Usability and open-source software development

Proceedings of the Symposium on Computer Human Interaction, (eds.) Kemp, E., Phillips, C., Kinshuk & Haynes, J., 6 July 2001, Palmerston North, New Zealand. ACM SIGCHI New Zealand. 49-54. ISBN: 0-473-07559-8.

Open-source is becoming an increasingly popular software development method. This paper reports a usability study of the open-source Greenstone Digital Library collection-building software. The problems highlighted by the study are analysed to identify their likely source within the social context of Greenstone’s development environment. We discuss how characteristics of open-source software development influence the usability of resulting software products.