{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,13]],"date-time":"2026-06-13T07:24:14Z","timestamp":1781335454765,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":67,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"7","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000879","name":"Alfred P. Sloan Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["G-2021-16745"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["G-2021-16745"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000879","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,18]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Addressing usability in free, libre, and open-source software (FLOSS) is a challenging issue, particularly due to a long-existing ''by developer, for developer'' mentality. Engaging designers and end-users to work with developers can help improve its usability, but unequal power dynamics among those stakeholder roles must be mitigated. To explore how the power of different FLOSS stakeholders manifests and can be mediated during collaboration, we conducted eight design workshops with different combinations of key FLOSS stakeholders (i.e., developers, designers, and end-users). Leveraging existing theories on Dimensions of Power, we revealed how participants navigate existing role-based power structures through resource utilization, knowledge gap management, and experience referencing. We also observed that participants exhibited diverse behaviors confirming and challenging the status quo of FLOSS usability. Overall, our results contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the power dynamics among FLOSS stakeholders, providing valuable insights into ways to balance their power to improve FLOSS usability. Our work also serves as an exemplar of using design workshops as a research method to study power dynamics during collaboration that are usually hidden in the field.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3757443","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]],"date-time":"2025-10-16T17:32:00Z","timestamp":1760635920000},"page":"1-30","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["'Ohhh, he's the boss!': Unpacking Power Dynamics Among Developers, Designers, and End-Users in FLOSS Usability"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"9","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6649-5745","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jazlyn","family":"Hellman","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-9098-2265","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Itai","family":"Epstein","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8474-5290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jinghui","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1782-1545","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jin L.C.","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_1_1_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3687062"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9780429495939"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5755\/j01.itc.35.3.11776"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3641822.3641881"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1518701.1518852"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1744161.1744177"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/07370024.2013.812409"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10606-016-9259-4"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_9_1","volume-title":"Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide","author":"Braun Virginia","year":"2021","unstructured":"Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke. 2021. Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide. SAGE Publications, London, England."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2858036.2858274"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3170427.3188467"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/CHASE.2019.00011"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3491102.3501929"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2531602.2531712"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5210\/FM.V10I2.1207"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_16_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2145204.2145396"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/bs.3830020303"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2914368"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_19_1","volume-title":"Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming","author":"Dunne Anthony","year":"2013","unstructured":"Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby. 2013. Speculative Everything: Design, Fiction, and Social Dreaming,. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0261018317747444"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_21_1","first-page":"58","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Twenty-First International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2000","author":"Feller Joseph","year":"2000","unstructured":"Joseph Feller and Brian Fitzgerald. 2000. A framework analysis of the open source software development paradigm. In Proceedings of the Twenty-First International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2000). Association for Information Systems, 58-69. http:\/\/aisel.aisnet.org\/icis2000\/7"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/5326.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_23_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2675133.2675254"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_24_1","volume-title":"The subject and power. Critical inquiry","author":"Foucault Michel","year":"1982","unstructured":"Michel Foucault. 1982. The subject and power. Critical inquiry, Vol. 8, 4 (1982), 777-795."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2675133.2675223"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3449249"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_27_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ICSE43902.2021.00098"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_28_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3610088"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_29_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/001872679805100402"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_30_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/10864415.2002.11044241"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_31_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2948076.2948090"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/2158379X.2012.660810"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/2158379X.2021.1878411"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_34_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2501535.2501539"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_35_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3528579.3529178"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_36_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3411763.3451643"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_37_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/09593840910962203"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0144929X.2010.503351"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3613904.3642541"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_40_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3555550"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_41_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2025113.2025127"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_42_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2504973"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_43_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.443040"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_44_1","first-page":"121","article-title":"Agency and Coercion in Labor and Employment Relations: Four Dimensions of Power in Shifting Patterns of Work","volume":"4","author":"Lobel Orly","year":"2001","unstructured":"Orly Lobel. 2001. Agency and Coercion in Labor and Employment Relations: Four Dimensions of Power in Shifting Patterns of Work. University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law, Vol. 4, 1 (2001), 121-194.","journal-title":"University of Pennsylvania Journal of Labor and Employment Law"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_45_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-349-02248-9"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2468356.2468382"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_47_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5210\/FM.V8I1.1018"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_48_1","volume-title":"Usability Engineering","author":"Nielsen Jakob","unstructured":"Jakob Nielsen. 1994. Usability Engineering,. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, USA."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_49_1","unstructured":"Jakob Nielsen. 2024. 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design. https:\/\/www.nngroup.com\/articles\/ten-usability-heuristics\/"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_50_1","unstructured":"United Nations Development Programme. 2023. Accelerating The SDGs Through Digital Public Infrastructure. https:\/\/www.undp.org\/publications\/accelerating-sdgs-through-digital-public-infrastructure-compendium-potential-digital-public-infrastructure"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2675133.2675281"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_52_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2702123.2702441"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_53_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2399016.2399120"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_54_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1155\/2010\/517532"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_55_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2818048.2820021"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_56_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3637307"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_57_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3544902.3546236"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_58_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3313831.3376783"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_59_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2675133.2675215"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_60_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1753326.1753476"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_61_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2635868.2635882"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_62_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/41703471"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_63_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3544548.3580759"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_64_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3313831.3376218"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_65_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MS.2020.3009514"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_66_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4304\/jait.4.4.181-193"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_67_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2568225.2568238"}],"container-title":["Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/3757443","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,1]],"date-time":"2025-11-01T07:13:49Z","timestamp":1761981229000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3757443"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]]},"references-count":67,"journal-issue":{"issue":"7","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,18]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/3757443"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3757443","relation":{},"ISSN":["2573-0142"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2573-0142","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,16]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-10-16","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}