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All Six Candidates for Democratic Nomination to Debate Oct. 4 at UMass Lowell
Additional results will be released on Monday, Oct. 3.
UMass Lowell representatives are available for interviews about today's poll.
TV assignment desks – Please note UMass Lowell offers live interviews via ReadyCam by VideoLink.
LOWELL, Mass. – Elizabeth Warren is in a virtual dead heat against U.S. Sen. Scott Brown and holds a commanding lead over other Democratic challengers in the Senate race, according to a UMass Lowell-Boston Herald poll released today.
Thirty-six percent of potential Democratic primary voters surveyed say they'd prefer to have Warren face Brown, a Republican, in November 2012, according to the independent, nonpartisan poll of more than 1,000 registered voters across Massachusetts. None of the other five candidates – state Rep. Tom Conroy, immigration attorney Marisa DeFranco, City Year co-founder Alan Khazei, Global Reporting Initiative co-founder Bob Massie and engineer and activist Herb Robinson – garnered more than 5 percent support from those surveyed.
The poll is the first for a new partnership between the Boston Herald and UMass Lowell's Center for Public Opinion. The partners will also co-host a debate on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. on the UMass Lowell campus. All six of the declared Democratic candidates have said they will participate in the debate, which is free and open to the public. The debate will be streamed live at
, and the public can participate on Twitter using #UMLDebate.
The poll found that 41 percent of voters surveyed said they likely would vote for Brown and 38 percent would vote for Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, if those are the choices in the November 2012 election. With a margin of error on the poll of plus or minus 3.8 percentage points, they are virtually even.
Other findings from the poll include:
Forty-eight percent of Massachusetts registered voters said Brown is doing too little for the economic interests of the middle class.
Despite strong support among potential Democratic primary voters in the poll, 37 percent of registered voters said they hadn't heard of Elizabeth Warren yet.
While more view Brown favorably (52 percent) than unfavorably (29 percent), 37 percent of respondents said they are dissatisfied with policies offered by Republicans in Congress and another 23 percent said they are angry with those policies.
The poll also tested two potential 2012 presidential election matchups and found that 62 percent of voters said they would choose President Barack Obama while 25 percent would vote for Republican Rick Perry, and in a race between Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, 57 percent would vote for Obama and 33 percent for Romney.
Additional findings from the poll will be released on Monday, Oct. 3.
The independent, nonpartisan poll was conducted for the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion and Boston Herald under the direction of independent survey researcher Mike Mokrzycki – former head of polling for the Associated Press whose other clients include NBC News, where he manages the network's exit poll operation, and the Pew Research Center.
"This poll employed time-tested best practices of the survey research profession, including coverage of the cell-phone-only population, and was executed by one of the field's leading independent firms. It employed an innovative questionnaire that was thoroughly vetted – with help from UMass Lowell political science students, as well as in a 'pretest' using professional interviewers – for clarity and balance. The result is a valid, reliable and rich portrait of who Massachusetts voters are and what they think as one of the nation's most closely watched 2012 Senate races gets under way," Mokrzycki said.
The UMass Lowell-Boston Herald poll was conducted Sept. 22 through Sept. 28 among 1,005 Massachusetts registered voters reached randomly by landline and cell phone. Princeton Survey Research Associates International conducted the survey, with interviews by Braun Research Inc. To correct for known demographic discrepancies, results were weighted by age, race, gender, education, region within Massachusetts, number of adults in household and telephone usage. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for the full sample, larger for subgroups; surveys are subject to other, potentially greater, sources of error, such as from question wording and order.
UMass Lowell is a comprehensive, national research university located on a high-energy campus in the heart of a global community. The university offers its 15,000 students bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in engineering, education, fine arts, health and environment, humanities, liberal arts, management, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs, vigorous hands-on learning and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be ready for work, for life and for all the world offers.
Christine Gillette, (w) 978-934-2209, (c) 978-758-4664,
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'History is everybody' – not the most inspiring quote, but I was being interviewed today and the interviewer thought it was because she made sure she wrote it down then and there, even though it was being recorded and she could transcribe later. The context: she was interviewing me about 'My Hidden Mother', the biography I have written about Mum that, in a nutshell, tells the story of a Jewish girl from a nice middle class family growing up in a world that's about to implode, ie 1930s and 40s central Europe. The story is all about what happens when a whole group of perfectly ordinary people are dehumanised by the system. They become a label. They are no longer people. They are unwanted, they must be discarded, disappeared. My mother was lucky in that her disappearance meant her survival – for millions of others it meant death. You can read in your history books about Hitler, but you don't read so much (with the exception of Anne Frank) about people who were not in positions of power, despite the fact that they are the majority by a factor of millions. History is bunk? Certainly is in the text books.
This is changing, slowly. All I remember about history at school was the astonishing fact that Queen Elizabeth I had 2000 dresses. This is a ridiculous factoid. What does it even mean? 2000 dresses at one point? During her entire life? What might be more interesting, is who counted them? Was there really some lady-in-waiting who one night thought, what the hell, why don't I count how many dresses she really has, then write it down, and a few hundred years time people will be SO grateful I did, because this is what really matters. Put like that, one can see how absurd it is. I want to know how many dresses I might have had if I'd lived then; I want to know what my underwear would have been like, I want to know how I coped with periods and boyfriends. There is one hell of a lot that would be really interesting to know if an ordinary person like me had written it all down, but nobody like me did. I wouldn't have had sufficient education, wouldn't have had the level of literacy necessary, probably wouldn't have had parents who could afford to buy paper, certainly wouldn't have had access to a publisher.
Different now. I don't need to be able to afford paper, because I have a computer, and I can write my mother's story and I can get it published and I can get it out there so that people can read it. And then a student from Greenwich University can come across my book and read it and love it and decide to interview me about it, and maybe she'll recommend it to others to read, and all the tiny, enormous, everyday and extraordinary facts of my mother's life will become known beyond the small circle of my expected readership.
We are all history, but if nobody writes it down, after a few generations we disappear.
There is a photograph of my mother with her family. She and her brother are smiling for the camera. Her parents are not. They know what's coming. I think it's the most desperately sad picture I have ever seen. We are ALL history.
'My Hidden Mother' by Catherine Edmunds

subset: commoncrawl


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Backlight Issue - Not Inverter, Cable, or Logic Board
I have been trying to fix an issue with the backlight on my friends A1181 laptop. When the problem began, the backlight would occasionally cut out. This got worse over time and seemed to be related to screen movement. Turning brightness down then back up would remedy the problem for a short time.
After doing some research, I decided to replace the inverter cable. This did not help, so I went ahead and replaced the inverter itself. Today I installed the new inverter but still the same issue! I can get it to stay on for sometimes about 30 seconds (if that) by moving the screen around a bit.
I have checked the voltage supplied to the inverter and get 3.2, 5.0, 0.0 and 12.3 on the four conductors (as expected, i believe?).
So, what does this leave? Could it be that the backlight tube itself need to be replaced? Any other ideas for a fix?
Thanks for your help!
Is this a good question?


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Just to paint you a little picture: I was 10 years old in 1997, the year George Broussard and 3D Realms announced Duke Nukem Forever after the success they had with Duke Nukem 3D, one of the pioneers of PC first-person shooters. Well, it's 2010, I'm 23 now, and Duke Nukem Forever hasn't come out yet. Believe it or not, this game has been in development for nearly 14 years. The fact that the title was never really canceled all these years has made it a farce in the gaming community, with jokes such as "this will happen the day Duke Nukem Forever comes out" (or other words, never). Problems such as scrapping months of work in favor of updating the game's engine and legal battles have only made things worse for those fans who have been waiting over a decade for this thing.
Just when everyone thought the game had finally been put to rest after 13 years of failed development, news surfaced today that Gearbox, the developers behind the popular game Borderlands, owned the IP (intellectual property) now and were finishing this game after 3D Realms had folded. At this year's Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), a playable demo was on display on the showfloor.
I wrote this up because I want you guys to realize what a big deal this is, so much that today it has been at the top of the trending list on Twitter. This is a game that NO ONE thought would ever be released. The scheduled release date (once a humorous "when it's done") is now set for 2011. Some gamers, understandably, still hold a certain amount of skepticism that this will happen at all.
