[Tfug] Why not do usability research?

[Ellen K. Martin]

The timing of this topic is very interesting.  I had just hung up
the phone after a conversation with one of my business associates
where we were discussing the idea of putting together a research
project when the digest arrived.  I am currently working on an
educational research degree and am doing a literature review for
my current class.  I have been trying to find existing research
on the topic:  "How does the use of Open Source alternatives to
commercial software in computer labs and classrooms in K-12
schools impact student learning and achievement?"  So far I have
been not been able to find any direct research on this.  If
anyone knows of any, I'd be interested in knowing about it.

My business associate and I are looking at the possibility of
finding grant money to conduct a full-blown research project
using LTSP.  I'll keep you informed of what we find and of our
progress.

Ellen

-----
Ellen K. Martin
emartin at infoteam.com
www.infoteam.com




----- Original Message -----
From: "Ammon Lauritzen" <ammon at simud.org>
To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2003 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Tfug] Why not do usability research?


> Joshua Bernstein said:
> > Why waste the time?
>
> Erm, for the sake of knowledge? In the 'name of science'? In
order to
> actually produce some sort of document worth publishing? For
the
> betterment of the lives of computer neophytes everywhere? In
order to beat
> down MS FUD?
>
> Does the reason -really- matter? It's a good idea.
>
> > But I mean really... Isn't our time spent better elsewhere? I
know there
> > are more people on this list then I that have jobs and
school...
>
> And, obviously, if a person signed on to do this when they did
not have
> the time, they have problems with time management. I, for one,
have a
> decent amount of free time right now, and if the commitment is
limited to
> three hours a week after initial setup, I'm game for
participation.
>
> As regards likely hardware, I think lower end machines are also
> appropriate for reasons of the origin of this discussion. We
were talking,
> after all, about refurbished charity-type machines in the first
place, eh?
>
> Also, with respect to distro... well, I'm a very devout fan of
Debian, but
> you are probably right, an RPM-based distribution would likely
be best.
> With SuSE and RH out of the way, I think Mandrake makes itself
a very
> likely candidate. It is one of the few distros you'll see for
sale at
> normal stores in town. I know I've seen Mandrake boxes in Best
Buy and
> Borders, and am pretty sure I have seen it in Walmart before.
>
> The custom user goodies were quite good back when I purchased
and used it
> (8.0), and if I recall, the distro leans more toward KDE than
Gnome. I
> came away from the experience (running Mandrake for about 9
months) of the
> opinion that it was great for desktop use and terrible for
server use. In
> fact, I think I am still on their user support mailing list...
hmm...
>
> --
> Ammon Lauritzen
> ammon at simud.org
>
> Systems Analyst
> Arizona Student Media
> Office: (520) 626-2952
> Cell: (520) 861-4680
>
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