The Role of Usability Expertise in Open Source Projects

The usability of Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS) is a challenge for open source software developers. Although some open source projects have usability engineers working on them, the role of usability expertise on such projects is not well understood. The purpose of this presentation is to report findings of a survey sent to open source project members asking about usability expertise.

Paula Bach, OSS Researcher, Penn State University Paula is a fourth-year PhD Student in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University. Her research interest is open source software development and HCI. Currently, at Penn State, she works in both the Computer- Supported Collaboration and Learning Lab and the System Design and Software Development Lab. She is also working with the Open Source Software Lab and Microsoft Research to understand the role of usability expertise in open source software and strategies to help the flow of expertise in all flavors of software development. This research will provide a framework for designing a tool in Codeplex that helps support usability expertise. Currently, she contributes usability expertise to WengoPhone, an open source communication over IP client. She holds a BA in English and Psychology from UBC and an MSc in Rhetoric and Technical Communication from Michigan Technological Univsersity.