Stop Programming and Start Modeling Developing Work Centered

Stop Programming and Start Modeling: Developing Work. Centered Semantic Applications† Andrew Crapo Amy Aragones, Jeanette Bruno, Marc Garbiras GE Global Research Semantic Technology Conference May 23, 2007 † This work was partially funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, under contract F 33615 -03 -2 -6300.

Introduction Problem …How to develop, maintain and extend “work-centered” decision support applications with less effort Approach …Use semantic technology to drive adaptive UIs based on models of users, their work, and HCI GE Global Research 2

What if we wanted to create application UI’s like these… GE Global Research 3

Logistics Planning Application Customizable displays and learned user preferences Rich, complex UI design Integrates with decision support algorithms Domain Forecasts Status data, trends Planning Algorithms GE Global Research 4

COTS Integration with Custom Information Synergize COTS app with custom information displays Enterprise Logistics System GE Global Research 5

What would be: The required level of development effort? The risk of user non-acceptance? The required level of effort for maintenance and extension as the business evolves? What if we could reduce these by 25 -50%? GE Global Research 6

What we did to achieve the vision… Built a semantic model of general work-centered, userinterface, and information processing and integration concepts Created an architecture supporting model-driven usercomputer-“services” interactions Provided templates and tools to allow domain-specific application creation by extending the general model GE Global Research 7

Demo (Part I) • Create New Course 101 Tutorial Application – Professor Home Vantage – Simple Student Grade Table – Demonstration of Learning of User Preferences GE Global Research 8

What we just did Create new application using ACUITy Semantic Models Core functionality and properties are inherited from upper-level models of human-computer interaction Declare the contents and properties of the application Relate application content to procedural scripts Deploy application Users refine content, presentation, layout ACUITy learns and updates application model GE Global Research 9

ACUITy: Adaptive Work-Centered User Interface Technology GE Global Research 10

Adaptive Work-Centered Support “provide an integrated and tailored support system that … offers support to work in a flexible and adaptable manner” (Eggleston & Whitaker, 2002) Open-ended, dynamic decision environments, e. g. , logistics Principles: Problem-Vantage-Frame Focus-Periphery Organization First-Person Perspective Approach: Semantic models captured in the ACUITy Problem-Vantage -Frame Ontology (from Eggleston & Whitaker, 2002) See “Recent Papers” at http: //acuity. sourceforge. net/technical_details. html GE Global Research 11

Semantic Model Structure Work Model • • Problem Focus • When to present information • What information to present • How to present information • When to ask for clarification or guidance Work at Hand Work processes Context Information Vantage Frame Interaction Model User Profiles: • Expertise • Preferences • Peers User Model GE Global Research 12

Semantic Concepts in Professor Vantage GE Global Research 13

Extending the Application Using Templates… An ACUITy template is a comma-separated (CSV) file that: • Captures a portion of the semantic model • Can be constructed from design patterns • Is easily viewed and edited, e. g. , in Excel • Is source code control (e. g. , CVS) compatible • Allows reconstruction of a modified model with minimal effort GE Global Research 14

Template for Professor Vantage (Example) Professor Vantage in App Frame Subject (Individual or Class) Property Restriction Type Restriction Value <apvf: Frame>: <App. Model. Frame> <apvf: has. Vantage> <some. Values. From> <apvf: Vantage>: <Professor. Home. Vantage> <rdfs: label> Professor Home Student Grade Table in Professor Vantage Subject (Individual or Class) Property Restriction Type Restriction Value <Professor. Home. Vantage> <apvf: contains. Presentation. Object> <some. Values. From> <apvf: Simple. Data. Table>: <Student. Grade. Table> <rdfs: label> <Student. Grade. Table> <apvf: encodes> Course 101 Student Grades <has. Value> <apvf: SQLStatement>: <Get. Student. Grades> GE Global Research 15

Demo (Part II) • Extend Application Using Templates – Student Home Vantage – Student Grade Time Series Graph GE Global Research 16

Semantic Concepts in Student Vantage GE Global Research 17

Demo (Part III) • Cross-Vantage Student Summary Table – “Properties” Mapped Data Table of Name/Value Pairs GE Global Research 18

Semantic Concepts in Student Summary GE Global Research 19

Demo (Part IV) • • • Add Student Selector Interaction Object (Implicit) Modify Student Grade Table to be Student-Specific Add Grade Input Form to Professor Vantage GE Global Research 20

Semantic Concepts in Student Selector GE Global Research 21

Semantic Concepts in Student Grade Input Form GE Global Research 22

• Demo (Part V) • Add an Overview Vantage – Show Student’s Grade Average, Number of Grades – Highlight Averages in Green, Yellow, Red – Provide Drilldown on Student ID to the Student in the Professor Vantage GE Global Research 23

Semantic Concepts in Overview Vantage GE Global Research 24

Many things still do to… Productization e. g. Performance, Java Server Faces Refactor and extend models e. g. Model user intents & problems, web service as info source Extend/create richer UI e. g. AJAX, Autolayout, Rich client Exploit instance data e. g. Extent peer group learning, use trends, patterns Plugin framework e. g. External tools, roles and permissions, ad hoc data access GE Global Research 25

ACUITy Recap Enables automated reasoning about what to present and how • Intelligent info display • Dynamic content • Platform for interaction with remote services Simplifies UI development and maintenance • Developers extend the design • Users finish the design GE Global Research 26

ACUITy on Source. Forge: http: //acuity. sourceforge. net ACUITy Forum: http: //tech. groups. yahoo. com/group/acuity-user Contact us: Andy Crapo crapo@research. ge. com Amy Aragones aaragones@research. ge. com Jeanette Bruno bruno@research. ge. com Marc Garbiras garbiras@research. ge. com