Semantic Bridging between Conceptual Modeling Standards and Agile Software Projects Conceptualizations

Software engineering benefitted from modeling standards (e.g. UML, BPMN), but Agile Software Project Management tends to marginalize most forms of documentation including diagrammatic modeling, focusing instead on the tracking of a project\u27s backlog and related issues. Limited means are available for annotating Jira items with diagrams, however not on a granular and semantically traceable level. Business processes tend to get lost on the way between process analysis (if any) and backlog items; UML design decisions are often disconnected from the issue tracking environment. This paper proposes domain-specific conceptual modeling to obtain a diagrammatic view on a Jira project, motivated by past conceptualizations of the agile paradigm while also offering basic interoperability with Jira to switch between environments and views. The underlying conceptualization extends conceptual modeling languages (BPMN, UML) with an agile project management perspective to enrich contextual traceability of a project\u27s elements while ensuring that data structures handled by Jira can be captured and exposed to Jira if needed. Therefore, concepts underlying the typical software development project management are integrated with established modeling concepts and tailored (with metamodeling means) for the domain-specificity of agile project management. A Design Science approach was pursued to develop a modeling method artifact, resulting in a domain-specific modeling tool for software project managers that want to augment agile practices and enrich issue annotation

Self Constructed Representations: Design Research in Participatory Situations

This paper proposes that the blurred line between designer and researcher can have a positive effect on design processes. The aims of the paper are firstly, to show how design ethnography is an emerging field of design practice in its own right, and secondly, to give some examples of how open ethnographic methods have been used in public-facing field research. Finally, to propose some recommendations related to the design of open design-ethnographic instruments and activities. Design ethnography integrates two distinct understandings of ethnography. The first is observational, designers present people with designed objects and observe how they interact with them (Houde and Hill, 1997). The second is shaping, designers give participants unfinished prototypes or sketches and invite participants to modify them (Baskinger, 2010). Designerly ethnography involves methods more familiar to designers than to ethnographers, and may be directed towards more general categories of inquiry than product development. This idea draws on Ingold’s (2013) concept of correspondence with materials as a way of awakening the senses to experience

Analysis and Simulation of Dynamic Vision in the City: A Computer-Aided Cinematic Approach

This paper proposes a computer-aided Dynamic Visual Research and Design Protocol for environmental designers to analyze humans' dynamic visual experiences in the city and to simulate dynamic vision in the design process. The Protocol recommends using action cameras to collect massive dynamic visual data from participants' first-person perspectives. It prescribes a computer-aided visual analysis approach to produce cinematic charts and storyboards, which further afford qualitative interpretations for aesthetic assessment and discussion. Employing real-time 3D simulation technologies, the Protocol enables the simulation of people's dynamic vision in designed urban environments to support evaluation in design. Detailed contents and merits of the Protocol were demonstrated by its application in the Urbanscape Studio, a community participatory design course based at Watertown, South Dakota

An Open Platform for Modeling Method Conceptualization: The OMiLAB Digital Ecosystem

This paper motivates, describes, demonstrates in use, and evaluates the Open Models Laboratory (OMiLAB)—an open digital ecosystem designed to help one conceptualize and operationalize conceptual modeling methods. The OMiLAB ecosystem, which a generalized understanding of “model value” motivates, targets research and education stakeholders who fulfill various roles in a modeling method\u27s lifecycle. While we have many reports on novel modeling methods and tools for various domains, we lack knowledge on conceptualizing such methods via a full-fledged dedicated open ecosystem and a methodology that facilitates entry points for novices and an open innovation space for experienced stakeholders. This gap continues due to the lack of an open process and platform for 1) conducting research in the field of modeling method design, 2) developing agile modeling tools and model-driven digital products, and 3) experimenting with and disseminating such methods and related prototypes. OMiLAB incorporates principles, practices, procedures, tools, and services required to address the issues above since it focuses on being the operational deployment for a conceptualization and operationalization process built on several pillars: 1) a granularly defined “modeling method” concept whose building blocks one can customize for the domain of choice, 2) an “agile modeling method engineering” framework that helps one quickly prototype modeling tools, 3) a model-aware “digital product design lab”, and 4) dissemination channels for reaching a global community. In this paper, we demonstrate and evaluate the OMiLAB in research with two selected application cases for domain- and case-specific requirements. Besides these exemplary cases, OMiLAB has proven to effectively satisfy requirements that almost 50 modeling methods raise and, thus, to support researchers in designing novel modeling methods, developing tools, and disseminating outcomes. We also measured OMiLAB’s educational impact

Equality statements as rules for transforming arithmetic notation

This thesis explores children’s conceptions of the equals sign from the vantage point of notating task design. The existing literature reports that young children tend to view the equals sign as meaning “write the result here”. Previous studies have demonstrated that teaching an “is the same as” meaning leads to more flexible thinking about mathematical notation. However, these studies are limited because they do not acknowledge or teach children that the equals sign also means “can be exchanged for”. The thesis explores the “sameness” and “exchanging” meanings for the equals sign by addressing four research questions. The first two questions establish the distinction, in terms of task design, between the two meanings. Does the “can be exchanged for” meaning for the equals sign promote attention to statement form? Are the “can be exchanged for” and “is the same as” meanings for the equals sign pedagogically distinct? The final two research questions seek to establish how children might coordinate the two meanings, and connect them with their existing implicit knowledge of arithmetic principles. Can children coordinate “can be exchanged for” and “is the same as” meanings for the equals sign? Can children connect their implicit arithmetical knowledge with explicit transformations of notation? The instrument used is a specially designed notational computer-microworld called Sum Puzzles. Qualitative data are generated from trials with pairs of Year 5 (9 and 10 years), and in one case Year 8 (12 and 13 years), pupils working collaboratively with the microworld toward specified task goals. It is discovered that the “sameness” meaning is useful for distinguishing equality statements by truthfulness, whereas the “exchanging” meaning is useful for distinguishing statements by form. Moreover, a duality of both meanings can help children connect their own mental calculation strategies with transformations of properly formed notation

