As open source software (OSS) becomes increasingly mature and popular, there are significant challenges with properly accounting for usability concerns for the diverse end users. Participatory design, where multiple stakeholders collaborate on iterating the design, can be an efficient way to address the usability concerns for OSS projects. However, barriers such as a code-centric mindset and insufficient tool support often prevent OSS teams from effectively including end users in participatory design methods. This paper proposes preliminary contributions to this problem through the user-centered exploration of (1) a set of design guidelines that capture the needs of OSS participatory design tools, (2) two personas that represent the characteristics of OSS designers and end users, and (3) a low-fidelity prototype tool for end user involvement in OSS projects. This work paves the road for future studies about tool design that would eventually help improve OSS usability.

中文翻译：

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促进开源软件的异步参与式设计：将最终用户带入循环

随着开源软件（OSS）变得越来越成熟和流行，正确解决各种最终用户的可用性问题面临着巨大的挑战。参与式设计是多个利益相关者协作进行迭代设计的一种有效方法，可以解决OSS项目的可用性问题。但是，诸如以代码为中心的思维方式和工具支持不足之类的障碍通常会阻止OSS团队有效地将最终用户包括在参与式设计方法中。本文通过以用户为中心的探索提出了对此问题的初步贡献，其中包括：（1）一套满足OSS参与式设计工具需求的设计准则；（2）代表OSS设计师和最终用户特征的两个角色；（3）一种低保真原型工具，用于最终用户参与OSS项目。这项工作为将来有关工具设计的研究铺平了道路，最终将有助于提高OSS的可用性。