IRIS DMC Tools Survey Results
In January 2010 a survey was created using the free online tool ‘Survey
Monkey’ to gather information from the community about the effectiveness
of the DMC data request tools. The goal of the survey was to gather information
about what data request tools people use most often and what they like
and/or dislike about the tools. The survey was advertised through an
e-mail sent to the IRIS Bulkmail list and on the IRIS DMC website. Forty-four
responses from IRIS community members were received and the results of
the survey are summarized below by question.
The questions on the survey were:
Question 1: Which IRIS DMC tool(s) do you use most (e.g. BreqFast,
SOD, SeismiQuery, etc.)? Why?
The responses received to this question were varied and showed how extensively
the community uses the data request tools. The more popular tools include
BreqFast and SeismiQuery, closely followed by Wilber II and SOD. Most
people responded that they used multiple tools depending on the task
or data that they needed.
Question 2: What do you like most about the tool(s) that
you use?
Most people liked that most of the tools are reliable, powerful, and
easy to use; especially once you are familiar with the interfaces. A
common theme was the tools allowed users to automate large data requests
and the current tools interface with the user’s existing ‘home-grown’ software. Members
who use the data mostly for teaching appreciate being able to download
individual traces in ASCII or other non-technical format. A representative
comment: ‘Clearly the IRIS personnel have devoted much time and
thought into their design.’
Question 3: What do you like least about the tool(s) that you
use?
The response to what users liked least about the tools varied and were
mostly related to very specific issues with a particular tool, e.g. ‘some
error messages are not very clear’, ‘sometimes it is difficult
to get an idea on the final size of the request’. One common theme
in the responses was that knowing which tool to use and how it worked
was not intuitive, e.g. ‘I find the interface very confusing and
usually need to send an email to get help. Many of the names are not
intuitive –e.g., BreqFast, SOD,’. Many responses noted that
to use a new tool you must devote some time going through a tutorial
to figure out what the tool does and how the tool works instead of just
being able to open an interface and quickly figure out how to request
data.
Question 4: Is the online help information about the tools sufficient?
If not, what could be improved?
Most responses were fairly happy with the online tools, but several people
noted that sometimes the help pages were difficult to find on the webpage
(e.g. ‘Unless you know what you are looking for, the information
is scattered and the links are not where you would expect’. In
addition, several responses suggested having different levels of detail
and cookbook examples so that it is not necessary to read the entire
manual of a particular tool.
Question 5: Are there any data search or retrieval tools that
should be added to IRIS?
The response to this question varied, but several people suggested having
a map interface that could be used directly to retrieve data, e.g. ‘Map-based
retrieval, Graphically lasso a group of stations, give a time window
and event filters and get your data’. Several of the suggestions
made by survey respondents were for tools that already exist (e.g. ‘network
and station location for a given geographical region’, tool with
the ‘specific ability to get long datasets, commonly used in data
mining, noise, tremor analysis’), so perhaps this again suggests
that online information about tools could be improved.
Question 6: For new or existing tools what features are most
important to you (GUI interface, ability to automate, simple to use)?
The overwhelming response to this question was ‘simple to use and
ability to automate’. A few people requested GUI interfaces, but
this was a much smaller subset of the responses.
Question 7: Please enter any additional comments or suggestions.
Respondents mostly used this space to express their appreciation for
IRIS, e.g. ‘ You guys are awesome’, ‘I’m always
amazed at how much I can do with existing tools’, ‘Thanks
for making the tools available to the community’. A few people
requested some short courses on IRIS tools and to make the tools easier
to use, e.g. ‘The DMC has never been for occasional users it
seems. I feel I need to relearn everything each time I come in say
each 6 months. This shouldn’t be.’
Overall, the responses to the survey were very positive about the tools
provided by the DMC. The community seems to use most or all of the tools
provided by IRIS suggesting that having a variety of ways to request
data is very important. Based on the responses, improvements are most
needed in how the tools and help pages are presented online. Specifically,
users seem to have some difficulty choosing an appropriate tool and figuring
out how to use the tool. This could be remedied by improved organization
of help pages and multiple data request tutorials/cookbooks for each
tool.
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