A Pilot Study into the Usability of a Scientific Workflow Construction Tool

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dc.contributor.authorGordon, Paul M. K.eng
dc.contributor.authorSensen, Christoph W.eng
dc.date.accessioned2008-05-20T23:26:27Z
dc.date.available2008-05-20T23:26:27Z
dc.date.computerscience2007-07-24eng
dc.date.issued2007-07-24eng
dc.description.abstractWe describe a recent pilot study into the usability of the scientific workflow creation and enactment tool called Taverna. Both programmers and non-programmers were used as subjects for a defined programming task. We used a combination of user observation and questionnaires to determine programming efficiency roadblocks in the tool. More generally, differences between the roadblocks encountered by programmers and nonprogrammers suggest that pilot studies are crucial to inform the proper evaluation of novice programming tools. The study also suggests that there is a high demand for reusable Life Sciences workflows, due to both their ability to facilitate human-human communication about data analysis, and their ability to simplify repetitive operations used by bench scientists. Most roadblocks to Taverna programming are interface related, but a more fundamental issue is related to data input and type enforcement. Despite UI issues, we discovered users willingness to re-use and modify workflows, which leads us to suggest that programs first be created in simpler tools as a stepping stone in end-user development for the Life Sciences.eng
dc.description.notesWe are currently acquiring citations for the work deposited into this collection. We recognize the distribution rights of this item may have been assigned to another entity, other than the author(s) of the work.If you can provide the citation for this work or you think you own the distribution rights to this work please contact the Institutional Repository Administrator at digitize@ucalgary.caeng
dc.identifier.department2007-874-26eng
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/31274
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/46486
dc.language.isoEngeng
dc.publisher.corporateUniversity of Calgaryeng
dc.publisher.facultyScienceeng
dc.subjectComputer Scienceeng
dc.titleA Pilot Study into the Usability of a Scientific Workflow Construction Tooleng
dc.typeunknown
thesis.degree.disciplineComputer Scienceeng
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