Matthew Miller <mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org> wrote:
Allan Day wrote:
...
> I'm a bit confused - what's the difference between what
you have in
> mind and a metrics tool? This is more for getting data that's inputted
> by a human?
The metrics tool is a one-time opt-in that from that point onward does stuff
in the background on its own schedule. The Steam hardware survey is an
occasionally-appearing thing that collects system information automatically
but which you then submit yourself right then by pushing the button.
Ah, thanks!
There are definite advantages to being able to run one time or limited
scope research exercises, and that's a capability that I'd like us to
develop. It's better from a privacy angle, since participants could
grant permission for particular purposes. It also makes sense from a
design and development perspective, since we often don't know the
research questions we want to ask until we start looking into a
problem.
We have talked upstream about using the metrics framework as a
platform for running one off or limited scope research exercises, and
I think there is agreement that it would be good, although I'm not
sure whether the Endless framework is capable of doing it at the
moment.
In the future it could be good to get to the point where the vast
majority of the data we collect is for limited research exercises, and
the ongoing telemetry is just for basic baseline info or data which
has a longitudinal aspect.
Thanks,
Allan