Extending OpenUP to Conform with the ISO Usability Maturity Model

Integrating practices and methods of Interaction Design and Usability into Software Engineering processes has posed some challenges. In this paper we extend a SE process to enable its instantiation as user centered in order to improve the usability level reachable by the final system. Also, we suggest a kind of a road map that enables software organizations to instantiate cumulative versions of this process to grow in their capability regarding the usability practices. The paper is organized in two parts. First, we describe de open source version of the Unified Process OpenUP and the ISO Usability Maturity Model UMM-ISO and present the results of an assessment made on the first to determine its conformity with the latter. In the second part we present an extension to OpenUP to fill the gaps discovered and report the highlights of an implementation of these contributions in a real project and the lessons learned.Publicado en Lecture Notes in Computer Science book series (LNCS, vol. 8742).Laboratorio de Investigación y Formación en Informática Avanzad

Modelo de integración de componentes metodológicos dentro del contexto de CIAF

Este trabajo presenta un modelo de integración de componentes metodológicos dentro del contexto del “Marco de Desarrollo de Sistemas Groupware Interactivos (CIAF: Collaborative Interactive Application Framework)”. Como caso de estudio se realiza la integración de dos propuestas enmarcadas en el desarrollo de sistemas interactivos, la primera, TD-MBUID (Task & Data Model Based User Interface Development), enfocada en el desarrollo de la interfaz de usuario y la segunda, MPIu+a (Modelo de Proceso de la Ingeniería de la Usabilidad y la Accesibilidad),en la evaluación de la usabilidad

Cyber-Physical Systems of Systems: Foundations – A Conceptual Model and Some Derivations: The AMADEOS Legacy

Computer Systems Organization and Communication Networks; Software Engineering; Complex Systems; Information Systems Applications (incl. Internet); Computer Application

A systematic mapping study of HCI practice research

Human–computer interaction (HCI) practice has emerged as a research domain in the HCI field and is growing. The need to transfer HCI practices to the industry began significantly with the works of Nielsen on usability engineering. To date, methods and techniques for designing, evaluating, and implementing interactive systems for human use have continued to emerge. It is, therefore, justified to conduct a systematic mapping study to determine the landscape of HCI practice research. A Systematic Mapping Study method was used to map 142 studies according to research type, topic, and contribution. These were then analyzed to determine an overview of HCI practice research. The objective was to analyze studies on HCI practice and present prominent issues that characterize the HCI practice research landscape. Second, to identify pressing challenges regarding HCI practices in software/systems development companies. The results show that HCI practice research has steadily increased since 2012. The majority of the studies explored focused on evaluation research that largely contributed to the evaluation methods or processes. Most of the studies were on design tools and techniques, design methods and contexts, design work and organizational culture, and collaboration and team communication. Interviews, case studies, and survey methods have been prominently used as research methods. HCI techniques are mostly used during the initial phase of development and during evaluation. HCI practice challenges in companies are mostly process-related and on performance of usability and user experience activities. The major challenge seems to be to find a way to collect and incorporate user feedback in a timely manner, especially in agile processes. There are areas identified in this study as needing more research

Metodología para el desarrollo de sistemas interactivos usables CIAF+HCI, a partir de la integración de CIAF y MPIU+a

1 CD-ROMEn este trabajo se realiza la integración de dos propuestas enmarcadas en el desarrollo de sistemas interactivos, la primera (CIAF: “Collaborative Interactive Application Framework”) enfocada en el desarrollo de la interfaz de usuario y la segunda (MPIu+a: “Modelo de Proceso de la Ingeniería de la Usabilidad y Accesibilidad”) en la evaluación de la usabilidad. Esto con el fin de tener un método disciplinado y coherente que a partir de métodos, técnicas, herramientas, modelos y bases de conocimiento permita el desarrollo de sistemas interactivos usables. Se presenta, por tanto, un marco formalizado de desarrollo metodológico, conceptual y tecnológico que integra el diseño, el prototipado y la evaluación de la interfaz de usuario en todas las disciplinas. CIAF propone una aproximación metodológica para el desarrollo de interfaces de usuario y está basada en el uso de varios modelos para representar aspectos colaborativos e interactivos. Por tal razón, se usan diferentes notaciones y técnicas. Se describe en particular la integración de tres notaciones: -1- CIAN- la cual involucra aspectos de colaboración e interacción humano-computador, -2- UML - la cual especifica la funcionalidad de sistemas informáticos, y -3- usiXML- la cual describe la interfaz de usuario para múltiples plataformas. Adicionalmente, se describe cómo el modelo metodológico se integra dentro del proceso de Ingeniería de Software por medio de OpenUP. El proceso de desarrollo de modelos y la integración de diagramas está soportado mediante herramientas de Eclipse. MPIu+a, es una propuesta para el desarrollo de sistemas interactivos que integra modelos y tareas específicos para soportar la evaluación de la usabilidad en el ciclo de vida de la Ingeniería de Software, considerándola como un atributo de calidad de los sistemas interactivos. MPIu+a incorpora el prototipado y la evaluación, como dos elementos transversales a las fases básicas de desarrollo de software (Análisis de Requisitos, Diseño, Implementación y Lanzamiento).1 Introducción -- 2 Metodología para la Definición de la Propuesta -- 3 Estado del Arte y Trabajos Relacionados -- 4 Formalización de MPIu+a con SPEM 2.0 -- 5 Definición de Contenidos de Métodos a Partir de CIAF y MPIu+a -- 6 Implementación de la Configuración de los Procesos MPIu+a+ y TD-MBUID+ -- 7 Validación de la Metodología Propuesta -- 8 Conclusiones y Trabajo Futuro -- Apéndice A: Detalle de la Técnica Pensando en Voz Alta (1)-- Apéndice B: Detalle de la Técnica Recorrido Cognitivo con Usuarios (1)-- Apéndice C: Detalle de la Técnica Focus Group -- Apéndice D: Detalle de la Técnica Recorrido Cognitivo con Usuarios (2)-- Apéndice E: Detalle de la Técnica Pensando en Voz Alta (2)-- Apéndice F: Encuestas -- Bibliograph

