31,322 research outputs found
From Query to Usable Code: An Analysis of Stack Overflow Code Snippets
Enriched by natural language texts, Stack Overflow code snippets are an
invaluable code-centric knowledge base of small units of source code. Besides
being useful for software developers, these annotated snippets can potentially
serve as the basis for automated tools that provide working code solutions to
specific natural language queries.
With the goal of developing automated tools with the Stack Overflow snippets
and surrounding text, this paper investigates the following questions: (1) How
usable are the Stack Overflow code snippets? and (2) When using text search
engines for matching on the natural language questions and answers around the
snippets, what percentage of the top results contain usable code snippets?
A total of 3M code snippets are analyzed across four languages: C\#, Java,
JavaScript, and Python. Python and JavaScript proved to be the languages for
which the most code snippets are usable. Conversely, Java and C\# proved to be
the languages with the lowest usability rate. Further qualitative analysis on
usable Python snippets shows the characteristics of the answers that solve the
original question. Finally, we use Google search to investigate the alignment
of usability and the natural language annotations around code snippets, and
explore how to make snippets in Stack Overflow an adequate base for future
automatic program generation.Comment: 13th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Mining Software
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Health Figures: An Open Source JavaScript Library for Health Data Visualization
The way we look at data has a great impact on how we can understand it,
particularly when the data is related to health and wellness. Due to the
increased use of self-tracking devices and the ongoing shift towards preventive
medicine, better understanding of our health data is an important part of
improving the general welfare of the citizens. Electronic Health Records,
self-tracking devices and mobile applications provide a rich variety of data
but it often becomes difficult to understand. We implemented the hFigures
library inspired on the hGraph visualization with additional improvements. The
purpose of the library is to provide a visual representation of the evolution
of health measurements in a complete and useful manner. We researched the
usefulness and usability of the library by building an application for health
data visualization in a health coaching program. We performed a user evaluation
with Heuristic Evaluation, Controlled User Testing and Usability
Questionnaires. In the Heuristics Evaluation the average response was 6.3 out
of 7 points and the Cognitive Walkthrough done by usability experts indicated
no design or mismatch errors. In the CSUQ usability test the system obtained an
average score of 6.13 out of 7, and in the ASQ usability test the overall
satisfaction score was 6.64 out of 7. We developed hFigures, an open source
library for visualizing a complete, accurate and normalized graphical
representation of health data. The idea is based on the concept of the hGraph
but it provides additional key features, including a comparison of multiple
health measurements over time. We conducted a usability evaluation of the
library as a key component of an application for health and wellness
monitoring. The results indicate that the data visualization library was
helpful in assisting users in understanding health data and its evolution over
time.Comment: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 16.1 (2016
User-centred design of a digital advisory service: enhancing public agricultural extension for sustainable intensification in Tanzania
Sustainable intensification (SI) is promoted as a rural development paradigm for sub-Saharan Africa. Achieving SI requires smallholder farmers to have access to information that is context-specific, increases their decision-making capacities, and adapts to changing environments. Current extension services often struggle to address these needs. New mobile phone-based services can help. In order to enhance the public extension service in Tanzania, we created a digital service that addresses smallholder farmersâ different information needs for implementing SI. Using a co-design methodology â User-Centered Design â we elicited feedback from farmers and extension agents in Tanzania to create a new digital information service, called Ushauri. This automated hotline gives farmers access to a set of pre-recorded messages. Additionally, farmers can ask questions in a mailbox. Extension agents then listen to these questions through an online platform, where they record and send replies via automated push-calls. A test with 97 farmers in Tanzania showed that farmers actively engaged with the service to access agricultural advice. Extension agents were able to answer questions with reduced workload compared to conventional communication channels. This study illustrates how User-Centered Design can be used to develop information services for complex and resource-restricted smallholder farming contexts
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Towards a tool for the subjective assessment of speech system interfaces (SASSI)
Applications of speech recognition are now widespread, but user-centred evaluation methods are necessary to ensure their success. Objective evaluation techniques are fairly well established, but previous subjective techniques have been unstructured and unproven. This paper reports on the first stage of the development of a questionnaire measure for the Subjective Assessment of Speech System Interfaces (SASSI). The aim of the research programme is to produce a valid, reliable and sensitive measure of users' subjective experiences with speech recognition systems. Such a technique could make an important contribution to theory and practice in the design and evaluation of speech recognition systems according to best human factors practice. A prototype questionnaire was designed, based on established measures for evaluating the usability of other kinds of user interface, and on a review of the research literature into speech system design. This consisted of 50 statements with which respondents rated their level of agreement. The questionnaire was given to users of four different speech applications, and Exploratory Factor Analysis of 214 completed questionnaires was conducted. This suggested the presence of six main factors in users' perceptions of speech systems: System Response Accuracy, Likeability, Cognitive Demand, Annoyance, Habitability and Speed. The six factors have face validity, and a reasonable level of statistical reliability. The findings form a userful theoretical and practical basis for the subjective evaluation of any speech recognition interface. However, further work is recommended, to establish the validity and sensitivity of the approach, before a final tool can be produced which warrants general use
A pathway to independence : wayfinding systems which adapt to a visually impaired person's context
Despite an increased amount of technologies and systems designed to address the navigational requirements of the visually impaired community of approximately 7.4 million in Europe, current research has failed to sufficiently address the human issues associated to their design and use. As more types of sensing technologies are developed to facilitate visually impaired travellers for different navigational purposes (local vs. distant and indoor vs. outdoor), an effective process of synchronisation is required. This synchronisation is represented through context-aware computing, which allows contextual information to not just be sensed (like most current wayfinding systems), but also adapted, discovered and augmented. In this paper, three user studies concerning the suitability of different types of navigational information for visually impaired and sighted people are described. For such systems to be effective, human cognitive maps, models and intentions need to be the focus of further research, in order to provide information that is tailored to a user's task, situation or environment. Methodologies aimed at establishing these issues need to be demonstrated through a multidisciplinary framework
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