on the SPB, also in order to solve the contradictions present
31	-in the Normative Instruction MP/SLTI 01/2011 (which states about SPB
32	-procedures) was conducted by UnB as a complement to what has been developed
33	-from the technological point of view.	3	+The new SPB Portal was launched for approval in December 2014 and it is
		4	+available at \url{softwarepublico.gov.br}. All the integrated tools are OSS and
		5	+our contributions are published in open repositories, available on the SPB
		6	+Portal itself. We also returned these features to the respective communities.
		7	+Thus, it has reduced the costs of maintenance, which allowed us to carry out
		8	+the continued evolution of the platform in synergy with other organizations
		9	+that use the same tools.
34		10
		11	+Providing a set of tools and improving the user experience in the portal is a
		12	+technical part of the SPB evolution process. Cultural and legal aspects of
		13	+network collaboration for an effective use of the new SPB Portal also was
		14	+matured. A study for licensing proposals and their impacts on the SPB was
		15	+conducted as a complement to what has been developed from the technological
		16	+point of view, generating a new legal instrument (\textit{Portaria} 46/2016
		17	+STI/MP) on software collaborative development.
	@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@		@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
19	\titlerunning{Brazilian Public Software}	19	\titlerunning{Brazilian Public Software}
20		20
21	\author{Paulo Meirelles\inst{1,2}, Himer Neri\inst{1}, Antonio Terceiro\inst{1}\\	21	\author{Paulo Meirelles\inst{1,2}, Himer Neri\inst{1}, Antonio Terceiro\inst{1}\\
22	- Lucas Kanashiro\inst{2}, Melissa Wen\inst{1}}	22	+ Melissa Wen\inst{1}, Lucas Kanashiro\inst{2}}
23		23
24	\authorrunning{Meirelles et al.}	24	\authorrunning{Meirelles et al.}
25		25