Sticks, Balls or a Ribbon? Results of a Formative User Study with Bioinformaticians

Technical Report, TR-CTIT-08-72, University of Twente, Centre for Telematics and Information Technology Enschede, 2008

24 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2017

See all articles by Olga Kulyk

Olga Kulyk

University of Twente

Ingo Wassink

Human Media Interaction (HMI)

Paul van der Vet

Human Media Interaction (HMI)

Gerrit van der Veer

VU University Amsterdam

Betsy van Dijk

Human Media Interaction (HMI)

Date Written: December 1, 2008

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.

Keywords: User Study, Bioinformatics, Human-Computer Interaction, Co-Located Collaboration, Visualisations

JEL Classification: C92, D70, C63

Suggested Citation

Kulyk, Olga and Wassink, Ingo and van der Vet, Paul and van der Veer, Gerrit and van Dijk, Betsy, Sticks, Balls or a Ribbon? Results of a Formative User Study with Bioinformaticians (December 1, 2008). Technical Report, TR-CTIT-08-72, University of Twente, Centre for Telematics and Information Technology Enschede, 2008, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2953990 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2953990

Olga Kulyk

University of Twente ( email )

Postbus 217
Twente
Netherlands

Ingo Wassink

Human Media Interaction (HMI) ( email )

Drienerlolaan 5
Enschede, NB 7522
Netherlands

Paul Van der Vet

Human Media Interaction (HMI) ( email )

Drienerlolaan 5
Enschede, NB 7522
Netherlands

Gerrit Van der Veer

VU University Amsterdam ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
Amsterdam, ND North Holland 1081 HV
Netherlands

Betsy Van Dijk (Contact Author)

Human Media Interaction (HMI) ( email )

Drienerlolaan 5
Enschede, NB 7522
Netherlands

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