UXculture

Open Source Usability, Part 2: Extending Openness Downstream

Open Source Usability and the Open Source User Experience (OS-UX) provide a potentially powerful combination of technology and communications practices, combining different aspects of openness in one integrated package.

The Open Source Software movement is about open code and open technology. But simply making sure that tools or underlying code is easily available at no cost is no guarantee that the underlying goal of openness has been met. There is still a serious last-mile problem: If end users cannot manage to successfully use open source software, then the technology in practice remains closed.

There are many ways, both willful and unwitting, to close an open system. For example, have you tried reading the United States tax code lately? Factors such as complexity, crypticism, jargon, obscurity, quantity, and visual clutter can all contribute to the de facto closing of open code. Left untended, these factors can quickly transform the commons into a gated community.

Open source usability and user experience design mean open for usage, open for understanding, and open for user enjoyment. And these aspects are open even for those users who don't have the time, capabilities, or inclination to delve into the underlying open source code. That's why the issue of open source usability is not just a technical problem; it's also a communications problem.

Here is the heart of the issue: For open source to become more widely adopted, the OSS community and the Usability and UX communities need to work together to achieve openness not only at the source but also downstream.

The Time Is Ripe For Open Source Usability and the Open Source User Experience

Until recently, open source software (OSS) projects have been widely and unfairly stigmatized by many in the commercial Web development world as tools for geeks by geeks. Sure, there are barriers to OSS adoption, including:

• Tools that can be hard to install, configure, and use;
• User interfaces that are not intuitive;
• Applications that are functionally very flexible but not necessarily in sync with end user needs or thought processes;
• Lack of user-friendly documentation & training;
• Lack of stable vendors to support distribution and service;
• Missing focus on the idea of the open source user experience (OSS-UX.)

In spite of these temporary impediments, it is misguided to dismiss or undervalue the present and future impact of OSS and the volunteered labor that hordes of developers have contributed in recent years. Yes, there is much room to optimize the OSS work in progress so that it meets the high UX standards of today's commercial software world.

But the framework, technologies, and platforms to compete in the commercial sector are now largely in place. And the community itself is today bringing a fresh determination to raise the level of usability and the overall user experience in order to gain wide adoption among non-technical users.

This new OSS outreach includes connecting with usability and user experience professionals, as well as trying to develop new (and of course, open) tools and strategies for distributed usability testing, learning, and UX design. Two such efforts include:

http://www.openusability.org

http://www.flossusability.org

There remains a wide culture gap between usability professionals and OSS developers. However, this gap will be bridged. I feel strongly that usability and UX folks can and should work together to enhance OSS tools. Ultimately, a strong, widely adopted OSS tool base that can comfortably compete with commercial software means:

• a more diverse technology & software marketplace;
• better commercial software due to increased competition;
• enhanced work options not only for programmers but also for usability and UX professionals
• and better tools for users to augment their business and personal lives.

In short, the time is ripe for OSS and UX to converge around creating the next-generation Open Source User Experience.