~~~~~~~ BRITISH HCI GROUP NEWS SERVICE ~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ http://www.bcs-hci.org.uk/ ~~
~~ All news to: [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ NOTE: Please reply to article's originator, ~~
~~ not the News Service ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
First Season of Usability finished successfully!
Season of Usability is a series of sponsored student projects to
encourage students of usability, user-interface design, and interaction
design to get involved with Freee/Libre/Open-Source Software (FLOSS).
During a 3 to 6 month collaboration, students work closely together with
key developers from FLOSS projects to improve the user experience of the
application. The results of the first Season of Usability are now
published on the official website:
http://season.openusability.org
Usability and Open Source (FLOSS) projects can highly benefit from each
other. In the informal setting of a FLOSS project usability specialists
can develop their skills and create show cases for their customers,
while the software gains an optimised user experience. Still there are
little intersections between the two disciplines - few examples include
OpenUsability [2], the FLOSS Usability Sprints [3] and usability groups
of bigger FLOSS projects such as KDE or Gnome. The entry threshold for
usability specialists is high - in FLOSS projects, responsibilities for
user interface design often are not clearly defined, it is hard to get
started.
Season of Usability is an attempt to lower the entry threshold for both
sides and get usability folks into FLOSS development. Students - who
benefit most from practical experience - start their work with a viable
task scope which is developed in agreement with the lead developers.
Students are mentored by an experienced usability specialist, and the
whole team meets regularly. Some universities accept the student project
to gain credits, and it is even possible to write a diploma thesis in
this scope. After successful accomplishment of the task, the students
receive a small gratuity.
The first Season of Usability took place from November 2006 to June
2007. Five applications from different fields of application were
analysed along usability issues, and parts of the user interface were
redesigned. The results were welcomed by the FLOSS developers, and
several students continued their work after the official project period
had ended.
The results of the projects, including screenshots and work material,
are now published on the official Season of Usability website [1].
The next Season of Usability is planned for Spring/Summer 2008. To
participate - either as a student, FLOSS project, usability mentor or
sponsor - get in touch with us:
http://season.openusability.org/contact
Background
Inspired by Google's Summer of Code [4], OpenUsability joined up with
FLOSS Usability, Aspiration [5] and the Open Society Institute [6] to
offer a number of sponsored student projects. Other than the Google
projects that address developers, they aim at students of usability,
user-interface design, and interaction design. Students experience the
interdisciplinary and collaborative development of user interface
solutions in international software projects while getting into FLOSS
development.
[1] http://season.openusability.org
[2] www.openusability.org
[3] www.flossusability.org
[4] http://code.google.com/soc/2007/
[5] www.aspirationtech.org
[6] www.soros.org
--
Ellen Reitmayr
Usability Engineer
www.openusability.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To receive HCI news, send the message: ~~
~~ "JOIN BCS-HCI your_firstname your_lastname" ~~
~~ to [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ Newsarchives: ~~
~~ http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/bcs-hci.html ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~ To join the British HCI Group, contact ~~
~~ [log in to unmask] ~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read, copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the permission of the sender.
It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are scanned for viruses or other defects. Napier University does not accept liability for any loss
or damage which may result from this email or any attachment, or for errors or omissions arising after it was sent. Email is not a secure medium. Email entering the
University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the University.
|