Research Open-Source Software: supporting small communities with technical and social aspects

Software development has become part of scientific research, being often called research software, with many of these projects being available to society through open-source software (OSS). Research software is also interested in contributors, which can use events such as hackathons, time-bounded events which teams can propose projects and do fast prototype. This study presents two approaches to study research open-source software. First, focusing on smaller communities, that are often forgotten in Mining Repositories Studies, using Room Acoustics projects as a case. Second, investigating the scientific hackathon organizers to provide more information for those who want to increase their community. Lastly, preliminary results of the first study are presented - highlighting some of the Software Engineering practices in Room Acoustics.