If it does, this is what we have to look forward to:
Remember to leave your comments in the section below and share!
~My Two Cents


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We are excited to announce that NAIWE members have been offered a special discount to the TAP! 2013 – Technologically Advanced Publishing Conference.
January 8 -11, 2013 | Orlando, FL
The National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (www.NAIWE.com) has partnered with the International Association of Electronic Publishers (www.IAEPUB.org) to offer another opportunity to build your career and redefine your mission as an independent writer or editor. TAP! 2013 is a cutting-edge training conference pushing new limits in digital content creation, publishing, marketing and monetization.
The who's who in this new emerging space will share case studies, talk tech and help you bring your digital publishing project to life. Get ready for 4 days of sessions that covers both strategy and vision as well as practical tools and techniques from contentcreation to final distribution.
Every attendee receives a free copy of Guy Kawasaki's new book APE: Author-Publisher-Entrepreneur and you'll see Guy speak at the opening keynote!
Early bird pricing on all conference packages runs until December 7. TAP! 2013 has offered an additional special discount for NAIWE Members. Log into the member area and go to the Member Benefit and Discount Links page linked from the "Library" to get the code you need to receive an additional $150 off any package you choose.


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You have the feeling that things are spiraling out of control, but you are of two minds as to whether to stop it. The process itself seems to be controlling matters and, while you have had time to think about your actions, there is something in the back of your head reflecting on the ease with which you seem to have put your life in danger. Those thoughts ran through my head as Luis, our guide, placed the pulley over the zip wire and told me to lift my feet off the platform. Mrs. PND is no wimp; she upped and went first and was now 200 feet away-- speeding 50 feet above the canopy to the second of 15 platforms we would visit in the next hour. Our two guides had clearly come to a conclusion about us immediately and, for whatever reason, they decided we would just get on with it. Hence, the rather cursory and matter-of-fact instruction, which sounded more like he was practicing his English than anything else. He gave the impression he expected us to pay about as much attention as we would to a flight attendant.
The first platform is a short drive from the head office and small gift shop and, once up the hill, we were led to a location short of the first platform. Our instructions were simple and presented in decent English—place your arm behind you, pressing on the wire to slow yourself and never grab the wire in front (otherwise you risk mangling your fingers). Then one of the boys attached himself to the practice wire suspended in front of us between two trees and showed us how it worked. We then got up from our seats, thinking we would then get the chance to practice on the training wire. Not so. We went straight to prime time.
Per instruction, up go the feet with knees bent in front of you and you are off-- flying like Peter Pan above the sea of green Monteverde rain forest. It was very cool and we still can't really believe we did it. There are 15 platforms at Selvatura and a multi-bridge cloud walk. I had reviewed Fodor's list of zipwire tours but decided based on the recommendation of our hotel, and I think we made the right choice. Most of the ziplines are 30-100 meters long; however, the longest is 400 meters, and runs parallel to one of the suspension bridges we walked across later that day. The wire looked more impressive from the bridge than it did when we sped across, given its height above ground - perhaps 100 feet - and the enormous distance between the platforms at either end.
Since it was just the two of us, we able to enjoy the company of the two boys and Mrs. PND was able to try her Spanish --I think the boys liked her. One had better English than the other and told her it was easy to learn English because Americans keep using the same words over and over again. I thought that comment was rather amusing.
Selvatura is located a very bumpy 20-minute ride above Santa Elena, and their mini-buses pick up customers anywhere in town. Ecology provided the genesis of the zipline tour when scientists recognized that they could study plant life and animals more effectively if they were suspended above or within the canopy. So, for purely scientific reasons--not at all for fun --scientists began zipwireing across nature preserves; word got out and a tourist attraction was born. In Santa Elena, there are at least 10 zip-line tour operators but none of them could be better than Selvatura. Any guide book will have listings and recommendations on each of the better operators. Obviously, safety is a major concern because these tours are a strong attraction for eco-tourism. It wouldn't do for tourists to start falling out of the sky and, at least according to Fodor's there haven't been many accidents.
The zipline tour lasts about 60 mins. and I think I got to platform 10 thinking we were done. I was already impressed with the length of the tour but, as a parting gift, Selvatura offers something they call the "Tarzan Swing." Tarzan has no redeeming or scientific value and is designed only to make you scream like an idiot as you step off a small platform and free-fall 30 feet over a ravine. It is really a mini bungee jump. Again, the fearless Mrs. PND went first. Not ever having bungee-jumped, the sensation of nothingness as you fall forward is exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. This wasn't even that high--and I would do it again. When we got back to the hotel, the desk clerk asked in reverent tones, "Did you do the Tarzan?" I think she was impressed, although she might have been worried about my age...
Like the day before, we were eating lunch by 1:30 (this time at Pizzeria Johnny), feeling very satisfied with ourselves. Selvatura also has a 1.5-mile trail which includes 8 suspension bridges through the cloud forest, but we had to rush this since we would have had to wait 2 hours for the next shuttle bus to Santa Elena. We needed our lunch and we needed to get on the road to the beach.
Travel Edition: Hiking Above the Clouds


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Guild Wars - Using this free application you can sell your account, sell your items, you can buy accounts and items. Very easy to use from your desktop. Free.
Buy Account, Buy Items, Guild Wars, Sell Account, Sell Items
Account ferret, Buy sell neural, Fast-sell pos, Free ab account, Free rpg items, Free url items, Msn account, Point of sell, Point to sell, Sell restaurant
The Misspelled eBay Search TooBar will save you $1000s of dollars. This is easy to use and installs an uninstalls in seconds. We have completely redesigned the Misspellsearch Misspell Toolbar.
Boachsoft smartmanager is an excellent video rental software. It comes
with all the features that you need to manage your video rental store. It has a user friendly interface and it comes with very handy reports.
Our program makes selling a home on your own easy. We sell the most houses for sale by owner, proving our house selling strategies sell more homes than any site in home selling. Grab our free For Sale By Owner Listing Starter Kit today!
Account&See Professional creates, prints, e-Mails and PDFs Invoices, recurring invoices, quotations with full payment and sales tax tracking. Purchase ledger stores suppliers' invoices and payments. Inventory module keeps track of your stock levels.
ATAF-picture-eShop is 100% web-based online shop where you can sell your pictures in a familiar XP design ATAF-picture-eShopy is a easy to install, where you can easy can upload and sell pictures on the web.
Stock Profit Calculator is the first equity calculator that lets your store buy and sell calculations for quick reference. The main calculator portion is freeware. There are many great extra features that can be unlocked for a nominal fee.
Become a dope farmer and harvest illegal drugs in this game of strategy!
A Shareware CRM Software.
Please refer to product home page for installation and user manuals.
MP3Guard: This program is for musicians who want to sell or distribute mp3 files online. This program will encrypt your mp3 files . This includes an MP3 player for playing the MP3 files. Users cannot copy your files.
Online PAD- file generation tool. Import, create, manage and update your PAD- files and PPP- files from your personal PAD Service account. Hundreds of software authors around the world are already using PAD Service to manage their software listings
Download this Free Star Wars Screensaver right now and the best Jedi Master in the universe - Yoda - will teach you right from your desktop.
Castle Wars is a game of strategy which is easy to learn and fun to play. You are one of the six lords in the land. The dream of you is simple - Take over the entire land.
Journey across the land to find the secrets of a strange alliance between the Thiefs Guild and Mercenaries.
Drug Wars - Underworld is an addictive game of buying and selling in a seedy underworld. You take on the role of a street dealer, and try to make as much money as possible in the time allowed. A freely playable re-imagination of the 1980's classic.
An awesome Star Wars Trilogy screensaver.
A pack of four movie screensavers including Star Wars, the Matrix, LotR, and V for Vendetta.
If you think you were born to command armies, not to rub your pants through in the office, then Brutal Wars is for you. This turn-based war strategy lets you hone your strategic skills on various battlefields displayed on your Pocket PC. Good luck!
This animated screensaver features the famous tie fighter of star wars flying around your screen.
Scenes of ancient China and quotes from Sun Tzu's "Art of War". Around 2,000 years ago, China was in turmoil. A series of wars left the leaders in search of a new way of governing. Sun Tzu's book was born of his direct experience of war.
