Data sources

Most of the information about authoring experiences is taken from personal observations and interactions with authors and from a series of interviews conducted after each GBS was almost finished^10.1. The interviews were taken from the projects listed in Table 6.1.

 

Table 6.1: Projects in INDIE. Asterisk indicates that the project was developed in INDIE 1.0, then re-implemented in INDIE 2.0.

 

Project	# of authors	Duration
STAFF, LONG-TERM
Rembrandt	2	1 year
Nutrition	2	1 year
Immunology	2	9 months
STUDENT, MEDIUM-TERM
Volcano	3	6 months
Clinical Monitor	3	6 months
STUDENT, SHORT-TERM
Car	3	1.5 months
KERMIT*	3	1.5 months

Interviews were conducted free-form; authors in a group sat with one or more INDIE developers and did a ``post mortem'' on their projects. Frequently, authors turned to a computer running the application to delineate an idea or point out something they would like to see changed. They were recorded on audio tape for reference.

As well as exit interviews, the INDIE development team worked in close contact with authors. Besides seeing presentations about previous INDIE projects before they started their design work, authors tended to discuss story boards with INDIE developers for feasibility and feedback. Once authors decided to use INDIE, they would get a 1-2 hour hands-on seminar on how to use INDIE and a short ``How-to'' document which, as far as INDIE developers can tell, they never read.

In the first few months of work with INDIE, authors needed weekly, sometimes daily help from authors, usually in half-hour or hour sessions. Most of these sessions resembled either tutorials about how to use features, or idea sessions where authors talked with INDIE develop