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Abstract
Evaluation is an important element in the creation of complex software. In this thesis, we describe two such evaluations. In the first study, we perform usability testing on web-based personalization software developed by John O Looney of the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia. Personalization of a web page involves dynamically altering the contents of the web pages according to the preferences of customers or clients, so that each client gets information specific to his needs. This study assists in and suggests ways to improve the usability and learnability of this software. The second study was a user study to determine if visualization is beneficial in helping users to learn about and understand distributed algorithms.