This is a character generator for a variety of role playing games. It is compatible with Star wars D20, Cyberpunk, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, Alternity, Rolemaster and In Nomine Satanis Magna veritas. Complete set of gaming tools also included.


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A few nights ago my dream was so vivid that I awoke in a sweat. I had slid to the edge of a rock precipice with a third of my body over the edge. There is no love of heights in my history and the view was Grand Canyon-like. Self-talk kicked in while my body tensed and froze. Ever so slowly, using my fingers to grasp the tiny indentations, I inched my way back onto the smooth of the rock. As the last bit of my foot pulled in from dangling in mid air, I exhaled and lay back, feeling the strength of the rock and the sun on my face - but my heart was left pounding outside of my chest….so close.
The next morning I found myself asking Jesus where He was in my dream. Remember, He promised to never leave me - never.
The first thought that entered my mind was that He was The Rock. Without leaning back into Him, I would be over the cliff and completely crushed. For me, looking down includes: "whys", self-pity, blame, jealousy, guilt, bitterness, unforgiveness and emptiness. While all of these are understandable, none are desirable and so aren't really options. Frequently Kim and I will comment to each other that without Jesus we don't know if our marriage would have survived the last year. We don't know if we'd be sane. When we look back, the objective insanity of those last weeks in Canuck House was horrific. And yet He was and is our Peace, our Joy, our Hope - Jordan's and ours.
This afternoon, Kim and I finally put up the rest of the decorations on our tree. Matt was napping and Joel hadn't arrived yet - his plane was delayed 34 hours - we're picking him up at the airport tonight at midnight. We so long to just be together. Gifts are not as high on the the priority list as they once were...food gets bumped down as well. But there is one laugh that we won't get to hear and one hug we won't get to experience and Jordan's absence has made us all the more aware of how precious we all are to each other. Many of our tree decorations have five names on them...Jordan is all over our tree with us. But the only reason we have the courage to move forward, dream, risk, laugh and cry with hope is because of Jesus.


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Standard guitar tuning:EADGBENo capo
Em F♯m G AJDust the other night and a hoGmetown football game MDy wife and I ranBm into Emmy old high school fAlame AGnd as I intF♯mroduced them theBm past came back to Gme AEmnd I couldn't help F♯mbut think of tGhe way things used tAo be SDhe was the one that I'd waGnted for all times ADnd each night I'd spenBmd prayin' thatEm God would make her Amine AGnd if he'd onlF♯my grant me thisBm wish I wished back Gthen IEm'd never ask foF♯mr anythingA again
ChorusSDometimes GI thank God forA unanswered prayers RDemember when you're tBmalkin' to theEm man upstaAirs TDhat just because hF♯me doesn't answerG doesn't mean hBme don't care SDome of God's greAatest Ggifts are unansweredD prayers SDhe wasn't quite the angel that I remembGered in my dreams ADnd I could tell thatBm time had changed me IEmn her eyes too itA seemed WGe tried to talk F♯mabout the old days TBmhere wasn't much Gwe could recall IEm guess the Lord knows F♯mwhat he's doiAn' after all AGnd as she walked away F♯mI looked at myBm wife AEmnd then and there I tF♯mhanked the good Lord FGor the gifts Ain my life
ChorusSDometimes GI thank God forA unanswered prayers RDemember when you're tBmalkin' to theEm man upstaAirs TDhat just because hF♯me may not answerG doesn't mean hBme don't care SDome of God's greAatest Ggifts are unanswered... SDome of God's greAatest Ggifts are all too often unanswered... Unanswered prayers Brooks,Bastian,Alger sung by Garth Brooks 1.D Just the other night at a hGometown football game 2. She was the one that I wanted for all times 3. She wasn't quite the angel that I remembered in my dreams 1.D my wife and I ran into mE7y old highschool flaAme. 2. and each night I spent praying that God would make her mine. 3. and I could tell that time had changed me in her eyes, too it seemed. 1.G And Fas I introduceBd them the pasFt came back toG me 2. And if He'd only grant me this wish I'd wished back then 3. We tried to talk about the old day.It wasn't much we could re-call 1.D and I cEouldn't help but thiDnk of the way tGhings used to be A 2. I'd never ask for anything a-gain. 3. I guess the Lord knows what'he's doin' after all. 3.G and as she walked away andF I looked at myB wife 3.E and then and there I Dthanked the good LorGd for the giftAs in my life SoAmetimes I thank God Dfor unanswGered prayers.E A ReDmember whAen you're talkBing to theA man upstEairs A thDat just because He D7doesn't answer doGesn't mean He doE7n't care 'cDause some of GodA's gB7ratesE7t gifts aAre unanswerDed prayers. Out: ..A. are unanswered. SoDme of God's greatAest giftB7s are all too E7often unanA7swered,
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Friend's Email:
Subject: I have found a DVD that I think you would enjoy
|Death Racers
Actors: Insane Clown Posse, Raven, Stephen Blackehart, Robert Pike Daniel, Jason Ellefson
Director: Roy Knyrim
Genres: Action & Adventure
UR 2008 1hr 25min
Studio: Asylum Home Entertainment Release Date: 09/16/2008 Run time: 85 minutes
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Michael Ledo | Windsor, SC United States | 06/05/2010
(3 out of 5 stars)
"CONSIDERING IT WAS an ASYLUM production it it one of their 5 star productions. The acting was still poor. The blood scenes were overdone and silly. And if you watch it for the "rape scene" the box claims it has, it would be a let down as the girl never really gets raped, just tied down and threatened from behind. The music background was hip-hop. The plot of the movie attempted to combine "Death Race 2000" with "Escape from New York City" with "Groove Tube" commentary. I believe this may be the best we can ever expect from Asylum. The title is misleading as there is not any actual racing as one might expect, rather the racers pretty much work together. And if you are an Insane Clown Posse fan, good news: They survive the whole movie, for what it is worth."


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It's been sooooo long since I've blogged about anything but I couldn't pass up this chance to show you a great product and where to win it. The Bragging Mommy is giving away a super cute Summer Infant SuperSeat and it is wayyyy cute. I think it is a unique product for the babes and I'm sure you will to. Hurry and enter because you only have until 12/13 to enter.
Monday, December 10, 2012
It's Been A While
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ENAM 484:Our objectives this spring are, in some sense, quite simple; I hope to continue the work we began last semester, developing the intellectual and technical skills for reading American Culture(s) and publishing our work on the web.
Course Ojectives
How, exactly, we're going to do that isn't quite as clear. The syllabus at this point suggests a kind of rough design. We begin with Stephen Fjellman's Vinyl Leaves, one of the best general introductions to American Popular culture I know. Then we move to a series of theoretical readings focused on Television as Popular Culture, partly on the assumption that your familiarity with the medium gives you a certain purchase on the theory, a basis for evaluating their plausibility and utility. After that we spend four weeks looking at popular culture at two crucial historical junctures, the turn of the century and the Depression. The idea here is, again, to gain some distance, to see the Popular Culture we know now from an historical perspective that might serve to de-familiarize it. In the following two weeks, we go through a series of readings in Contemporary popular culture, on everything from shopping centers to teenage dress.
After all this, we'll turn our attention to your individual projects. The subject of these projects will be up to you; my hope is that you'll chose an important aspect of popular culture, one deserving your time and attention and capable of showing your knowledge, analytical skills, and imagination -- as well as your ability to work in the medium of the web.
As an added feature of this course, I'm going to ask that each of you give me one day's worth of labor during the semester devoted to something related to the American Studies Program. As soon as I know what this might be, I'll let you know.


