Sticks, balls or a ribbon? Results of a formative user study with bioinformaticians

Olga Anatoliyivna Kulyk, I. Wassink, P.E. van der Vet, Gerrit C. van der Veer, Elisabeth M.A.G. van Dijk

    Research output: Book/ReportReportProfessional

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    Abstract

    User interfaces in modern bioinformatics tools are designed for experts. They are too complicated for novice users such as bench biologists. This report presents the full results of a formative user study as part of a domain and requirements analysis to enhance user interfaces and collaborative environments for multidisciplinary teamwork. Contextual field observations, questionnaires and interviews with bioinformatics researchers of different levels of expertise and various backgrounds were performed in order to gain insight into their needs and working practices. The analysed results are presented as a user profile description and user requirements for designing user interfaces that support the collaboration of multidisciplinary research teams in scientific collaborative environments. Although the number of participants limits the generalisability of the findings, the combination of recurrent observations with other user analysis techniques in real-life settings makes the contribution of this user study novel.
    Original languageUndefined
    Place of PublicationEnschede
    PublisherCentre for Telematics and Information Technology (CTIT)
    Number of pages24
    Publication statusPublished - 19 Dec 2008

    Publication series

    NameCTIT Technical Report Series
    PublisherCentre for Telematics and Information Technology, University of Twente
    No.WoTUG-31/TR-CTIT-08-72
    ISSN (Print)1381-3625

    Keywords

    • EWI-14622
    • IR-65222
    • METIS-255011

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