Stop Programming and Start Modeling: Developing Work-Centered Semantic Applications †

1. Stop Programming and Start Modeling: Developing Work-Centered Semantic Applications† Semantic Technology Conference May 23, 2007 Andrew Crapo Amy Aragones, Jeanette Bruno, Marc Garbiras GE Global Research † This work was partially funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, under contract F33615-03-2-6300.

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

3. What if we wanted to create application UI’s like these…

4. 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

5. COTS Integration with Custom Information • Synergize COTS app with custom information displays Enterprise Logistics System

6. 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%?

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

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

9. 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

10. ACUITy: Adaptive Work-Centered User Interface Technology

11. 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

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

13. Semantic Concepts in Professor Vantage

14. 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

15. Template for Professor Vantage (Example) • Professor Vantage in App Frame • Student Grade Table in Professor Vantage

16. Demo (Part II) • Extend Application Using Templates • Student Home Vantage • Student Grade Time Series Graph

17. Semantic Concepts in Student Vantage

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

19. Semantic Concepts in Student Summary

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

21. Semantic Concepts in StudentSelector

22. Semantic Concepts in Student Grade Input Form

23. 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

24. Semantic Concepts in Overview Vantage

25. 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

26. 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

27. ACUITy on SourceForge: 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