Software Weighting and Ratings System

We are developing a much needed committee called The Scientific Software and Hardware Rating Board (SSHRB). These ratings will provide brief and neutral information about the content and components in computer application programs and recording/analysis hardware that are used in bioacoustics interpretation of sound and data. SSHRB ratings would have at least two equal parts: (1) rating symbols suggesting publishing levels of scientific confidence based upon neutral benchmarks for both the application software and recording/analysis hardware (2) content descriptors indicating elements and components in an application program or recording/analysis hardware that may create a problem for researchers (i.e. aliasing in known acoustic research and teaching tool application programs, compressing of files that is unreported or false reported by the recording and analysis equipment). A transparency level of disclosure would be implemented so that research results have a level playing field across academic comparisons. The goal of these committee objectives would be to have the industry use this rating system on their products so that researchers can choose the appropriate software and hardware for their various projects.

A Scientific Readiness Rating Program is intended to decrease errors in evaluating application software and recording/analysis hardware. The rating system would utilize an open-source model with scores rated by users of these application programs and recording/analysis equipment.

This rating system would have numerous categories, including functionality, usability, quality, security, documentation and technical support. Each category would be rated on a scale of 1 to 10. There would also be bias tools so a potential academic user can specify its most important considerations.