Human domination of the global water cycle absent from depictions and perceptions

International audienceHuman water use, climate change and land conversion have created a water crisis for billions of individuals and many ecosystems worldwide. Global water stocks and fluxes are estimated empirically and with computer models, but this information is conveyed to policymakers and researchers through water cycle diagrams. Here we compiled a synthesis of the global water cycle, which we compared with 464 water cycle diagrams from around the world. Although human freshwater appropriation now equals half of global river discharge, only 15% of the water cycle diagrams depicted human interaction with water. Only 2% of the diagrams showed climate change or water pollution—two of the central causes of the global water crisis—which effectively conveys a false sense of water security. A single catchment was depicted in 95% of the diagrams, which precludes the representation of teleconnections such as ocean–land interactions and continental moisture recycling. These inaccuracies correspond with specific dimensions of water mismanagement, which suggest that flaws in water diagrams reflect and reinforce the misunderstanding of global hydrology by policymakers, researchers and the public. Correct depictions of the water cycle will not solve the global water crisis, but reconceiving this symbol is an important step towards equitable water governance, sustainable development and planetary thinking in the Anthropocene

Satisfying Four Requirements for More Flexible Modeling Methods: Theory and Test Case

Recent research in conceptual modeling and enterprise modeling calls for relaxing common assumptions about the nature of modeling methods and related modeling languages and metamodels. This paper pursues that goal by proposing a new vision of modeling methods that overcomes some of the limitations identified in the literature by satisfying four requirements for more flexible modeling methods. That vision builds upon the integration of multiple modeling techniques that are related to an overarching metaphor. Those techniques may address heterogeneous purposes such as specifying a system’s capabilities or specifying which resources are used by specific activities. This paper presents design characteristics and metamodel design options to guide method engineers in adopting this broader notion of modeling methods, integrating multiple modeling techniques, and using appropriate modeling languages. To demonstrate feasibility, an extended version of the work system method (WSM) is presented in the form of a Work System Modeling Method (WSMM) that encompasses seven purposes of modeling that call for successively more formal approaches. A final section summarizes how WSMM addresses the issues and requirements from the introduction, explains how coherence is maintained within WSMM, and identifies areas for future research, with emphasis on ways to make WSMM and similar modeling methods as valuable as possible

The impact of student created Slowmation on the teaching and learning of primary science

Current research indicates that although innovations in science teaching are having a positive impact on science education in many Australian schools, national and international assessments show that student achievement is not improving (Hackling & Prain, 2008; Thomson, Wernet, Underwood, & Nicholas, 2008). Furthermore, there is little or no increase in the number of students choosing science as a post-compulsory study option or as a career path. There remains a need to further develop innovative teaching methods that promote the development of students‟ scientific literacy, engenders a joy of science learning through student engagement and encourages a desire to pursue further study of science. It is argued in this thesis that the quality of student discourse in the classroom influences student achievement in science. In addition students need to use a variety of representational modes that develop and share their science understandings. It is proposed that Slowmation, a simplified form of stop motion animation, has the potential to engage students in learning by supporting discourse and multimodal representations of science phenomena. In response, this study explored and evaluated the implementation of student created Slowmations in a Primary Connections science unit. The study aimed to investigate the ways in which the process of creating a Slowmation engaged students in quality discourse and how the process afforded opportunities for students to use a range of representational modes to develop science understandings and literacies. The research was undertaken as a case study in a multi-aged class in a rural school setting. Transcripts from videos of student interaction, student interviews and analysis of finished Slowmations generated information regarding the extent to which student created Slowmation impacted on science learning. This study found that small group creation of a Slowmation engaged the students in substantive discourse and generated opportunities for their use of multimodal representations. Furthermore, this rich pedagogy engaged all the students in learning science. The research extends and connects existing separate bodies of research and theory on representation, student discourse, learning technologies and learning in science

Differentiator factors in the implementation of social network sites

Estágio realizado na Business Analyst da Documento Crítico - Desenvolvimento de Software, S. A. (Cardmobili) e orientado pelo Eng.ª Catarina MaiaTese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Spatial poetics: control of time and space in graphic narratives

Deceptively simple on the surface, under close analysis the comic strip page is something of a paradox, a complex and multi-layered structure. For the artist, the formative layout of a graphic narrative is both a conceptual and spatial activity, involving a high degree of reasoning in the selection and placement of any textual and visual elements. In reception, the effectiveness of any narrative depends on the readiness of the reader to recognize, synthesize and decode the linguistic and visual information at hand, in short: to navigate spatial relationships and make meaningful connections between one panel and the next in the strip sequence. For this reason, graphic narratives offer up tremendous potential for textual analysis: for studying at close quarters issues pertaining to spatial design, visual literacy and the breach between expression and readership. This paper will address the formal and spatial apparatus of the printed comic book from a predominately western perspective, with reference to selected American and European theorists and practitioners, focusing on i) page composition and spatial orientation, ii) the dynamic between text and image, iii) the utilization of panels as temporal markers and iv) connoting a sense of socio-geographical setting