[Bioc-devel] Use and Usability metrics / shields

[Wolfgang Huber]

Dear Martin

great idea.
"Current build status” could perhaps be wrapped with "Cross-platform availability” into some sort of “Availability / Accessibility”?

I wonder how informative it would be to make metrics such as
(i) citations of the associated paper
(ii) full-text mentions e.g. in PubmedCentral
actually useful. (i) could be flawed if package and paper are diverged; (ii) would require good disambiguation, e.g. like bioNerDS http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/14/194 (or other tools? not my expertise). Do we have someone with capabilities in this area on this list?

PS  Martin you’ll like Fig. 2 of their paper.

Wolfgang





> On May 9, 2015, at 19:15 GMT+2, Martin Morgan <mtmorgan at fredhutch.org> wrote:
> 
> Bioc developers!
> 
> It's important that our users be able to identify packages that are suitable for their research question. Obviously a first step is to identify packages in the appropriate research domain, for instance through biocViews.
> 
>  http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/
> 
> We'd like to help users further prioritize their efforts by summarizing use and usability. Metrics include:
> 
> - Cross-platform availability -- biocLite()-able from all or only some platforms
> - Support forum activity -- questions and comments / responses, 6 month window
> - Download percentile -- top 5, 20, 50%, or 'available'
> - Current build status -- errors or warnings on some or all platforms
> - Developer activity -- commits in the last 6 months
> - Historical presence -- years in Bioconductor
> 
> Obviously the metrics are imperfect, so constructive feedback welcome -- we think the above capture in a more-or-less objective and computable way the major axes influencing use and usability.
> 
> We initially intend to prominently display 'shields' (small graphical icons) on package landing pages.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your comments,
> 
> Martin Morgan
> Bioconductor
> -- 
> Computational Biology / Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
> 1100 Fairview Ave. N.
> PO Box 19024 Seattle, WA 98109
> 
> Location: Arnold Building M1 B861
> Phone: (206) 667-2793
> 
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