Re: Do we have data? (Was Re: "Pave The Cowpaths" Design Principle)

On 15 May 2007, at 11:04, Maciej Stachowiak wrote:

>> Do we have any data on how things are actually used "in the wild"?
>
> Some have gathered data, although I don't think we have anything  
> that could be considered reproducible to a scientific level.
>
> However, my point was not necessarily to argue the validity of  
> these particular parts of the spec, but rather to cite them as  
> examples of the sort of thing that the design principle refers to.

OK. But I wonder how we can get beyond the level of personal gut  
feeling on these issues. We need to know the cowpaths before we can  
pave them. I guess this could be an interesting research project.  
Doesn't necessarily need to be very ambitious. Some data is better  
than no data. And I think we really need it.

So, if anyone has done something in this "field", at least I would be  
interested in knowing about it - either on or off this list.

--
Henrik