text: Try to hear the song in here : http://soundcloud.com/conversesocial/peepshow ~~~~~ SEOUL, Korea (May 30, 2012) – CONVERSE Inc. announces the track release for its first-ever Korea based Three Artists. One Song collaboration. The music initiative brings together three diverse and unique Korean artists, featuring indie icons, Jaurim; rising hip-hop stars, Aziatix; and award-winning electronic act, Idiotape. The new track, "#PeepShow," is available to music fans globally starting today via free download at www.converse.com/music "#PeepShow" is a cross-pollination of three distinct music genres, weaving together Aziatix' signature rap lyrics with Jaurim's indie vocals and Idiotape's electronic sound. Recorded in Seoul, Korea, the genre-bending track pushes the dial on youthful expression and brings an edgy new sound to the Asia Pacific market. Fueled by Idiotape's driving bassline, Jaurim and Aziatix bring a new dimension to the song with their lyrical commentary on youth and pop culture. "We're excited to be a part of Three Artists. One Song and to bring a brand new concept to the Asia Pacific music scene." said DGURU, front man of Idiotape. "By not limiting ourselves to any specific instrument or genre, we were able to come up with a very original and unique sound." "Converse embraces a rebellious young audience and the notion of self-expression," said Eddie Shin, lead vocalist from Aziatix. "With "#PeepShow," we wanted to elevate this young voice and inspire creativity among music fans in Korea and beyond." Three Artists. One Song invites artists to come together and express themselves through the creation of an original track. Recent song collaborations include "Warrior" by Mark Foster (Foster the People), Kimbra and A-trak and "Doyathing" by world-famous Gorillaz, James Murphy (LCD Soundsystem) and Andre 3000 (OutKast). Now in its eighth series, the unique music platform launches in Asia Pacific, widening the scope for the celebration of international music talent. Following the track release, a music video for "#PeepShow" will premiere at www.converse.com in June 2012. ~~~~ cr: conversekorea.com


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iPod touch 1st gen. used to charge on car charger
my 1st gen iPod stopped charging on computer (wouldn't even be recognized) then a couple months later it wouldn't charge on wall charger...then a couple more months later it wouldn't charge on car charger...I'm out of ways to charge it! What could be the problem...I cant' find any info on replacing the 'charger port"...is is something else? Can it be fixed at a reasonable price or should I start looking at new ones?
Is this a good question?


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In order to prepare my students, we are working on a "baby" animation project prior to the winter holidays. I want the students to have a basic understanding of the process, and I want them to be excited to work on larger-scale (and thereby more frustrating) projects.
|Image from here
Gifs, in case you don't know, are images in bitmap format and they support only 256 colors. Basically, gif images have to be more simplistic than say jpeg or vector images. Gifs also support very basic animation; you can tell your file format to show different images (think slides) with timed delays. It sounds complicated, but it really is not. There are all sorts of websites and free software that allow you to make gifs (type "gif generator" into Google). You can also make gifs with Adobe Photoshop. I've been making gifs with Gimp, which is a free photo-editing software (similar to Photoshop Elements, but free). Incidentally, if you are looking for quality, free, photo-editing software, Gimp is it!
My students have been using Pixlr thus far to edit photos. I'm in the process of getting administrative approval to load Gimp onto a whole lab of computers. But, until that time, I'm Pixlr-dependent. Pixlr, while awesome (it's free, it's a website, and has an almost exact interface as Photoshop Elements), is not able to make gifs. But, you can make individual images to serve as frames, and then load these frames into a gif generator like Picasion.
Again, if you are new to gifs this all sounds confusing. . .Trust me, it is not hard!!
Here's what we did (and directions on how we did it):
1. We learned how to make clothespin sculptures. Here is a great pic that explains that.
2. Students took 2 pictures of their clothespin sculpture. In one picture the pin is closed, in the other it is open. Students tried to keep the same exact composition for both. To make life easier, I had them take their pictures in front of a "green screen" (a green sheet of paper; it makes editing backgrounds easier).
3. Students uploaded images to the computer
4. Students manipulated their images in Pixlr in order to get 2 "frames" for their animation. I have a full set of (editable) click-by-click directions on how to do this in Pixlr right here (be not afraid!).
5. Students uploaded their "frames" to Picasion
6. Students saved their gifs and shared them on Edmodo
P.S. If you/your students make this project; share it with me. I would soo love that!
P.P.S. If you need some awesome gif-spiration check out these ah-mazing artists:
P.P.S. If you need some awesome gif-spiration check out these ah-mazing artists:


text: Hey everyone, I know how to use search, and I've found plenty of good hosts, but I don't have the time to email them back and forth for the next week. I currently use Worldstream.nl - and they recently sent me the following email: Code: This e-mail is to inform you that IP ***.**.*.*** will be blocked within 480 minutes if you do not respond to this e-mail message. This action has been taken because of the following abuse report: *.com Please respond ASAP (as soon as possible) by replying on this e-mail to avoid a block of this IP! Kind regards, The WorldStream Abuse system [This message has been sent automatically] I need a new host, with a dedicated server, offshore, that allows Anime and Cartoon videos to be linked to, similar to PRQ.SE, but they're slow at replying. Anyone have any ideas, or offers? All help is appreciated! Regards, ~ver.


text:
- Case study
- Open Access
From project-oriented to service-oriented software development: an industrial experience guided by a service reference model
- Marcos Kalinowski1Email author,
- Stefan Biffl2,
- Rodrigo Oliveira Spínola3 and
- Sheila Reinehr4
© Kalinowski et al.; licensee Springer. 2014
- Received: 9 October 2013
- Accepted: 5 July 2014
- Published: 30 August 2014
In organizations with software systems in production, new and often unexpected requirements for development come up due to strategic, tactical, and operational customer needs. In this context, it is a strategic advantage for software suppliers to be able to provide software services that meet these demands faster and with less overhead than negotiating traditional value-neutral project-oriented software deliveries.
Case description
This article reports on the industrial experience of restructuring the supplier-side software development process into a value-based service-oriented format, guided by a service reference model. A service level agreement (SLA) was established between supplier and customer reflecting the business needs and values. The report describes the contractual aspects and internal managerial controls employed to facilitate the compliance of the provided services with the SLA, including the integrated use of a managerial spreadsheet, an issue-tracking system, and a Kanban chart.
Discussion and evaluation
The feasibility and results of restructuring software development into a service-oriented format are evaluated. Major results were that only moderate effort was required, around one person month, due to the support of the service reference model and a sufficient level of previously installed capabilities, and that the goals regarding improved quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction were successfully achieved. Additionally we discuss stakeholder needs, the support from the service reference model, the lessons learned, and the success factors for such restructuring.
Restructuring software development in the format of continuous service delivery, guided by a service reference model, is feasible and for suitable contexts can provide significant benefits concerning quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
- Service reference model
- Software development as a service
- Software process
- Software project management
- Software quality
In dynamic organizational environments with software systems in production, it is not always possible to forecast and formalize in a contract the requirements for development that will arise over time (Barney et al.[2008]). Collecting upcoming requirements in formal projects can incur significant overhead and delay to evolving the software that supports mission-critical business processes and analyses.
Therefore, it is common for customer organizations to seek for Information Technology (IT) suppliers who can provide services to efficiently and quickly handle demands according to their business needs, respecting the varying volumes and priority of these demands (Khan et al.[2011]). However, from the point of view of the supplier, restructuring the software development process to meet such customer expectations is not always an easy task, in particular, if it is not clear whether the supplier software organization process is sufficiently mature to drive towards a service delivery format (Lehman and Sharma [2011]).
Treating a customer demand for software development as a request for an IT service is a promising way for addressing the customer value expectations, in line with the definition of services by ISO/IEC ([2011]), which defines a service as a "means of delivering value to customers by facilitating outcomes customers want to achieve". In practical terms this means migrating software development from a traditional project management format (PMI [2013]) to a continuous service delivery management format (TSO [2011]).
IT service management can be defined along the lines of the ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library), a model conceived by the British government with a view to provide a consensus on the best IT service management practices, as "a set of specialized organizational capabilities for providing value to customers in the form of services" (TSO [2011]).
In the context of providing IT services, it is important to make an effort to establish efficient service management processes (TSO [2011]), preferably based on a reference model that supports the best practices for improving service processes and, consequently, increasing productivity and effectiveness of the services provided.
One of the programs available to meet this type of need is the Brazilian nationwide MPS.BR program (Santos et al.[2012]). In Brazil about 73% of the software industry is constituted of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (MCTI [2013]). Therefore, an effort was made to developed national reference models for software development and IT service delivery, which are compliant to well-established international standards and reference models, in order to provide their suppliers, including SMEs, with more fine-grained steps to define and achieve an appropriate level of software process maturity. Software regulators in other countries with a high share of SME software suppliers can benefit from the lessons learned in Brazil to better support their small-scale software suppliers.
