The use of accessibility metadata in e‑learning environments: a systematic literature review

E-learning environments constitute an essential element in education, as they help students to ensure their pass their courses and graduate on time. Although guidelines, techniques, and methods have been presented in some literature in recent years to contribute to the development of accessible e-learning environments that promote digital inclusion, their implementation is challenging. In this context, the use of accessibility metadata not only provides a way to enhance the description of adapted educational resources but also facilitates their search according to the needs and preferences of students, in particular those with disabilities. In this paper, a systematic review was conducted in order to provide the state of the art regarding the use of accessibility metadata in e-learning environments. A total of 746 documents were found during the period from 2012 to 2019, of which 31 were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria relevant to our review. The findings revealed an intensive use of models and standards of accessibility in e-learning environments, however, using accessibility metadata remains underused. In fact, the evaluation of accessibility and adaptability through the use of its metadata was not found. The fndings obtained also helped to establish challenges and opportunities in this research feld as well as to provide an overview that could support those who generate educational resources to keep their interest in making them accessible.publishedVersio

Toward an integration of Web accessibility into testing processes

Proceedings of: 5th International Conference on Software Development and Technologies for Enhancing Accessibility and Fighting Info-exclusion, DSAI 2013. Took place in November 13-15, 2013, in Vigo, Spain. The event web site is http://dsai2013.utad.pt/The goal of this paper is to review the literature in order to understand the implications of accessibility testing processes with the objective to detect potential improvements and developments in the field. Thus, a brief review is presented of the fundamental test processes proposed by the International Software Testing Qualification Board (ISTQB) and the currently available literature about testing processes for evaluating the accessibility of web applications. The result of the review reflects an array of proposals to incorporate accessibility requirements and evaluation tools, but they do not describe a comprehensive testing process at each phase of the development lifecycle of accessible web applications.This research work is supported by the Research Network MAVIR (S2009/TIC-1542) and MULTIMEDICA project (TIN2010-20644-C03-01).Publicad

Blockchain for requirements traceability: A qualitative approach

Blockchain technology has emerged as a “disruptive innovation” that has received significant attention in academic and organizational settings. However, most of the existing research is focused on technical issues of blockchain systems, overlooking the organizational perspective. This study adopted a grounded theory to unveil the blockchain implementation process in organizations from the lens of blockchain experts. The results revealed three main categories: key activities, success factors, and challenges related to blockchain implementation in organizations, the latter being identified as the core category, along with 17 other concepts. Findings suggested that the majority of blockchain projects stop at the pilot stage and outlined organizational resistance to change as the core challenge. According to the experts, the following factors contribute to the organizational resistance to change: innovation–production gap, conservative management, and centralized mentality. The study aims to contribute to the existing blockchain literature by providing a holistic and domain-agnostic view of the blockchain implementation process in organizational settings. This can potentially encourage the development and implementation of blockchain solutions and guide practitioners who are interested in leveraging the inherent benefits of this technology. In addition, the results are used to improve a blockchain-enabled requirements traceability framework proposed in our previous paper.publishedVersio

