Re: [Usability] Usability meeting minutes

[Sven Herzberg <herzi gnome-de org>]

Hi,

Am Donnerstag, den 12.02.2009, 10:10 +0000 schrieb Allan Day:
> On Wed, 2009-02-11 at 16:39 +0100, Andreas Nilsson wrote:
> > Andreas Nilsson wrote:
> > > Calum Benson wrote:
> > >> I'd also really like to see more of the simple usability work done by 
> > >> developers.
> > >>
> > >> Of course it would require some hand-holding/tutorials/whatever from 
> > >> experienced usability folks to start with, but really, it shouldn't 
> > >> be that hard to get everyone involved, testing early and often.  Use 
> > >> paper prototypes, working prototypes, test with friends, relatives, 
> > >> students, user groups.  Video the results if possible (but not 
> > >> essential).  Collate the results on a suitable website (would need 
> > >> consent if participants were identifiable in videos.)
> > >>
> > >> If somebody could write a *nix version of something like 
> > >> Silverback[4], that would be a great tool to have in our armoury, 
> > >> too.  (Slight mixed metaphor there...)
> > > I would really like to see a app like this on my GNOME Desktop and 
> > > would probably try out some of our wacky stuff on my poor friends from 
> > > time to time. Perhaps this would be a good opportunity to do some 
> > > Design first - Code later.
> > > I totally regret that I never had the time or patience to learn how to 
> > > program properly, but I hereby volunteer to do any graphics design 
> > > needed (icons/website/whatever) for such a app.
> > >> [4] <http://silverbackapp.com/>
> > Here is a very basic version using gstreamer and istanbul:
> > http://www.andreasn.se/blog/?p=96
> > Please try it out on your poor friends and family!
> 
> Andreas, this is amazing! I've tried Pongo and it works brilliantly.
> This tool has been sorely needed for some time.
> 
> I'll definitely be trying to do some user testing with this. Perhaps we
> should work on some documentation explaining how to conduct user testing
> using Pongo? I'd be happy to help with that.
> 
> Also, a feature request. It would be good to have the option not to
> record video from the webcam - this will be required if a research
> participant requests to remain anonymous.

I migrated Andreas' python script to a C application hosted at
http://github.com/herzi/pongo/tree/master ; I happily accept patches for
documentation and anonymous-filter...

Regards,
  Sven