Thus, the main MPS.BR objective is to develop and disseminate reference models that meet the requirements of the Brazilian software and IT services industries, allowing software suppliers, including SMEs, to deliver to customers according to internationally recognized quality standards (Santos et al.[2012]). The MPS.BR family of reference models currently consists of the MPS-SW for Software (SOFTEX [2012a]) and the MPS-SV for IT Services (SOFTEX [2012b]). The MPS-SV reference model is a promising basis for establishing service management processes. Another similar and compatible alternative (SOFTEX [2012b]) would be following the guidelines of the international CMMI-SVC (CMMI for Services) reference model (SEI [2010]).
While the MPS-SW has been established in 2003 and has been widely adopted in Brazil, with 548 official assessments (over 70% of them in SMEs) published by April 2014 (SOFTEX [2014]), the MPS-SV model is still very recent and saw its first evaluation published in September 2012. The MPS-SW has already helped on the adoption of good software engineering practices in the Brazilian industry (Kalinowski et al.[2010]). There is also objective evidence of positive impacts on the performance of the software suppliers that adopted this model (Kalinowski et al.[2008a]) (Travassos and Kalinowski [2013]), which could be transferred to other countries with a similar software development structure. The MPS-SV model has a broader application scope than the MPS-SW model, since MPS-SV can be applied to support the structuring and improvement of IT service processes in general. These services might include Help Desk and support services (SOFTEX [2012b]) or even software development services, as in the experience reported in this paper.
MPS-SV and CMMI-SVC maturity level compatibility
MPS-SV maturity levels
CMMI-SVC maturity levels
A – In Optimization
5 – In Optimization
B – Quantitatively Managed
4 – Quantitatively Managed
C – Defined
3 – Defined
D – Largely Defined
E – Partially Defined
F – Managed
2 – Managed
G – Partially Managed
Software development as a service (SDaaS) started being discussed recently (Lehman and Sharma [2011]) and the thematic of applying service reference models to software development has been informally presented at the SEPG North America 2011 (Penn [2011]) and SEPG North America 2013 (Penn [2013]). However, to the best of our knowledge, there are no published experience reports available on this topic. Therefore, the lack of published work related to moving from a project-oriented to a service-oriented process, and in particular based on a service reference model, leads to uncertainties concerning feasibility, effects, and success and risk factors (pitfalls). An initial effort to bridge this gap was reported in (Kalinowski and Reinehr [2013]), the paper we are herein extending. Given this scenario, we investigate the following two research issues (RIs) to shed light on applying service reference models to re-structure software development from a project-oriented to a service-oriented management format from an industry perspective.
RI-1. Survey on perceived utility of structuring software development guided by service reference models
Do software engineering consulting experts see significant utility in adopting service delivery practices for software development? Would these experts consider using a service reference model as a basis for adopting service delivery practices?
To address this research issue, a survey was conducted in the MPS-SV context with software engineering consultants (19 certified MPS-SW implementation consultants from 11 different MPS.BR accredited implementation institutions), who work with software development suppliers helping them to organize their production processes (Jordão and Kalinowski [2013]). The survey was structured following the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis [1989]) to gather the perception on the utility, ease of adoption and intention to adopt from the point of view of those consultants. In a systematic review concerning the TAM, conducted by Turner et al. ([2010]), a correlation between the intention to adopt, as stated in the studies that used the TAM, and actual adoption could be identified, which reinforced the decision of following this model.
Results indicated that the MPS-SW software engineering consultants consider service reference models useful and that they would consider adopting them for providing continuous delivery capabilities to their software industry customers. A summary of these results, which reinforce the motivation for investigating the following research issue, are compiled in the Discussion and Evaluation Section. Further details on the survey planning, operation and limitations are published in a separate paper (Jordão and Kalinowski [2013]).
RI-2. Industry experience report on the feasibility and results on restructuring software development guided by a service reference model
What are typical stakeholder needs that trigger software development restructuring? Can a service reference model be helpful to meet restructuring needs in software development? What effort is to be expected? What are the potential effects on quality and productivity? What are the main lessons learned? What are the involved success and risk factors?
To address this research issue a real experience of restructuring software development guided by a service reference model was conducted, analyzed, and an initial report (in Portuguese) was produced (Kalinowski and Reinehr [2013]). Main reported results were: (i) the MPS-SV model was found helpful to guide the restructuring; (ii) restructuring required only modest effort; and (iii) significant benefits were perceived in terms of quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction.
However, this initial report only provided an overview of the restructuring and brief indications on effort and on the produced effects on quality and productivity. Therefore, many questions raised in RI-2, to which answers would provide additional insights into structuring software development as a service, remained unanswered. For instance, stakeholder needs that typically trigger such restructuring and how the MPS-SV can support meeting these needs were not described. Lessons learned were also not discussed in depth to allow further understanding the assumptions for such restructuring and possible improvements. Finally, major success and risk factors were not identified.
This paper extends the initial report (Kalinowski and Reinehr [2013]) by providing further details on the context and on how managerial skills for handling service requests were established aiming at complying to a Service Level Agreement (SLA) with the customer to satisfy his business needs. Contractual aspects of the restructuring and internal controls used to ensure compliance with the SLA, are described in details. Those internal controls encompass the integrated use of managerial spreadsheets, issue-tracking systems and Kanban charts (Anderson [2010]) to monitor the demand prioritization.
Moreover, further analyses of the experience allowed identifying the stakeholder needs and how the MPS-SV supported meeting them. The discussion on lessons learned was extended and success and risk factors were identified. We assume that these additional details, analyses and extensions can provide further insights into the feasibility of applying service reference models to software development, which are relevant for SME software suppliers in Brazil and in comparable international contexts.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Case description describes the case: context of the experience, including the identification of the stakeholder needs, and how the development process was re-structured. Discussion and evaluation presents the discussion and evaluation, including obtained results, lessons learned, success and risk factors. Conclusions concludes and discusses issues for further research.
Case description
This section describes the experience related to investigating RI-2 by restructuring the software development process guided by a service reference model. Therefore, the context is described and further details on how the development was structured as a service are provided.
Context and stakeholder needs
The experience described herein occurred in the context of the companies Kali Software (KS), as the software supplier, and Tranship Transportes Marítimos (TTM), as the customer.
The supplier, KS, can be characterized as a small-sized Brazilian software supplier (20 employees – including the board of directors) that had worked on custom development for almost a decade, providing services for national and international customers in a range of business areas (e.g., naval industry, health insurances, and financial). Despite of its small size the development followed distributed processes, with the development team and their local management were located in the city of Juiz de Fora (Brazil), and directors and requirement analysts located in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The previously adopted development process followed a traditional interactive and incremental development life cycle, where increments were included in plan-driven projects (Boehm and Turner [2003]), with each project negotiated as a separate development contract.
The customer, TTM, is a medium-sized Brazilian sea freight company (about 400 employees) that provides strategic services to the country. These services include coastal transport and naval support to oil rigs working at the pre-salt layer of the continental shelf. TTM had several software suppliers and internal IT support. The internal support was provided by an IT manager (responsible for supplier agreement management and conducting acceptance tests) and an IT support analyst (responsible for the installed server infrastructure and help desk support).
The software development partnership between the two companies was established in February 2011. The main developed software in this context concerned an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, involving several modules, such as administrative, operations, allocation of ship crew members, finance, and human resources, which were gradually put into production. In total, 87 use cases were implemented in an overall effort of more than 4000 hours, resulting in a management system of around 83,000 lines of Java code and 167 data tables. At the time of the herein reported experience, 10 of KS employees (1 director, 1 project manager, 1 requirements analyst, 6 developers and 1 testing analyst) were involved – not all exclusively –with the TTM ERP project.
With the modules entering production, the stakeholder's needs started to change. TTM's directors (executive, operations, financial, and human resources), for instance, began needing information and new functions very quickly according to their immediate strategic, tactical, and operational business goals. The contractual model for new development requests was previously structured as separate projects (characterized according to the definition of the PMI ([2013]) by having a manageable scope, a beginning and an end), in which a new contract had to be negotiated in order to develop new functions. This contractual approach was not adequate for the new scenario anymore. The main problems of this value-neutral approach (Boehm [2006]) were the effort of negotiating new contracts and not considering added business value for prioritizing individual demands. As a consequence, fast deployment of the most important new system capabilities from a business point of view, was not achieved.
