Web Engineering: An Assessment of Empirical Research

Web engineering is the process used to create high-quality Web-based systems and applications that deliver a complex array of content and functionality to a broad population of end-users. As Web Engineering continues to grow in popularity with practitioners and academics alike, so far, there hasn\u27t been any assessment of its accumulated body of knowledge in terms of academic research. Because Web engineering was established as a new discipline some five years ago, it is perhaps time to take stock of the efforts made in this field. Using the Web Engineering Process Model developed by Pressman, this paper organizes and map progress made so far. The results suggest a significant need for theory-based research in Web Engineering. The paper discusses some of the managerial and research implications of the findings

Application of Grounded Theory to Exploring Multimedia Design Practices

This paper describes the application of Grounded Theory to an exploration of multimedia\ud design practices. It discusses the opinions of multimedia developers, as elicited from\ud interviews, on the selected design tasks and the processes employed in their completion. Our\ud findings, which emerge from the analysis of the collected data, indicate that the currently\ud available multimedia models do not address some of the important concerns of practitioners.\ud We believe that closing the methodological gaps in these models would provide better\ud support for the multimedia development process

Application of grounded theory to exploring multimedia design practices

This paper describes the application of Grounded Theory to an exploration of multimedia design practices. It discusses the opinions of multimedia developers, as elicited from interviews, on the selected design tasks and the processes employed in their completion. Our findings, which emerge from the analysis of the collected data, indicate that the currently available multimedia models do not address some of the important concerns of practitioners. We believe that closing the methodological gaps in these models would provide bettersupport for the multimedia development process.<br /

METHODOLOGIES FOR DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING HYPERMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Hypermedia design, as any other design activity, may be observed according to two points of view: methods which suggest milestones to guide the designer's work and process which concerns the actual detailed behavior of the designer at work. Cognitive studies assess that mental processes involved in any design process show widely shared human characteristics regardless to the used design method. Thereby, they provide general keys to help designers. Thus, a hypertext design environment should equally consider the two dimensions of a hypertext design activity, in particular it should support the natural design process specificities, mainly the incremental and opportunist aspects. The paper focuses on the hypertext design as a computer supported human activity. It examines what is general both in the design methods and in the design process of hypertexts in order to determine which general features are helpful to designers. This analysis has raised from the observation of the behavior of MacWeb users during design tasks. It is related to sound and well known results in cognitive science. The paper also describes how the proposed features are implemented in the MacWeb system.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

An Ontology-based Approach to Web Site Design and Development

Building a data-intensive web site is a complex task. Ad-hoc rapid prototyping approaches easily lead to unsatisfactory results, e. g. poor maintainability and extensibility. The situation becomes even more difficult when customization issues arise and web sites need to present customized views to individual users. To address this problem, a number of model-based approaches have been proposed, which attempt to simplify the design and development of data-intensive web sites. However these approaches suffer a number of limitations, such as relatively little support for the composition of sophisticated user interfaces and the specification of presentation styles and little support for customization design. In this work we propose and implement an ontology-based approach, OntoWeaver, which provides comprehensive support for the design and development of data-intensive web sites. In particular, OntoWeaver provides a set of ontologies to represent all aspects of data-intensive web sites in a declarative and re-usable format. The declarative nature of the specification of web sites opens up a number of possibilities with respect to intelligent analysis and management. Moreover, OntoWeaver includes providing high level support for developing customized web sites. Finally, it offers a powerful tool suite to support the design and development of data-intensive web sites. In the course of this research, we have also extended OntoWeaver by addressing the issue of integrating web service technology into a high level web site design framework

HIPPO -- an adaptive open hyptertext system

The hypertext paradigm offers a powerful way of modelling complex knowledge structures. Information can be arranged into networks, and connected using hypertext links. This has led to the development of more open hypertext design, which allow hypertext services to be integrated seamlessly into the user's environment. Recent research has also seen the emergence of adaptive hypertext, which uses feedback from the user to modify objects in the hypertext. The research presented in this thesis describes the HIPPO hypertext model which combines many of the ideas in open hypertext research, with existing work on adaptive hypertext systems. The idea of fuzzy anchors are introduced which allow authors to express the uncertainty and vagueness which is inherent in a hypertext anchor. Fuzzy anchors use partial truth values which allow authors to define a "degree of membership" for anchors. Anchors no longer have fixed, discrete boundaries, but have more in common with contour lines used in map design. These fuzzy anchors are used as the basis for an adaptive model, so that anchors can be modified in response to user actions. The HIPPO linking model introduces linkbase trees which combine link collections into inheritance hierarchies. These are used to construct reusable inheritance trees, which allow authors to reuse and build on existing link collections. An adaptive model is also presented to modify these linkbase hierarchies. Finally, the HIPPO system is re-implemented using a widely distributed architecture. This distributed model implements a hypertext system as a collection of lightweight, distributed services. The benefits of this distributed hypertext model are discussed, and an adaptive model is then suggested

