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How to incorporate a usability technique in the open source software development process

Abstract:

The growth in the number of non-developer open source software (OSS) application users and the escalating use of these applications have both created a need for, and interest in, developing usable OSS. OSS communities are unclear about which techniques to use in each activity of the development process. The aim of our research is to adopt the visual brainstorming usability technique in the HistoryCal OSS project and determine the feasibility of adapting the technique for application. To do this, we participated as volunteers in the HistoryCal project. We used the case study research method to investigate technique application and community participation. As a result, we identified adverse conditions that were an obstacle to technique application and modified the technique to make it applicable. We can conclude from our experience that these changes were helpful for applying the technique, although it was not easy to recruit OSS users to participate in usability technique application.