AutorIA” software: usability analysis with students of a Geography course

Abstract

This paper intends to present the results of usability tests conducted on the hypermedia software ”AutorIA” carried out with students enrolled in a Geography course at a public university in Minas Gerais. This tool was created with the aim of collaborating in the writing of academic texts and its initial focus is the production of academic summaries. For the usability assessment, we based ourselves on Nielsen (1994, 2012) and Conrad and Levi (2002). As a technical reference, we used the guidelines of NBR 9241-11 (Normas Técnicas, 2021). To create the software, we based ourselves on the concept of summary proposed by Machado, Lousada and Abreu-Tardelli (2004) and also on the principles of Swales’s (1990) Sociorhetoric, prioritizing the Create a Research Space model (CARS Model) and its possible adaptations to the genre in question. In methodological terms, we conducted research of applied nature, using a qualitative approach with an exploratory objective (Paiva, 2019). The results reveal that positive assessments of the tool outweighed the negative ones: while actions related to effectiveness were the best evaluated, participant satisfaction was the criterion that presented the most fragilities. Therefore, this data confirms that the software has the potential to adequately fulfill its intended purpose, but for this to occur, some adjustments are still necessary.

Keywords:
Academic summary; AutorIA software; Usability