Improving modularity of interactive software with the MDPC Architecture

International audienceThe "Model - Display view - Picking view - Controller" model is a refinement of the MVC architecture. It introduces the "Picking View" component, which offloads the need from the controller to analytically compute the picked element. We describe how using the MPDC architecture leads to benefits in terms of modularity and descriptive ability when implementing interactive components. We report on the use of the MDPC architecture in a real application : we effectively measured gains in controller code, which is simpler and more focused

A User-Centered View on Formal Methods: Interactive Support for Validation and Verification

International audienceDuring early phases of the development of an interactive system, future system properties are identified (through interaction with end users e.g. in the brainstorming and prototyping phases of the development process, or by re-quirements provided by other stakeholders) imposing re-quirements on the final system. Some of these properties rely on informal aspects of the system (e.g. satisfaction of users) and can be checked by questionnaires, while other ones require the use of formal methods. Whether these properties are specific to the application under development or generic to a class of applications, the verification of the presence of these properties in the system under construc-tion usually involve verification tools to process the formal description of the system. The usability [26] of these tools has a significant impact on the V&V phases which usually remains perceived as very resource consuming. This posi-tion paper proposes the application of action theory to iden-tify complex aspects of verification and exploits it for iden-tifying areas of improvement

Usability aspects of the inside-in approach for ancillary search tasks on the web

International audienceGiven the huge amount of data available over the Web nowadays, search engines become essential tools helping users to find the information they are looking for. Nonetheless, search engines often return large sets of results which must be filtered by the users to find the suitable information items. However, in many cases, filtering is not enough, as the results returned by the engine require users to perform a secondary search to complement the current information thus featuring ancillary search tasks. Such ancillary search tasks create a nested context for user tasks that increases the articulatory distance between the users and their ultimate goal. In this paper, we analyze the interplay between such ancillary searches and other primary search tasks on the Web. Moreover, we describe the inside-in approach, which aims at reducing the articulatory distance between interleaved tasks by allowing users to perform ancillary search tasks without losing the context. The inside-in approach is illustrated by means of a case study based on ancillary searches of coauthors in a digital library, using an information visualization technique

Bridging the Gap between a Behavioural Formal Description Technique and User Interface description language: Enhancing ICO with a Graphical User Interface markup language

International audienceIn the last years, User Interface Description Languages (UIDLs) appeared as a suitable solution for developing interactive systems. In order to implement reliable and efficient applications, we propose to employ a formal description technique called ICO (Interactive Cooperative Object) that has been developed to cope with complex behaviours of interactive systems including event-based and multimodal interactions. So far, ICO is able to describe most of the parts of an interactive system, from functional core concerns to fine grain interaction techniques, but, even if it addresses parts of the rendering, it still not has means to describe the effective rendering of such interactive system. This paper presents a solution to overcome this gap using markup languages. A first technique is based on the Java technology called JavaFX and a second technique is based on the emergent UsiXML language for describing user interface components for multi-target platforms. The proposed approach offers a bridge between markup language based descriptions of the user interface components and a robust technique for describing behaviour using ICO modelling. Furthermore, this paper highlights how it is possible to take advantage from both behavioural and markup language description techniques to propose a new model-based approach for prototyping interactive systems. The proposed approach is fully illustrated by a case study using an interactive application embedded into interactive aircraft cockpits

Analysis of WIMP and Post WIMP Interactive Systems based on Formal Specification

While designing interactive software, the use of a formal specification technique is of great help by providing non-ambiguous, complete and concise descriptions. The advantages of using such a formalism is widened if it is provided by formal analysis techniques that allow to prove properties about the design, thus giving an early verification to the designer before the application is actually implemented. This paper presents how models built using the Interactive Cooperative Objects formalism (ICOs) are amenable to formal verification. The emphasis is on the behavioral part of the description of the interactive systems and more precisely on the properties at the interaction technique level. However, the process and the associated tools can be generalized to the other parts of the interactive systems (including the non-interactive parts)

Volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds in smoke exposure of firefighters during prescribed burning in the Mediterranean region

