OpenSource Usability Labs

Wow. Today we closed the Icon Test for TV-Browser. And man - this has been a real test for our Beta-Service. The result: Within one week more than 22000 individual tests have been conducted in our 18 experimental conditions, filling our database with 123404 rows of data. OpenOffice Calc gives up on this amount of data (As an interesting insight: MS Excel on the other hand can read that many rows of data, but not save them).

So it will take us some time to actually get valid (in term of significant) results, as this sheer amount of data first has to be handled. But I will uncover not too much when I say: a first look at the data is promising.

I guess we have found a valid way to actually have users judge the usability of icons of an application. The icon test is easy to set up, it is easy (ok, it will be easy once the platform is finished up…) to get the results and it is fast - in the best meaning of agile usability. You need valid feedback on your icons till tomorrow? No problem anymore!

With our icon test we are able to spot the good and the better-find-another icons in an interface, and we can easily decide which of a set of alternative icons for one term is the one users prefer most.

More soon to be seen on www.icon-test.com!

We just started an online-survey together with the guys from TV-Browser. The question we want to answer is twofold:

1. Which Icons the TV-Browser uses are easy to understand, helpful or in just one word: appropriate? Which Icons should TV-Browser use in future releases?
2. Does the method and the online-Tool we have developed for testing the quality of icons work as good, as we hope it does?

If you are curious: The study is online until the 1st of September 2008. You can participate even if you do not know much about the TV-Browser - as long as you use Firefox Webbrowser, because this study is still beta: Study for checking the quality of icons in TV-Browser.

After starting the study first problems became obvious immediately and most of them got solved quite quickly. I have learned, e.g. that a switch can be “half-broken” eating up lots of, but not all data-packages.

Summing it up: the study runs quite well and we are getting tons of answers by the TV-Browser-Users. It is always fun to have this great community involved into new studies.

Season of Usability is one of my favorite activities of the year. But it has its downsides as well…

This year again I will mentor - together with Bodo from TV-Browser - one of the Season of Usability projects. This is great because we get the chance to spread the word about usability, help some students to gather experience and at the same time improve a great project even further!

But today was decision-day. We had to select which of the applicants we want to consider for the 2nd round of applications. And I really hate to have to say no to qualified and motivated people - but: these are the rules! So at the end of the day we have nine promising students left in the process of application for the TV-Browser. Good luck to all of them in 2nd round and to all the others: Don’t be sad… There will be other great chances for you!

The OpenUsability.org - Season of Usability (SoU) has started their call for participation. Interested students with a background in Usability, Interface Design, Interaction Design or related topics are invited to support non-commercial OpenSource-Projects with their knowledge and skills in user-centric development. The SoU is to the benefit of both:

• The student is mentored by an experienced usability professional and has the chance to practically use, what he has learned in theory.
• The projects benefit from the fresh wind of a new mind and up-to-date methods in user-centric development.

Like last year Björn is again one of the proud mentors for the students. He mentors the SoU project for TV-Browser. Björn has gone quite a long way with this project, starting work back in 2005.

The premises of this project are just great - so do not hesitate and apply for your participation in the SoU!