HIPPO -- an adaptive open hyptertext system

The hypertext paradigm offers a powerful way of modelling complex knowledge structures. Information can be arranged into networks, and connected using hypertext links. This has led to the development of more open hypertext design, which allow hypertext services to be integrated seamlessly into the user's environment. Recent research has also seen the emergence of adaptive hypertext, which uses feedback from the user to modify objects in the hypertext. The research presented in this thesis describes the HIPPO hypertext model which combines many of the ideas in open hypertext research, with existing work on adaptive hypertext systems. The idea of fuzzy anchors are introduced which allow authors to express the uncertainty and vagueness which is inherent in a hypertext anchor. Fuzzy anchors use partial truth values which allow authors to define a "degree of membership" for anchors. Anchors no longer have fixed, discrete boundaries, but have more in common with contour lines used in map design. These fuzzy anchors are used as the basis for an adaptive model, so that anchors can be modified in response to user actions. The HIPPO linking model introduces linkbase trees which combine link collections into inheritance hierarchies. These are used to construct reusable inheritance trees, which allow authors to reuse and build on existing link collections. An adaptive model is also presented to modify these linkbase hierarchies. Finally, the HIPPO system is re-implemented using a widely distributed architecture. This distributed model implements a hypertext system as a collection of lightweight, distributed services. The benefits of this distributed hypertext model are discussed, and an adaptive model is then suggested

A study of process improvement activities for web development processes within a small company

This thesis describes activities carried out in order to improve a small company's web development process, specifically focusing on the areas of reuse and web accessibility. CACDP are the examinations board for British Sign Language and other related disciplines. Within the domain of web development they have no formal processes and no skills or knowledge with which to improve them. They wish to develop four new web based products, and to apply accessibility guidelines to both these and their existing web site. The areas of web development, process Improvement and reuse are investigated, specifically In relation to their suitability for CACDP, and an action list is drawn up of tasks that will assist them in achieving their aims. A formal process is defined and implemented in an iterative procedure, designed to gradually improve their working practices, and work towards achieving improvements in some of the Key Process Areas of the Capability Maturity Model. Reuse is targeted as a specific way to achieve efficiency within the development, and web accessibility is particularly important to CACDP as they work with many people who are affected by the lack of accessibility. The thesis describes the production of the applications using the defined process, and the problems faced during the implementation. These problems are reviewed and suggested improvements are integrated into the next implementation of the process. This project has resulted in the successful introduction of a formal process for the development of web-based applications. Reuse is now being used within the company to reduce cost and improve productivity. Accessibility standards have been implemented in all products. CACDP have benefited from increased services for their customers, increased profitability, mature development and maintenance procedures, the introduction of a reuse programme for their future development and technical learning and training for their staff

METHODOLOGIES FOR DESIGNING AND DEVELOPING HYPERMEDIA APPLICATIONS

Hypermedia design, as any other design activity, may be observed according to two points of view: methods which suggest milestones to guide the designer's work and process which concerns the actual detailed behavior of the designer at work. Cognitive studies assess that mental processes involved in any design process show widely shared human characteristics regardless to the used design method. Thereby, they provide general keys to help designers. Thus, a hypertext design environment should equally consider the two dimensions of a hypertext design activity, in particular it should support the natural design process specificities, mainly the incremental and opportunist aspects. The paper focuses on the hypertext design as a computer supported human activity. It examines what is general both in the design methods and in the design process of hypertexts in order to determine which general features are helpful to designers. This analysis has raised from the observation of the behavior of MacWeb users during design tasks. It is related to sound and well known results in cognitive science. The paper also describes how the proposed features are implemented in the MacWeb system.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Developing Collaborative XML Editing Systems

In many areas the eXtensible Mark-up Language (XML) is becoming the standard exchange and data format. More and more applications not only support XML as an exchange format but also use it as their data model or default file format for graphic, text and database (such as spreadsheet) applications. Computer Supported Cooperative Work is an interdisciplinary field of research dealing with group work, cooperation and their supporting information and communication technologies. One part of it is Real-Time Collaborative Editing, which investigates the design of systems which allow several persons to work simultaneously in real-time on the same document, without the risk of inconsistencies. Existing collaborative editing research applications specialize in one or at best, only a small number of document types; for example graphic, text or spreadsheet documents. This research investigates the development of a software framework which allows collaborative editing of any XML document type in real-time. This presents a more versatile solution to the problems of real-time collaborative editing. This research contributes a new software framework model which will assist software engineers in the development of new collaborative XML editing applications. The devised framework is flexible in the sense that it is easily adaptable to different workflow requirements covering concurrency control, awareness mechanisms and optional locking of document parts. Additionally this thesis contributes a new framework integration strategy that enables enhancements of existing single-user editing applications with real-time collaborative editing features without changing their source code