research-article

User research in a scientific software development project

Authors:

Catriona Macaulay,

Scott LoyntonAuthors Info & Claims

BCS-HCI '09: Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology

Pages 423 - 429

Published: 01 September 2009 Publication History

Abstract

The Usable Image project provides usability and user-centred design support to a scientific software development project. OMERO is a complex software application aimed at supporting the management, analysis and processing of microscopy images and associated data. In order to gather a richer understanding of the diversity and similarities of scientific practice and the role technology plays in supporting the work of scientists using images and image-related data, a range of user-research techniques have been applied, including design ethnography and surveys. This work has provided insights that have informed the development team, increasing knowledge and understanding of what is a complex usage environment, and helping in the process of creating a more usable and useful scientific tool.

This paper discusses the insights gained from the ethnographic work and from user surveys, in terms of attitudes to and usage patterns of technology amongst life science researchers, and considers the implications of these insights on the user-centred design and development of OMERO.

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Cited By

Milewicz RRodeghero P(2019)Towards usability as a first-class quality of HPC scientific softwareProceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Science10.1109/SE4Science.2019.00012(41-42)Online publication date: 28-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/SE4Science.2019.00012
Forbes Pde Paoli SScott-Brown KHall LTurner P(2017)The ABCD of usability testingProceedings of the 31st British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.3(1-4)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.3

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User research in a scientific software development project

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cover image ACM Other conferences

BCS-HCI '09: Proceedings of the 23rd British HCI Group Annual Conference on People and Computers: Celebrating People and Technology

September 2009

532 pages

Sponsors

British Computer Society: BCS

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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BCS Learning & Development Ltd.

Swindon, United Kingdom

Publication History

Published: 01 September 2009

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BCS HCI '09

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British Computer Society

BCS HCI '09: British Computer Society Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

September 1 - 5, 2009

Cambridge, United Kingdom

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Overall Acceptance Rate 28 of 62 submissions, 45%

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Cited By

Milewicz RRodeghero P(2019)Towards usability as a first-class quality of HPC scientific softwareProceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Software Engineering for Science10.1109/SE4Science.2019.00012(41-42)Online publication date: 28-May-2019
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/SE4Science.2019.00012
Forbes Pde Paoli SScott-Brown KHall LTurner P(2017)The ABCD of usability testingProceedings of the 31st British Computer Society Human Computer Interaction Conference10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.3(1-4)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2017
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.3

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