Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Studying Long-Term System Use. |
| Authors: |
Kay, Judy1 judy@cs.su.oz.au, Thomas, Richard C.2 richard@cs.uwa.edu.au |
| Source: |
Communications of the ACM. Jul1995, Vol. 38 Issue 7, p61-69. 9p. |
| Subjects: |
Computer users, Text editors (Computer programs), College students, University of New South Wales |
| Geographic Terms: |
Sydney (N.S.W.), New South Wales |
| Abstract: |
There have been many studies of computer users but few that extend over very long periods. The reason for this include costs, the quality of the data that can be obtained and satisfactorily analyzed, and the requirement to obtain results in short term. The article used monitoring method to study the use of Sam text editor. Some editors are believed to require considerable time to learn well, and some data also suggests that some users went on developing over a long period. Additionally, the article also builds long term user models. The study involved all 2,273 undergraduate computer science students enrolled at the University of Sydney, New South Wales in three years 1991 through 1993. It gives sample analyses for some 63 students who began university in February 1991 and studied at least until November 1993. These analyses should help the reader obtain an understanding of the scale and rarity of some user actions. Students were not compelled to use Sam, so the sample included both committed and discretionary users. The 63 three-year users issued over 4 million commands, collectively experimenting with 77 types with an average of 42, the maximum for a single user being 55. |
| Database: |
Engineering Source |