Stakeholder interests conflicting with the value-neutral project approach
Stakeholder interests
TTM - Directors, managers and operational level employees of the different business areas.
Simple contract negotiation; fast definition and deployment of system capability changes or increments; delivery priority according to current added business value.
TTM - IT Manager & IT support analyst
Fast, predictable, and high quality deliveries.
KS – Directors and Project Manager
Simple contract negotiation; steady inflow of system capability changes or increments; translate technical productivity into higher net gains; visibility of team productivity.
KS – Developer& Quality Assurance
Quick customer feedback.
Therefore, the directors of both companies met to define a new and more flexible contractual model to satisfy the new stakeholder needs. They decided on a contractual framework based on the provision of services, in which demands were treated as separate requests for services with different priorities and the billing would be linked to compliance with a SLA (in traditional project-oriented development, contracts usually include terms for incremental delivery and related penalties). By considering a SLA based on the customer's business needs, this contractual framework helps integrating value considerations into software development, as suggested by the Value-Based Software Engineering (VBSE) discipline (Biffl et al.[2006]).
The decision of establishing a provision-of-services contract meant that the supplier had to adopt a strategy for delivering such services with internal controls to facilitate the management of individual requests in order to comply with the SLA. The following subsection describes this strategy.
Restructuring software development as a service
Although an official assessment was not in the plans of the supplier, it was decided that the structuring of software development as a service should follow the guidelines of the reference model MPS-SV maturity level G (SOFTEX [2012b]). This decision was taken to ensure that service delivery best practices would be incorporated into the new development process. The MPS-SW has contributed to the adoption of good practices by the Brazilian software industry (Kalinowski et al.[2010]), and the national experts expect that the MPS-SV can do the same for the IT services sector.
Level G of the MPS-SV reference model (SOFTEX [2012b]) contemplates five processes: Work Management, Requirements Management, Service Delivery, Service Level Management, and Incident Management. During the experience described in this paper, the practices of Work Management and Requirements Management, already in place at KS in the software development context, were complemented with practices of the remaining three processes directly related to service management. A brief description of these three processes (Service Delivery, Service Level Management, and Incident Management) follows.
The Service Delivery process aims to use a strategy for service delivery in line with the established service agreements. Service Level Management process aims to ensure that the customer's SLAs are fulfilled. Finally, the purpose of the Incident Management process involves capabilities for managing incidents and service requests (SOFTEX [2012b]).
MPS-SV's Service Delivery precepts are handled in Contractual aspects Section, in which the contractual aspects that made the service delivery strategy possible and the SLA established in order to meet the customer's needs are described. Service Level Management and Incident Management are addressed in Supplier-side managerial controls Section, in which the internal managerial controls employed for monitoring the SLA and how to operate service requests are detailed.
Contractual aspects
The contractual model had to undergo changes to enable the new service delivery strategy. In this new model, demands for development came to be treated as service requests. Previously, demands had been grouped into increments handled as development projects, billed accordingly as the projects progressed (20% at the outset, 30% after functional specification, and 50% following final delivery).
With the new desired dynamics, requests would no longer be grouped into development projects, but rather handled as work associated with isolated services that should comply with a SLA. The CMMI-SVC reference model (SEI [2010]) defines work as "a managed set of people and other resources that delivers one or more products or services to a customer or end user". Thus, in the case of this experience, switching from project management to work management would result in a finer granularity of items to manage.
The strategy that was defined to enable service delivery involved dividing the billing of the contract into two parts, one fixed and one variable. The former included the payment of a full-time requirements analyst in charge of receiving requests from users and specifying them as service requests. In addition to the analyst, the fixed part also included a fee for corrective maintenance services (development effort related to fixing system failures). The variable monthly part, on the other hand, was calculated on a fixed day of the month, based on the implemented requests, according to the SLA. Therefore, higher productivity would directly and intuitively result in a higher monthly net gain for the software supplier.
The treatment of the service requests was managed to ensure that each request was attended complying with the established SLA. As soon as the developer concludes the technical solution of a request, before it is considered ready for validation, the solution is sent to a test by an independent team. Finally, the delivered requests get validated with the system's users.
The 'Service Level Agreement and Penalties' subsection shows the SLA part of the contract. In this SLA, requests have different deadlines, defined as numbers of days, according to their priority. The priority should reflect the added business value, so that higher added business value has to be treated faster. The following prioritization criteria was adopted:
Critical Requests: these impede the use of the system for the business activities of some sectors or relate to new functionalities that can significantly improve business results.
High Priority Requests: these do not impede the use of the system for the business activities of entire sectors, but hinder the conclusion of some specific business operations;
Medium Priority Requests: these relate to new functionalities that can allow the speedier execution of some business operations;
Low Priority Requests: these relate to new functionalities that enable features of the system to be improved.
According to this SLA, if a critical request of a new functionality with estimated effort of 40 hours is fully answered on the tenth working day after the request and with a total effort of 80 hours, then only 42 of the 80 worked hours would be billable. This amount corresponds to the maximum billable amount of 60 hours with a penalty of 30%, since it should have been answered at the eights workday and was only answered in the tenth workday. In cases the supplier did not agree with classifying a new functionality as critical, the customer had to explain how the new functionality would improve business results (e.g., avoiding losses or enabling higher gains).
On the other hand, if a critical correction with estimated effort of 40 hours is fully answered on the tenth working day after the request and with a total effort of 80 hours, then 18 billable hours would be deduced from the total monthly billable hours. In this case, corresponding to a 30% penalty for the delay over the 60 maximum billable hours.
Given this scenario, in which delays have direct financial impact, monitoring the request against the SLA becomes of critical importance. Therefore, to monitor compliance with the SLA, requests were recorded on a spreadsheet, one of the internal managerial controls used to facilitate management of services. More information concerning managerial controls is provided in subsection Supplier-side managerial controls.
Service level agreement and penalties
This service level agreement is valid for corrections, as well as for changes and new developments, requested from the entry date of this agreement.
The requests will have the following deadlines to be fully met (with no defects)
Critical Requests
Deadline in hours = (1.5 x estimated effort) Hours.
Deadline in days = (Deadline in hours/8) Working Days.
High Priority Requests
Deadline in hours = (1.5 x estimated effort) Hours.
Deadline in days = (Deadline in hours/8) + 1 Working Days.
Medium Priority Requests
Deadline in hours = (1.5 x estimated effort) Hours.
Deadline in days = (Deadline in hours/8) + 2 Working Days.
Low Priority Requests
Deadline in hours = (1.5 x estimated effort) Hours.
Deadline in days = (Deadline in hours/8) + 4 Working Days.
The deadline in hours will be used as a limit on the number of billable hours. The deadline in days will be used for penalties related to the deadline. Whenever this number is odd it should be rounded up, i.e., a period of 8.32 days should be met within the ninth day.
Change requests or new developments that are not answered within the service level agreement will automatically be penalized by 30%.
Correction requests, included in the monthly amount, that are not answered within the service level agreement, will be automatically converted into a penalty of 30% of the deadline in hours, taking into account the hourly cost established in this agreement. This amount will be deduced from the variable cost to be billed monthly.
Supplier-side managerial controls
The following three internal managerial controls were used for supporting service management at the software supplier:
a request-tracking spreadsheet for monitoring the requests and their conformance to the SLA;
an issue-tracking system (integrated with the version control), in which a ticket is registered for each service request; and
a Kanban chart to show the service status at any time to the whole team involved in providing the overall continuous development service.
Figure 5 shows the data registered in the spreadsheet for the service being processed for each request, including the chosen developer, real development effort (obtained from the issue-tracking system), actual delivery date and customer approval (validation). With this information, the spreadsheet calculates the extent of compliance of the work performance with the SLA and the amount to be billed for the service, taking into account contractual SLA penalties for late delivery, when applicable. In the fifteen day period shown in Figure 3, for instance, besides the fixed cost (regarding the internalized requirements analyst and the corrections), there are 162.2 billable hours concerning the provided services of implementing changes and eventual penalties.
