GVU Technical Report Number:
GIT-GVU-94-08
Title:
Analyzing and Visualizing Log Files: A Computational Science of
Usability
Authors:
Mark Guzdial
Paulo Santos
Albert N. Badre
Scott Hudson
Mark Gray
Abstract:
Researchers in human-computer interactions know that software can easily
be instrumented to create a trace of user events in the interface (which
we call a log file) for later analysis. Using these data for
studying usability or other HCI questions is certainly attractive.
- The data are cheap - data gathering is totally automatic.
- The data are gathered discretely, so the possibility of a Hawthorne
effect is diminished.
- Data can be collected outside the laboratory, while the user is
engaged in real tasks, so the results have greater ecological validity.
The problem has always been what to do with the volume of data that gets
generated. With so much data, it's difficult to determine what's useful
and how to display the useful portion in a meaningful way.
Keywords:
Visualization, usability, log files, human-computer interaction, computer
modeling, computer simulation
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