This talk was given at FOSSASIA 2016 (http://2016.fossasia.org/) This presentation consist of two parts: a review of existing academic research on usability and open source culture, and some beginning steps on how to make a start in contributing to OSS projects.

1. Exploring How Designers
can Contribute
to Open Source Software
Review

2. of

3. existing

4. research

5. and

6. resources
by

7. Victoria

8. Bondarchuk

9. Victoria Bondarchuk
User Experience Researcher
Seoul, South Korea
Background:
BS Aerospace Technology
MS Image Processing
Work:
UX for Android
Usability of Interfaces
PMUX
@seoul_victoria

10. Is FOSS culture open
for design/usability
contributions?

11. Academic Studies on
FOSS and Usability

12. 1999
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
Eric Steven Raymond
Usability and open-source
software development
David M. Nichols,
Kirsten Thomson and
Stuart A. Yeates
2001
Getting to know you: open
source development meets
usability
Frishberg, N., Dirks, A.M.,
Benson, C., Nickell, S. Smith, S.
2002 2003
The Usability of Open
Source Software
Nichols, D.M. Twidale, M.B.
Shall We Dance? Ten Lessons
Learned from Netscape's
Flirtation with Open Source UI
Development
Peter Trudelle
Cited by 3922
Cited by 42
Cited by 44
Cited by 16
Cited by 248

13. Reitmayr, E., Balazs, B.,
Mühlig, J.
Cited by 5
2006
Usability In Open Source
Software Development:
Opinions And Practice
Morten Sieker Andreasen, Henrik
Villemann Nielsen, Simon Ormholt
Schrøder, Jan Stage
Professional Usability in
Open Source Projects:
GNOME, OpenOffice.org,
NetBeans
Benson, Calum / Müller-Prove,
Matthias / Mzourek, Jiri
Integrating Usability with
Open Source Software
Development: Case
Studies from the Initiative
OpenUsability
2004
Cited by 19 Cited by 44
Why Free Software
has poor usability,
and how to improve it
Matthew Paul Thomas
2008
Cited by 7
Integrating HCI
Specialists into Open
Source Software
Development Projects
Henrik Hedberg and
Netta Iivari
Cited by 14

14. Examining Usability
Work and Culture in
FOSS
Mikko Rajanen and
Netta Iivary
Cited by 1
2012
Do open source software
developers listen to their
users
Arif Raza and Luiz
Fernando Capretz
20152010
Social Participation
in Open Source:
What it Means for
Designers
Paula M. Bach,
Michael Twidale
Non-response, Social
Exclusion, and False
Acceptance: Gatekeeping
Tactics and Usability Work
in Free-Libre Open Source
Software Development
Mikko Rajanen, Netta Iivari
and Arto Lanamäki
Cited by 8
Cited by 4 Cited by 3
Open Source and
Human Computer
Interaction
Philosophies in Open
Source Projects:
Incompatible or Co-
Existent?
2013
Mikko Rajanen and
Netta Iivary
Cited by 4

15. Is FOSS culture is open
for design/usability
contributions?

16. What is Usability?

17. Ivan Sutherland's Sketchpad 1963
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)

18. What is usability?
“The extent to which a product can be used by
specified users to achieve specified goals with
effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a
specified context of use.”
ISO/IEC 25010:2011

19. Jakob Nielsen, 1993
“Father of Usability”
Sun Microsystems, Nielsen Norman Group
Jacob Nielsen’s Definition of Usability

20. • Ease of learning
• Efficiency of use
• Memorability
• Error frequency and
severity
• Subjective satisfaction
Usability Goals

21. Usability Evaluation
• Hallway Testing
• Remote Usability
Testing
• Expert Review
• A/B Testing
An IBM usability lab in the late 1970s.

22. Usability Metrics
1. Success rate
2. The time a task requires
3. The error rate
4. Users' subjective satisfaction
Nielsen, 1994

23. Create systems that are
• Usable by ordinary people
• Consistent interface
• Accessible
What Does Usability Research Offer?

24. What FOSS community
think of usability?

25. Is Usability important?
Andreasen, M., Nielsen, H., Schrøder, S., Stage, J.: Usability in Open Source Software Development: Opinions and Practice (2006)

26. Usability is important, but what is it?
Andreasen, M., Nielsen, H., Schrøder, S., Stage, J.: Usability in Open Source Software Development: Opinions and Practice (2006)

27. Do open source software developers listen to their users? A Raza, LF Capretz. First Monday 17 (3), 2012.
Do FOSS developers practice usability?
• Functionality
• Reliability
• Usability
• Efficiency
• Maintainability
• Portability

28. Do FOSS developers practice usability?
Do open source software developers listen to their users? A Raza, LF Capretz. First Monday 17 (3), 2012.