The issue-tracking system used was Assembla (Assembla [2013]), a cloud-based service system, already including the integration of tickets (requests) with version control. The integration with version control provides traceability on how the tickets were handled. For each ticket all the files added or changed for providing the technical solution can be explicitly identified, as well as the modifications done in each file. Therefore, if a change request on a given ticket is received, the files to be modified can be traced, supporting the involved impact analysis and effort estimation.
This system was also used for allocating the developers and registering the real effort. As soon as a developer concludes the technical solution of a request, he registers the effort and passes corresponding ticket to be tested by an independent team. If the ticket passes testing then its status is changed and it is considered ready to be deployed for customer validation, with the support from the internalized requirements analyst at the customer side.
The importance of tests in this context is obvious, since a service request is only accepted for billing if it does not show any failures during validation. Moreover, if an acceptance test fails, the delivery data remains unchanged and the SLA will probably not be met, resulting in penalties. Considering this critical quality issue, requirements inspections (Kalinowski et al.[2007]) and code peer reviews (Kemerer and Paulk [2009]) were also adopted.
Having presented the contractual aspects and the internal managerial controls defined in this industrial experience, based on the guidelines of the MPS-SV service reference model, to allow switching from a project-oriented to a service-oriented software development approach, the next section presents the discussion and evaluation of the overall experience.
Discussion and evaluation
Aiming at understanding the feasibility and effects of restructuring software development from a project-oriented to a service-oriented approach guided by a service reference model, two research issues were identified in the Background Section. RI-1, related to the perceived utility, was investigated through a survey reported in detail in (Jordão and Kalinowski [2013]).
Results indicated that the MPS-SW software engineering consultants consider service reference models, such as the MPS-SV, useful for providing continuous delivery capabilities to their software industry customers (93% totally or partially agreed). The consultants also indicated an expected ease of use (76% totally or partially agreed) and intention to adopt (63% totally or partially agreed). The survey's overall confidence level was of 78.5%.
These survey results can be seen as an additional motivation for investigating the second identified research issue, RI-2, which is the main contribution of this article and concerns the feasibility and results or restructuring software development guided by a service reference model. The discussion and evaluation of questions that provide further insights into RI-2, based on the reported experience, follows.
What are typical stakeholder needs that trigger the restructuring from a project-oriented approach to a service-oriented approach?
Table 2 provides an overview on the main stakeholders and their interests. From the customer's point of view, the main interests on software development were facilitating contract negotiations and integrating value considerations into the development process. Therefore, allowing faster deployment of new system capabilities prioritized according to the added business value. From the supplier's point of view, on the other hand, the main interests were related to simple contract negotiation, a steady (or growing) inflow of development requests, and translating productivity directly into higher monthly net gains. It is noteworthy that there were no specific expectations regarding changes in the cost of developing individual functionalities. Actually, given the need to comply with the SLA (and potential penalties) the customer and supplier agreed to increase the hourly cost rate.
We assume that the restructuring allowed properly addressing the stakeholder's main interests, by (i) providing a contractual framework that avoids excessive negotiation effort for new development requests, and (ii) allowing the new service requests to be directly addressed according to the added business value, as defined in the SLA. From the supplier's point of view, the variable monthly net gain also accounted for the direct return of investment of efforts to improve productivity.
The general perception from the customer and the supplier was that a more flexible model had been adopted to meet the customer's business needs and to live up to his expectations in terms of supply, as expressed in the SLA. In fact, the contract model considers the business priority of individual requests and does not have to be reconsidered due to a variation in the volume of requests, for instance.
Can a service reference model be helpful to meet those needs?
MPS-SV level G processes and how they were implemented
MPS-SV process purpose and expected results
How the expected results were implemented
Service Delivery (SD)
The purpose of this process is defining the strategy and establishing the service system to deliver services in conformance with the service agreements.
Required Results:
SD 1. A service delivery and operation strategy is established and maintained;
SD 1. The defined service delivery and operation strategy is shown in Figure 1.
SD 2. The availability of the needed elements for providing the service is confirmed;
SD 2. The availability of needed elements was assured by the contractual framework, which included an internalized requirements analyst at the customer side.
SD 3. The service system is put into operation to deliver the agreed services;
SD 3. The service system was put into operation.
SD 4. The service system is maintained to assure continuous service delivery.
SD 4. The service system was maintained operating.
Service Level Management (SLM)
The purpose of this process is to assure that the SLA goals for each customer are met.
Required Results:
SLM 1. Services and their dependencies are identified;
SLM 1. The identified service was software development, including corrective and evolutionary (new functionalities) maintenance.
SLM 2. Service level goals are defined in an SLA;
SLM 2. The defined SLA is shown in subsection 'Service Level Agreement and Penalties'.
SLM 3. Services are monitored against the SLA;
SLM 3. Monitoring was achieved by defining the service management controls depicted in Figure 2.
SLM 4. Service level performance is communicated to relevant stakeholders;
SLM 4. The request-tracking spreadsheet (Figure 3) was shared with the customer and sent monthly for billing purposes. It provides an overview of the service performance against the SLA.
SLM 5. Changes in service requirements reflect in the SLA.
SLM 5. Those changes did not happen in the context of this experience, but would imply in changing the SLA appendix of the contractual framework and both sides, supplier and customer) were open to discuss such changes.
Incident Management (IM)
The purpose of this process is to handle individual incidents and service requests within a SLA.
Required Results:
IM 1. A strategy for incident and service request management is established and maintained;
IM 1. The defined strategy involved fine-grained request monitoring by using the internal managerial controls shown in Figure 2.
IM 2. An incident and service request management system is established and maintained;
IM 2. The internal managerial controls were established and maintained.
IM 3. Incidents and service requests are registered and classified;
IM 3. Each request was registered into the request-tracking spreadsheet (Figure 3) and classified as an incident (correction) or a new service request (change or new functionality).
IM 4. Incidents and service requests are prioritized and analyzed;
IM 4. Each request had its priority defined and impact analysis performed, using the traceability provided by the issue-tracking system, to estimate the required effort.
IM 5. Incidents and service requests are resolved and concluded;
IM 5. The request-tracking spreadsheet shows the managerial status of each request, allowing managing them until conclusion.
IM 6. Incidents and service requests that did not progress according the SLA are communicated to higher level management;
IM 6. The request-tracking spreadsheet was shared and monthly sent to directors of both companies. It explicitly identifies the request that did not meet the SLA.
IM 7. Status information on incidents or service requests is communicated to relevant stakeholders.
IM 7. Status communication to higher management and customer stakeholders was achieved through the spreadsheet. Communication to the internal development team by using the Kanban chart.
What is the effort to be expected?
The restructuring took 160 person hours and happened within the timeframe of one month. As the restructuring included aspects of all processes at Level G of the MPS-SV model, we assert that implementing this model for software development requires only moderate effort, when compared for instance to the average duration of over 12 month for implementing MPS-SW maturity levels (Travassos and Kalinowski [2013]). Especially if work management and requirements management capabilities, including requirements traceability, are previously installed, as in the experience here described. Besides the moderate effort, interesting results were obtained, including increases in the productive capacity, as pointed out in the answer to the next question.
What are the potential effects on quality and productivity?
Comparison of the project and IT service delivery approaches
# of use cases
# Failures (Acceptance)
Effort (Person-hours)
IT Service
Regarding quality, during customer acceptance tests of medium complexity cases, the number of failures was notably lower, falling from 0.33 failures per use case to 0.18 failures per use case. Concerning productivity, the real development effort spent per use case was also slightly lower, falling from 24 person hours per use case to 21 person hours per use case. Note that these productivity improvements directly translate into saved costs as the supplier pays for the overall development effort in person hours.
Of course, these differences are not statistically significant since only 23 medium complex use cases served as the basis for the comparison (12 implemented in the project format and 11 implemented in the IT service format). Moreover, there are several factors that can influence these results (e.g., low precision in measuring use case complexity, inherent variations of individual productivity, learning factor). However, feedback from the customer also allowed observing a perceived improvement in quality (fewer problems during acceptance tests) and productivity, especially regarding the fact that the new service-oriented value-based approach resulted in faster delivery of demands of higher added business value.
