Using task knowledge to guide interactor specifications analysis

This paper looks at how to extend the type of analysis that can be done using interactor based models of interactive systems, the i2smv tool, and SMV. Originally, the type of analysis performed with i2smv/SMV was concerned with the exhaustive exploration of all possible behaviours of a device, with little direct consideration of the tasks it should support. The paper investigates how task models can be introduced into the approach in order to extend the range of properties that can be analysed

Systems, interactions and macrotheory

A significant proportion of early HCI research was guided by one very clear vision: that the existing theory base in psychology and cognitive science could be developed to yield engineering tools for use in the interdisciplinary context of HCI design. While interface technologies and heuristic methods for behavioral evaluation have rapidly advanced in both capability and breadth of application, progress toward deeper theory has been modest, and some now believe it to be unnecessary. A case is presented for developing new forms of theory, based around generic “systems of interactors.” An overlapping, layered structure of macro- and microtheories could then serve an explanatory role, and could also bind together contributions from the different disciplines. Novel routes to formalizing and applying such theories provide a host of interesting and tractable problems for future basic research in HCI

Supporting resource-based analysis of task information needs

We investigate here an approach to modelling the dynamic information requirements of a user performing a number of tasks, addressing both the provision and representation of information, viewing the information as being distributed across a set of resources. From knowledge of available resources at the user interface, and task information needs we can identify whether the system provides the user with adequate support for task execution. We look at how we can use tools to help reason about these issues, and illustrate their use through an example.We also consider a full range of analyses suggested using this approach which could potentially be supported by automated reasoning systems.(undefined

Verifying user interface behaviour with model checking

A large proportion of problems found in deployed systems relate to the user interface. This paper presents an approach to the verification of user interface models based on model checking. The verification is concerned with behavioural aspects of the user interface and requires models that represent both the interactive aspects and also captures important features of the context to allow restrictions of behaviour to those that conform to appropriate human and environmental constraints. A tool suite to support the approach is under development and is described. Future work directions are put forward

Combining formal methods and functional strategies regarding the reverse engineering of interactive applications

Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) make software easy to use by providing the user with visual controls. Therefore, correctness of GUI’s code is essential to the correct execution of the overall software. Models can help in the evaluation of interactive applications by allowing designers to concentrate on its more important aspects. This paper describes our approach to reverse engineer an abstract model of a user interface directly from the GUI’s legacy code. We also present results from a case study. These results are encouraging and give evidence that the goal of reverse engineering user interfaces can be met with more work on this technique.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER

The Design and evaluation of the specification framework for user interface design

This thesis presentsthe design and evaluation of an interface specification meta-language(ISML) that has been developed to explicitly support metaphor abstractions in a model-based, user interface design framework. The application of metaphor to user interface design is widely accepted within the HCI community, yet despite this, there exists relatively little formal support for user interface design practitioners. With the increasing range and power of user interface technologies made widely available comes the opportunity for the designof sophisticated, new forms of interactive environments. The inter-disciplinary nature of HCI offers many approaches to user interface design that include views on tasks, presentationand dialogue architectures and various domain models. Notations and tools that support these views vary equally, ranging from craft-based approachesthrough to computational or tool- based support and formal methods. Work in these areas depicts gradual cohesion of a number of these design views, but do not currently explicitly specify the application of metaphorical concepts in graphical user interface design. Towards addressing this omission, ISML was developed based on (and extending) some existing model- based user interface design concepts. Abstractions of metaphor and other interface design views are captured in the ISML framework using the extensible mark-up language(XML). A six-month case study, developing the `Urban Shout Cast' application is used to evaluate ISML. Two groups of four software engineers developed a networked, multi-user, virtual radio-broadcasting environment. A qualitative analysis examines both how each group developed metaphor designs within the ISML framework and also their perceptions of its utility and practicality. Subsequent analysis on the specification data from both groups reveals aspects of the project's design that ISML captured and those that were missed. Finally, the extent to which ISML can currently abstract the metaphors used in the case study is assessed through the development of a unified `meta-object' model. The results of the case study show that ISML is capable of expressing many of the features of each group's metaphor design, as well as highlighting important design considerations during development. Furthermore, it has been shown, in principle, how an underlying metaphor abstraction can be mapped to two different implementations. Evaluation of the case study also includes important design lessons: ISML metaphor models can be both very large and difficult to separate from other design views, some of which are either weakly expressed or unsupported. This suggests that the appropriate mappings between design abstractions cannot always be easily anticipated, and that understanding the use of model-based specifications in user interface design projects remains a challenge to the HCI community

AniMAL - a user interface prototyper and animator for MAL interactor models

Engineering correct software is one of the grand challenges of computer science. Practical design and verification methodologies to ensure correct software can have a substantial impact on how programs are built by the industry. As human-machine systems become more functional, they also become more complex. Consequently, the interactions between the machine and its users becomes less predictable and more difficult to analyse. Using Model Checking it is possible to automatically analyse the behaviour of a modelled system. Hence, different authors have investigated the applicability of model checking to the analysis of human-machine interactions. The IVY workbench is a tool that supports system design and verification, by providing a model checking based integrated modelling and analysis environment. The tool is based around a plugin architecture, and although it features a verification results' analyser, it thus far lacked the ability to visually expose the sequence of events that lead to a system failure on a system's prototype. We propose the AniMAL plugin as an extension to the IVY workbench, providing automatic user interface prototyping and verification results' animation, while allowing thorough customisation

Interaction engineering using the IVY tool

This paper is concerned with support for the process of usability engineering. The aim is to use formal techniques to provide a systematic approach that is more traceable, and because it is systematic, repeatable. As a result of this systematic process some of the more subjective aspects of the analysis can be removed. The technique explores exhaustively those features of a specific design that fail to satisfy a set of properties. It also analyzes those aspects of the design where it is possible to quantify the cost of use. The method is illustrated using the example of a medical device. While many aspects of the approach and its tool support have already been discussed elsewhere, this paper builds on and contrasts an analysis of the same device provided by a third party and in so doing enhances the IVY tool

Formal verification of a space system's user Interface with the IVY workbench

This paper describes the application of the IVY workbench to the formal analysis of a user interface for a safety-critical aerospace system. The operation manual of the system was used as a requirement document, and this made it possible to build a reference model of the user interface, focusing on navigation between displays, the information provided by each display, and how they are interrelated. Usability-related property specification patterns were then used to derive relevant properties for verification. This paper discusses both the modeling strategy and the analytical results found using the IVY workbench. The purpose of the reference model is to provide a standard against which future versions of the interface may be assessed.EPSRC - Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council(EP/G059063/1)This work was partly funded by project ref. NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000062, co-financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF), through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and by national funds, through the Portuguese foundation for science and technology (FCT)