Aproximación holística a la integración de modelos SPI en entorno microempresa

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorEn todo el mundo, una abrumadora mayoría de las empresas son muy pequeñas o pequeñas. Es así que la industria del software no es la excepción. Aunque las pequeñas empresas de software juegan un papel importante en la mayoría de economías, especialmente en los países en desarrollo, tienen que trabajar duro para sobrevivir. Por lo general, les resulta difícil dedicar tiempo y esfuerzo a mejorar sus operaciones y procesos. Además, los conocimientos técnicos y las herramientas no son suficientes. Su capacidad para gestionar las cuestiones humanas es un aspecto importante y particularmente difícil que apenas se ha estudiado. Por lo tanto, es importante abordar tales necesidades mediante la introducción de un marco que especifique las maneras de hacer las cosas mientras que conscientemente les anima a mejorar su capacidad de mejorar. A pesar del hecho de que hay muchos enfoques de mejora de procesos de software, ninguno de ellos aborda los factores humanos de las pequeñas empresas de una manera integral y holística. En consecuencia, esta tesis se dirige a la definición de un marco para integrar los factores humanos en el trabajo cotidiano como una forma de abordar ese reto. La resolución del problema se ha abordado desde un punto de vista humano teniendo en cuenta aspectos que pertenecen a otras disciplinas tales como el pensamiento visual, la psicología y la gestión. La solución propuesta proporciona un marco, llamado Samay, para apoyar los factores humanos en las microempresas de software que pueda ser adaptado a la situación real y concreta de cada organización, y que proporciona técnicas adecuadas para mejorar los factores humanos envueltos en el desarrollo de software. Además, este estudio sugiere gestionar los factores humanos a partir del ciclo de vida del proceso de software. El objetivo es converger hacia una mejora continua por medio de mecanismos alternativos que afecten a las personas. Este marco fue desarrollado en base a las revisiones de normas relevantes (tales como ISO/IEC 29110, ISO 10018, OMG Essence e ISO/IEC 33014) y estudios publicados previamente en este campo. Este marco se compone de un núcleo, que corresponde a un proceso de desarrollo de software, y dos grupos de elementos llamados complemento y soporte. El primer grupo está directamente vinculado al proceso de desarrollo, el cual incluye: flujo de proceso de desarrollo de software, roles y responsabilidades, y competencias y niveles de competencia. El segundo grupo está intentando facilitar la adopción del marco por medio de dos componentes: la iniciación y la gestión del cambio. El desarrollo de esta tesis ha seguido una metodología de investigación consistente e integral que incluye una revisión sistemática de la literatura y métodos cualitativos como entrevistas y grupos focales. Además, una revisión de expertos y los hallazgos de validación respaldan la visión de que Samay podría apoyar a los profesionales cuando las pequeñas empresas de software quieren comenzar a mejorar sus formas de trabajo. En la última etapa de la metodología de investigación se ha realizado una validación empírica por medio de la implementación en un caso de estudio para verificar la aplicabilidad del marco. Los datos obtenidos de la validación indican que la aplicación del marco introduce un cambio positivo en la satisfacción laboral y la comunicación. Finalmente, se concluye que la satisfacción laboral y la comunicación en el desarrollo de software sigue siendo un desafío. Para reducir esta dificultad, esta tesis da luz sobre el tema proporcionando un marco para desencadenar los factores humanos diariamente.Around the world, an overwhelming majority of enterprises are very small or small. So that software Industry is not the exception. Although small software companies play a major role in most economies, particularly in developing countries, they have to work hard in order to survive. They usually find it challenging to spend time and effort on improving their operations and processes. Moreover, technical knowledge and tools are not enough. Their ability to manage human issues is an important and particularly challenging aspect which has been scarcely studied. Therefore, it is important to address such needs by the introduction of a framework that specifies ways of getting things done while consciously encourage them to enhance their ability to improve. In spite of the fact that there are many software process improvement approaches, none of them address the human factors of small companies in a comprehensive and holistic way. Consequently, this thesis is aimed at the definition of a framework to integrate human factors in the daily work as a way to deal with that challenge. The resolution of the problem has been approached from a human point of view taking in consideration aspects belonging to others disciplines such as visual thinking, psychology and management. The proposed solution provides a framework, called Samay, to support the human factors in software microenterprises that can be tailored to the actual and concrete situation of each organization, and that provides suitable techniques to enhance human factors involved in software development. Furthermore, this study suggests managing human factors but pointing out the software process life cycle. The purpose is to converge toward a continuous improvement by means of alternative mechanisms that impact on people. This framework was developed based upon reviews of relevant standards (such as ISO/IEC 29110, ISO 10018, OMG Essence and ISO/IEC 33014) and previously published studies in this field. This framework is composed of a kernel, corresponding to a software development process, and two groups of elements called complement and support. First group is directly linked to the development process which includes: software development process flow, roles and responsibilities, and competencies and competency levels. Second group is trying to facilitate the adoption of the framework by two components: initiation and change management. The development of this thesis has followed a consistent and integral research methodology that has included a systematic literature review and qualitative methods such as interviews and focus group. Moreover, an expert review and validation findings supported the view that Samay could support practitioners when small software companies want to start improving their ways of work. In the last phase of the research methodology an empirical validation has been performed through its implementation in one case study in order to verify the applicability of the framework. The data obtained from the validation indicate that the application of the framework introduces a positive change of the job satisfaction and communication. Finally, it is concluded that the job satisfaction and communication in software development remains a challenge. To reduce this difficulty, this thesis sheds some light on the topic by providing a framework to trigger human factors in daily basis.Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología InformáticaPresidente: Gonzalo Cuevas Agustín.- Secretario: José A. Calvo-Manzano Villalón.- Vocal: Mirna Ariadna Muñoz Mat

What have we learnt from the challenges of (semi-) automated requirements traceability? A discussion on blockchain applicability.

Over the last 3 decades, researchers have attempted to shed light into the requirements traceability problem by introducing tracing tools, techniques, and methods with the vision of achieving ubiquitous traceability. Despite the technological advances, requirements traceability remains problematic for researchers and practitioners. This study aims to identify and investigate the main challenges in implementing (semi-)automated requirements traceability, as reported in the recent literature. A systematic literature review was carried out based on the guidelines for systematic literature reviews in software engineering, proposed by Kitchenham. We retrieved 4530 studies by searching five major bibliographic databases and selected 70 primary studies. These studies were analysed and classified according to the challenges they present and/or address. Twenty-one challenges were identified and were classified into five categories. Findings reveal that the most frequent challenges are technological challenges, in particular, low accuracy of traceability recovery methods. Findings also suggest that future research efforts should be devoted to the human facet of tracing, to explore traceability practices in organisational settings, and to develop traceability approaches that support agile and DevOps practices. Finally, it is recommended that researchers leverage blockchain technology as a suitable technical solution to ensure the trustworthiness of traceability information in interorganisational software projects.publishedVersio

Software Engineering Applications enabled by Blockchain Technology: A Systematic Mapping Study