An informal causal analysis session (Kalinowski et al.[2008b]) (Kalinowski et al.[2012]), aiming at investigating the causes of these changes in quality and productivity, was conducted with the suppliers development team and showed that the existence of the SLA and closer management resulted in greater commitment on the part of the developers. Some developers mentioned that, knowing of the individual penalties that the company would be liable to pay in each request, they saw that it was much more important to meet deadlines than they did when the project format was in use, in which the tasks were scheduled but the overall deadline was scoped to the entire project. Indeed, closer management and finer granularity are suggestions included in Humphrey's reflections on efficient team management (Humphrey [2010]).
What are the main lessons learned?
In the reported experience, applying practices of service management to software development resulted in a flexible contractual framework, allowing addressing the customer's business needs according to their priorities without additional contract negotiation delays. New requests could be directly Among the lessons learned, that could be passed on to international SME companies that seek to supply development as an IT service guided by a service reference model, the following stand out:
Contractual framework. In this supply model, it is important to have some headroom in the budget for the fixed monthly part of the contractual framework, compensating for possible variations in the volume of delivered requests to be billed in the variable part. Otherwise, financial constraints may lead to excessive pressure, on management and development levels, at the supplier's side. After all, the development team has to be paid by the supplier anyway, although if the supplier has different customers following similar contractual service frameworks he might be able to allocate developers to his project portfolio according to the individual project's volume of received demands.
Prioritization criteria. The priority criteria for customer requests should be very clear, as it might be applied when it comes to avoiding undue financial penalties, as specified in the SLA. After all, ambiguities involving financial aspects may lead to potential relationship problems between the contractor and the supplier.
SLA and team capacity. It is important to assess the SLA carefully, checking whether the company has the installed productive capacity of actually satisfying the requested service level. If not, this would result in deliveries not meeting the SLA and the application of penalties with direct impact on the monthly net gain.
Managerial controls. The managerial controls were fundamental to allow handling the demands as separate service requests, by facilitate monitoring the compliance with the SLA. Not having such controls established may imply in several request passing the SLA's deadline and, as a consequence, in penalties.
Traceability. Traceability plays a key role when handling request as separate services to be provided, by supporting effective impact analysis, effort estimation and risk assessments for handling each new request.
Build, Test and Deployment Automation. Aiming at continuous delivery, efficient build, test and deployment automation is strongly desired (Humble and Farley [2010]). In the case of our experience the build and deployment were fully automated. Test automation however could be improved to reduce regression testing effort. So far, only superficial smoke tests had been recorded to allow identifying major side effects of new handled request, by using the Selenium IDE plugin (Selenium [2013]).
Team and individual benefits. Some employees felt pressured by the SLA and the close and quantitative monitoring. Therefore, it might be interesting to establish a complementary policy for awarding employees with bonuses for improved productivity. Note that this is feasible, since an improvement in productivity also implies in a higher monthly net gain.
Overall restructuring effort and benefits. Around one person month effort was required for the restructuring and benefits were perceived in terms of improved quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction. We take it that the increased customer satisfaction was mainly related to meeting their main interests by considering the integration of added business value into the software engineering practices.
What are the involved success and risk factors?
Another fruitful consequence of the experience was the opportunity to identify success (and risk) factors related to restructuring software development in the format of service delivery. Based on the lessons learned from the experience report, the main success factors were:
Success factor service reference model. The adoption of a service reference model allowed benchmarking the new service format against IT service delivery best practices and improved the confidence in the solutions provided by the restructuring approach. These solutions include the internal managerial controls to facilitate monitoring the compliance with the SLA.
Success factor senior management support. The idea of the restructuring addressed specific interests of stakeholders including the directors of both companies. Therefore, direct support from senior management was obtained for the process improvement initiative. We saw on several occasions that this support has considerably facilitated and accelerated the restructuring.
Success factor relationship of trust. The previous period of over one year providing development services successfully allowed establishing a relationship of trust between the contractor and the supplier. This relationship provided the basis to discuss the new contractual framework for continuous delivery with varying monthly net payments and gains.
Success factor previously established capabilities. Some previously established software engineering capabilities were crucial in the successful transition. Concrete requirement traceability capacity, for instance, helps to handle request separately by allowing effective impact analysis, effort estimation and risk assessments for handling each new request. Moreover, build, test and deployment automation was also extremely helpful for implementing the continuous delivery strategy.
Concerning the risk factors, we see a direct mapping, in the sense that the absence of any of the success factors represents a significant risk. Additional risks can also be identified from not addressing major issues in the the lessons learned.
This article reported on an experience of restructuring software development in the form of providing IT services in the context of an SME software supplier. The restructuring involved, in addition to the technical changes, important management changes, i.e., establishing a contractual framework and capacities for managing service requests in order to comply with a Service Level Agreement (SLA) made between the supplier and the customer to satisfy the business needs of the latter.
The restructuring project was guided by the MPS-SV service reference model, which is compatible to the CMMI-SVC reference model, complementing already established software engineering practices for the provision of development as a continuous IT service. The contractual aspects and internal managerial controls employed to facilitate the compliance with the SLA were described. Those controls included the integrated use of a managerial spreadsheet, an issue-tracking system, and a Kanban chart to monitor how demands were prioritized to be met.
Further insight into the feasibility and results on such structuring were provided by discussing valuable and experience-grounded answers to the following core questions: What are typical stakeholder needs that trigger such a restructuring? Can a service reference model be helpful to meet those needs? What effort is to be expected? What are the potential effects on development quality and productivity? What are the main lessons learned? What are the involved success and risk factors?
The overall analysis of the experience showed that only moderate effort, around one person month, was required for structuring software development as a service guided by a reference model and that perceived benefits were obtained in terms of quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction. The increased customer satisfaction was mainly related to meeting the customer's business needs by integrating value considerations into software engineering practices. Therefore, using a service reference model for restructuring software development can represent an alternative path towards value-based software engineering. Nevertheless, we would like to reinforce that, as expected in an experience report, the obtained results relate to a specific scenario and industrial environment. However, those results provide preliminary indications into feasibility and potential benefits, further motivating the conduct of more rigorous studies (e.g., case studies or controlled experiments) on the impact of applying service reference models to re-structure software development from a project-oriented to a service-oriented management format.
A key benefit of the Brazilian standards is the provision of smaller steps in the lower range of the process maturity levels, which allows, in particular, small companies with limited resources to systematically define and achieve software and service maturity levels that suit their needs and means. This report and the identified lessons learned can serve as a reference for SME companies that operate in the context of an international software maturity reference model and wish to restructure in order to supply software development in the format of an IT service. These companies can benefit from adopting a service reference model, such as the MPS-SV or CMMI-SVC models, in synergy with their already established software engineering practices.
Authors' information
MK holds a MS and PhD in Computer and Systems Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and is currently professor of Software Engineering at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) in transference to Fluminense Federal University (UFF). He is part of the MPS.BR project team and a certified MPS.BR lead appraiser and process implementation consultant.
SB holds a MS and PhD in Computer Science from the Vienna University of Technology (TUW) and a MS in Social and Economic Sciences from the University of Vienna. He also received a Habilitation degree (Venia Docendi) in "Praktische Informatik" for his contributions on empirical software engineering. Currently he is professor of Software Engineering at TUW and the head of the Christian Doppler research laboratory – Software Engineering Integration for Flexible Automation Systems. He was lead editor for the book "Value-Based Software Engineering" in collaboration with co-editors A. Aurum, B.W. Boehm, H. Erdogmus, and P. Grünbacher.
ROS holds a MS and PhD in Computer and Systems Engineering from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and is currently professor of Software Engineering at the University of Salvador (UNIFACS). He is a certified MPS.BR process implementation consultant.
SR holds a MS in Informatics from the Catholic University of the State of Paraná (PUCPR) and a PhD in Production Engineering from the University of São Paulo (USP) and is currently professor of Software Engineering at PUCPR. She is the coordinator of the service area of the MPS.BR project team and a certified MPS.BR lead appraiser and process implementation consultant.
We would like to thank CNPq (Brazilian Research Council) for financial support. Thanks also to everyone at Tranship Transportes Marítimos and Kali Software directly involved in the experience reported in this article, especially Rosiene Dilly (the project manager) and Vagner Lopes (the internalized requirements analyst). This research was in part supported by the Christian Doppler Forschungsgesellschaft and the BMWFJ, Austria.
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