29. What FOSS community think of
usability?
Andreasen, M., Nielsen, H., Schrøder, S., Stage, J.: Usability in Open Source Software Development: Opinions and Practice (2006)
“…it is more fun to add support for
some protocol feature than fixing a
dialog for grandma”
An OSS Contributor

31. What Design Community
Think of FOSS?

32. FOSS is great, but there are cases
where usability could be improved…
Henrik Hedberg and Netta Iivari “Integrating HCI Specialists into Open Source Software Development Projects”

33. Usability = Organizational Culture?

34. M. Rajanen and N. Iivari “Open Source and Human Computer Interaction Philosophies in Open Source Projects –
Incompatible or Co-Existent?”
Organizational Culture for Usability
Usability Designer
• Involved in entire development process
• Act as a user representative, speaking for and
fighting for the user
• Have decision-making power regarding important
design solutions

35. Organizational Usability Examples
2004

36. Gnome Usability Project

37. Apache OpenOffice User Experience

38. Mozilla

39. One Hundred Paper Cuts

40. But How About All
Other Projects?

41. Designers in Open Source

42. My first contribution

43. My first contribution… in review for
2 years

44. Non-response, Social Exclusion, and False Acceptance: Gatekeeping Tactics and Usability Work in Free-Libre FOSS Development M. Rajanen, N. Iivari and Arto Lanamäki
‘Non-response’ Gatekeeping Tactic

45. Non-response, Social Exclusion, and False Acceptance: Gatekeeping Tactics and Usability Work in Free-Libre FOSS Development M. Rajanen, N. Iivari and Arto Lanamäki
‘Social Exclusion’ Gatekeeping Tactic

46. Non-response, Social Exclusion, and False Acceptance: Gatekeeping Tactics and Usability Work in Free-Libre FOSS Development M. Rajanen, N. Iivari and Arto Lanamäki
‘False Acceptance’ Gatekeeping Tactic

47. Is FOSS development
culture in conflict with
usability?

48. Bach, P., Twidale, M.: Social participation in open source: what it means for designers.
Community Structure in Open Source

49. “Talk is cheap,
show me the code”
FOSS Culture
Linus Torvalds

50. David M. Nichols, Kirsten Thomson, and Stuart A. Yeates, 2001. Usability and
Open Source Software Development,
1. Meritocratic culture: Gaining merit through
contributing high quality code
Is FOSS development culture in
conflict with usability?

51. “They just don't like to
do the boring stuff for
the stupid people!
(Bruce Sterling, 2002)
FOSS Contributors…

53. David M. Nichols, Kirsten Thomson, and Stuart A. Yeates, 2001. Usability and
Open Source Software Development,
1. Meritocratic culture: Gaining merit through
contributing high quality code
2. Typical Users are not Developers
Is FOSS development culture in
conflict with usability?

54. David M. Nichols, Kirsten Thomson, and Stuart A. Yeates, 2001. Usability and
Open Source Software Development,
1. Meritocratic culture: Gaining merit through
contributing high quality code
2. Typical Users are not Developers
3. They are very protective
Is FOSS development culture in
conflict with usability?

55. Is There a Conflict?

56. How a designer can
contribute?

57. How to start?
• Become a user

58. How to start?
• Become a user
• Be part of the community

59. • Become a user
• Be part of the community
• Earn the merit
How to start?

60. • Become a user
• Be part of the community
• Earn the merit
• Start doing design
How to start?

61. Resources

62. http://www.openusability.org/
First steps for a designer

63. http://www.openusability.org/
First steps for a designer

64. http://jancborchardt.net/usability-in-free-software
First steps for a designer

65. https://helpwanted.apache.org/
How do I find out what projects I want to
contribute to?

66. https://helpwanted.apache.org/
How do I find out what projects I want to
contribute to?

67. http://opensourcedesign.net/
How do I find out what projects I want to
contribute to?

68. http://opensourcedesign.net/
How do I find out what projects I want to
contribute to?

69. http://designopensrc.com/
How do I find out what projects I want to
contribute to?

70. Thank you
@seoul_victoria