The novel, yet disruptive blockchain technology has witnessed growing attention, due to its intrinsic potential. Besides the conventional domains that benefit from such potential, such as finance, supply chain and healthcare, blockchain use cases in software engineering have emerged recently. In this study, we aim to contribute to the body of knowledge of blockchain-oriented software engineering by providing an adequate overview of the software engineering applications enabled by blockchain technology. To do so, we carried out a systematic mapping study and identified 22 primary studies. Then, we extracted data within the research type, research topic and contribution type facets. Findings suggest an increasing trend of studies since 2018. Additionally, findings reveal the potential of using blockchain technologies as an alternative to centralized systems, such as GitHub, Travis CI, and cloud-based package managers, and also to establish trust between parties in collaborative software development. We also found out that smart contracts can enable the automation of a variety of software engineering activities that usually require human reasoning, such as the acceptance phase, payments to software engineers, and compliance adherence. In spite of the fact that the field is not yet mature, we believe that this systematic mapping study provides a holistic overview that may benefit researchers interested in bringing blockchain to the software industry, and practitioners willing to understand how blockchain can transform the software development industry.publishedVersio

A critical review on Blockchain assessment initiatives: a technology evolution viewpoint

Blockchain is considered as a major emerging technology that is having an everincreasing spread both in industrial and academic contexts. As the usage of blockchain keeps increasing, a fourth generation of blockchain platforms is being proposed. Thus, applications of blockchain have evolved towards wider scopes than cryptocurrency and asset management. In this context, it is important for practitioners to have deep understanding of various blockchain assessment initiatives. Therefore, this work discusses blockchain assessment initiatives from a technology evolution viewpoint. Furthermore, a mapping was conducted to identify factors that impact blockchain initiatives, synthesize available evidence, and identify gaps between relevant approaches available in the literature. As a result, nine selected works were analyzed based on applicability, research approach, assessment process, blockchain adoption process, and blockchain waves. The findings can help practitioners to understand the main assessment factors that undermine blockchain implementations.publishedVersio

Quality Assurance in E-learning: A Proposal from Accessibility to Sustainability

Given the importance of developing and offering accessible education for all, indispensable aspects of education for sustainable development (ESD) are needed. This study addresses that need by proposing a quality self-assessment for virtual education from an accessibility perspective. This proposal is based on previous literature about quality assurance in e-learning that considered accessibility and its application in the field of higher education. The bibliographic review was conducted by following Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) guidelines. The initial search returned 999 items from 5 academic databases and 32,200 professional sources from Google. After reviewing the sources, 37 of them were included. Then, the accessibility criteria were identified and integrated into an evaluation model. Such a model is divided into four dimensions: (1) organization, (2) student body, (3) teaching, and (4) infrastructure. The model also includes a set of standards (16), requirements (48), and evidence (63) that apply to each dimension. Moreover, self-assessment guidelines for accessible virtual education were proposed. They included a conceptual and theoretical framework, a self-assessment model, and a methodology for applying the model. The methodology included five phases: planning, model tuning or refinement of the model, evaluation, results, and continuous improvement. As future work, the implementation and validation of the guidelines will be carried out.publishedVersio

A Systematic Review on Social Robots in Public Spaces: Threat Landscape and Attack Surface

There is a growing interest in using social robots in public spaces for indoor and outdoor applications. The threat landscape is an important research area being investigated and debated by various stakeholders. Objectives: This study aims to identify and synthesize empirical research on the complete threat landscape of social robots in public spaces. Specifically, this paper identifies the potential threat actors, their motives for attacks, vulnerabilities, attack vectors, potential impacts of attacks, possible attack scenarios, and mitigations to these threats. Methods: This systematic literature review follows the guidelines by Kitchenham and Charters. The search was conducted in five digital databases, and 1469 studies were retrieved. This study analyzed 21 studies that satisfied the selection criteria. Results: Main findings reveal four threat categories: cybersecurity, social, physical, and public space. Conclusion: This study completely grasped the complexity of the transdisciplinary problem of social robot security and privacy while accommodating the diversity of stakeholders’ perspectives. Findings give researchers and other stakeholders a comprehensive view by highlighting current developments and new research directions in this field. This study also proposed a taxonomy for threat actors and the threat landscape of social robots in public spaces.publishedVersio

Guidelines to Establish an Office of Student Accessibility Services in Higher Education Institutions

The objective of this paper is to propose a set of guidelines to establish an office of Student Accessibility Services (SAS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The proposed guidelines help to integrate disjointed knowledge to facilitate its interpretation and implementation during deployment of basic support services in favor of students with disability. These guidelines can help to mitigate complexity in providing SAS for the first time in HEIs. These guidelines cover both the design and implementation of an office of SAS and its management. Knowledge was found through a multivocal literature review (MLR), which allowed to capture not only academic approaches but also vantage points and experiences from practice. Key concepts and aspects were organized into eight components (five related to the design and implementation, and three associated with the management context). An expert appraisal method was used as a proof of concept, which complemented a previously performed preliminary implementation example. Obtained results demonstrated the pertinence of the conceptual proposal and confirmed guidelines capability for full implementation in a real-world scenario.This research work has been co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, project EduTech (609785-EPP-1-2019-1-ES-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP)