Classification Procedures for Software Evaluation

Muriel Amar, Sophie David, Rachel Panckhurst, Lisa Whistlecroft

Abstract
We outline a methodological classification for evaluation approaches of software in general. This classification was initiated partly owing to involvement in a biennial European competition (the European Academic Software Award, EASA) which was held for over a decade. The evaluation grid used in EASA gradually became obsolete and inappropriate in recent years, and therefore needed to be revised. In order to do this, it was important to situate the competition in relation to other software evaluation procedures. A methodological perspective for the classification is adopted rather than a conceptual one, since a number of difficulties arise with the latter. We focus on three main questions: What to evaluate? How to evaluate? and Who does evaluate? The classification is therefore hybrid: it allows one to account for the most common evaluation approaches and is also an observatory. Two main approaches are differentiated: system and usage. We conclude that any evaluation always constructs its own object, and the objects to be evaluated only partially determine the evaluation which can be applied to them. Generally speaking, this allows one to begin apprehending what type of knowledge is objectified when one or another approach is chosen.
Anthology ID:
L08-1379
Volume:
Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'08)
Month:
May
Year:
2008
Address:
Marrakech, Morocco
Editors:
Nicoletta Calzolari, Khalid Choukri, Bente Maegaard, Joseph Mariani, Jan Odijk, Stelios Piperidis, Daniel Tapias
Venue:
LREC
SIG:
Publisher:
European Language Resources Association (ELRA)
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Pages:
Language:
URL:
http://www.lrec-conf.org/proceedings/lrec2008/pdf/160_paper.pdf
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Cite (ACL):
Muriel Amar, Sophie David, Rachel Panckhurst, and Lisa Whistlecroft. 2008. Classification Procedures for Software Evaluation. In Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'08), Marrakech, Morocco. European Language Resources Association (ELRA).
Cite (Informal):
Classification Procedures for Software Evaluation (Amar et al., LREC 2008)
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PDF:
http://www.lrec-conf.org/proceedings/lrec2008/pdf/160_paper.pdf
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