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ex machina

Usability and open-source software development :

"We have described the results of usability testing of the Greenstone collection-building software. When we examined the types of problems we found they are typical of ‘classic’ issues of usability (the differences between developers and users). Although Greenstone has benefited from contributions from many people these issues had never been addressed, for a variety of reasons: resources, motivation, access to non-technical users and the development model adopted.

Our experience with Greenstone suggests that open-source development methods may need to adapt if they are to produce software for the desktop of the typical user. A community of developers will not necessarily pay sufficient attention to issues of usability that they themselves do not experience. An interesting question is whether a large open-source project could address usability issues without the well-known benefits of studying real users?"

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5/21/2002 08:37:00 AM 0 comments

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this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.

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