Engineering the social: The role of shared artifacts

Abstract This paper presents a multidisciplinary approach to engineering socio-technical design. The paper addresses technological design for social interactions that are non-instrumental, and thereby sometimes contradictory or surprising and difficult to model. Through cooperative analysis of cultural probe data and development of agent-oriented software engineering (AOSE) models, ethnographers and software engineers participate in conversations around shared artifacts, which facilitate the transition from data collected in a social environment to a socially oriented requirements analysis for informing socio-technical design. To demonstrate how this transition was made, we present a case study of the process of designing technology to support familial relationships, such as playing, gifting, showing, telling and creating memories. The case study is based on data collected in a cultural probes study that explores the diverse, complex and unpredictable design environment of the home. A multidisciplinary team worked together through a process of conversations around shared artifacts to cooperatively analyze collected data and develop models. These conversations provided the opportunity to view the data from the perspective of alternative disciplines that resulted in the emergence of novel understandings and innovative practice. The artifacts in the process included returned probe items, scrapbooks, videos of interviews, photographs, family biographies and the AOSE requirements models. When shared between the two communities of practice, some of these artifacts played important roles in mediating discussions of mutual influence between ethnographers and software engineers. The shared artifacts acted as both triggers for conversations and information vessels-providing a variety of interpretable objects enabling both sides to articulate their understandings in different ways and to collaboratively negotiate understandings of the collected data. Analyzing the interdisciplinary exchange provided insight into the identification of bridging elements that allowed 'the social' to permeate the processes of analysis, requirements elicitation and design.

Assessing transportation networks vulnerability for the decision making in humanitarian logistics

Transportation networks are vulnerable to natural disasters, which can degrade their functionality and generate negative impacts over people, especially during the emergency phase, where timely access of humanitarian operations is critical. An interruption of humanitarian relief supply chains at the short-term emergency stage increases the human suffering (deprivation costs) resulting from the lack of access to essential goods or services. These costs are generally not considered in the mathematical formulations used for assessing vulnerability in transportation networks, which can lead to inappropriate strategies for humanitarian assistance. Consequently, in this doctoral thesis a vulnerability assessment model for the development of high impact humanitarian logistics operations is presented. The model is based on an economic analysis that involves both the logistical costs of humanitarian distribution operations and the deprivation cots derived from the delays in the provision of basic supplies

Advancing Time-Dependent Earthquake Risk Modelling

Catastrophe (CAT) risk models are commonly used in the (re)insurance industry and by public organizations to estimate potential losses due to natural hazards like earthquakes. Conventional earthquake risk modelling involves several significant modelling assumptions, which mainly neglect: (a) the interaction between adjacent faults; (b) the long-term elastic-rebound behaviour of faults; (c) the short-term hazard increase associated with aftershocks; and (d) the damage accumulation in building assets that results from the occurrence of multiple earthquakes in a short time window. Several recent earthquake events/sequences (e.g., 2010/2012 Canterbury earthquakes, New Zealand; 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes, USA; 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes) have emphasised the simplicity of these assumptions and the need for earthquake risk models to start accounting for the short-and long-term time-dependent characteristics of earthquake risk. This thesis introduces an end-to-end framework for time-dependent earthquake risk modelling that incorporates (a) advancements in long-term time-dependent fault and aftershock modelling in the hazard component of the risk modelling framework; and (b) vulnerability models that account for the damage accumulation due to multiple ground motions occurring in a short period of time. The long-term time-dependent fault model used incorporates the elastic-rebound motivated methodologies of the latest Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF3) and explicitly accounts for fault-interaction triggering between major known faults. The Epidemic-Type Aftershock Sequence (ETAS) model is used to simulate aftershocks, representing the short-term hazard increase observed after large mainshocks. Damage-dependent fragility and vulnerability models are then used to account for damage accumulation. Sensitivity analyses of direct economic losses to these time dependencies are also conducted, providing valuable guidance on integrating time dependencies in earthquake risk modelling