International audienc

Engineering Annotations: A Generic Framework For Gluing Design Artefacts in Models of Interactive Systems

International audienceAlong the design process of interactive system many intermediate artefacts (such as user interface prototypes, task models describing user work and activities, dialog models specifying system behavior, interaction models describing user interactions …) are created, tested, revised and improved until the development team produces a validated version of the full-fledged system. Indeed, to build interactive systems there is a need to use multiple artefacts/models (as they provide a complementary view). However, relevant information for describing the design solution and/or supporting design decisions (such as rational about the design, decisions made, recommendations, etc.) is not explicitly capturable in the models/artefacts, hence the need for annotations. Multi-artefacts approaches usually argue that a given information should only be present in one artefact to avoid duplication and increase maintainability of the artefacts. Nonetheless, annotations created on one artefact are usually relevant to other artefacts/models. So that, there is a need for tools and techniques to coordinate annotations across artefacts/models which is the contribution of the present work. In this paper, we propose a model-based approach that was conceived to handle annotations in a systematic way along the development process of interactive systems. As part of the solution, we propose an annotation model built upon the W3C's Web Annotation Data Model. The feasibility of the approach is demonstrated by means of a tool suite featuring a plugin, which has been deployed and tested over the multi-artefacts. The overall approach is illustrated on the design of an interactive cockpit application performing two design iterations. The contribution brings two main benefits for interactive systems engineering: i) it presents a generic pattern for integrating information in multiple usually heterogenous artefacts throughout the design process of interactive systems; and ii) it highlights the need for tools helping to rationalize and to document the various artefacts and the related decisions made during interactive systems design. CCS CONCEPTS • Human-centered computing • Human computer interaction (HCI

Du principe de " coopétition ". Les primaires socialistes entre coopération et compétition

National audienc

: Les nouveaux liens militants au sein de l'e-parti socialiste

National audienceThe rise of the Internet has shifted the boundaries of political participation. Nowadays, activists can get involved in a party without joining it. This article retraces the stages that led to the socalled "Engagement 2.0". Transforming the Socialist party into an e-party involved admitting new forms of political activism and reconciling the real and online worlds, i.e. adjusting the Socialist organization to the digitized world we live in. This gradual conversion, which has been anything but unidirectional, has been carried out in keeping with internal rules and strategies. In fact, the digitization of partisan commitment appears to be closely related to the presidentialization of the Socialist organization as a whole.Le développement d'Internet a déplacé les frontières de la participation politique. Désormais, les militants peuvent s'engager dans un parti sans nécessairement y adhérer. Cet article s'attache aux différentes étapes qui ont rendu possible la concrétisation de cet engagement 2.0. Faire du PS un e-parti impliquait de permettre en son sein l'expression de nouvelles formes de militantisme de ses membres mais également de concilier " réel " et " virtuel ", c'est-à-dire d'adapter l'organisation socialiste en conséquence. Loin d'être univoque, cette lente conversion a, au contraire, été menée en fonction des stratégies et règles du jeu internes. Il apparaît alors que la numérisation de l'engagement partisan est en réalité étroitement liée à la présidentialisation de l'organisation socialiste

Increasing engagement and well-being of operators working with automation by integrating task models and gameful design

International audienceEngagement and well-being are complex phenomena that deeply depend on the individuals themselves and include subjective perception of the past, present, and future experiences. Connecting with work adds a concrete dimension to engagement and well-being that makes it possible to consider designing for and assessing them in a given work context. In the gaming domain, gameful design is known as an efficient mean to increase engagement and well-being. This paper presents an approach to address both engagement and well-being at work and builds on the evolution of the field of HCI over the years to identify means of addressing engagement and well-being. We describe the concepts related to usability and how they evolved towards user experience to encompass more complex (related to self) elements. We show how previous work in the field has connected these major properties (using tasks descriptions) and how it might be possible to extend further embracing human needs and motivation theory. We propose to use gameful design and automation design (via RCRAFT framework) as two contributing disciplines to identify design options for increasing engagement and well-being of users/operators while performing their activities. Application of the framework is given by means of a concrete application building on top of the original Mackworth clock