Emotionalism Within People-Oriented Software Design

In designing most software applications, much effort is placed upon the functional goals, making a software system useful. However, the failure to consider emotional goals, which make a software system pleasurable to use, can result in disappointment and system rejection even if utilitarian goals are well implemented. Although several studies have emphasised the importance of people’s emotional goals in developing software, there is little advice on how to address these goals in the software system development process. This paper bridges the gap between emotional goals elicitation and the software system design process by proposing a novel technique entitled the Emotional Goal Systematic Analysis Technique (EG-SAT) to systematically analyse people’s emotional goals in cooperation with functional and quality goals. EG-SAT allows in-depth analysis of emotional goals to build a software system and provides a visual notation for representing the analysis, facilitating communication and documentation. EG-SAT provides traceability of emotional goals in system design by connecting the emotional goals to functional and quality goals. To demonstrate the method in use, a two-part evaluation is conducted. First, EG-SAT is used to analyse the emotional goals of potential users of a mobile learning application that provides information about low carbon living for tradespeople and professionals in the building industry in Australia. The results of using EG-SAT in this case study are compared with a professionally developed baseline. Second, we ran a semi-controlled experiment in which 12 participants were asked to apply EG-SAT and another technique to our case study. The outcomes show that EG-SAT helped participants analyse emotional goals and gain valuable insights about the functional and non-functional goals for addressing people’s emotional goals. The key novelty of the EG-SAT is in proposing an easy to learn and easy to use technique that helps system analysts gain insights on how to address people’s emotional goals. Furthermore, the EG-SAT enables system analysts to convert emotional goals to traditional functional and non-functional goals that existing software engineering methodologies can analyse without demanding excessive effort.

The challenges of visualizing DMLA models

Multi-layer metamodeling is a metamodeling method that provides great flexibility for domain prototyping, while it also ensures rigid validation of domain rules. Visualization of multi-layer models would be essential in order to promote this new modeling technique in industrial setups; however, the traditional way of representing model entities is not sufficient here. Dynamic Multi-Layer Algebra is a multi-layer metamodeling approach that addressed the challenges of multi-layer modeling, but uses a text-based language to create models. This paper presents Dynamo, a visual notation for Dynamic Multi-Layer Algebra, which is also applicable to other multi-layer metamodeling approaches. The paper elaborates the graphical syntax and the design decisions.

Evaluation of Effective Cognition for the QGIS Processing Modeler

This article presents an evaluation of the QGIS Processing Modeler from the point of view of effective cognition. The QGIS Processing Modeler uses visual programming language for workflow design. The functionalities of the visual component and the visual vocabulary (set of symbols and line connectors) are both important. The form of symbols affects how workflow diagrams may be understood. The article discusses the results of assessing the Processing Modeler’s visual vocabulary in QGIS according to the Physics of Notations theory. The article evaluates visual vocabularies from the older QGIS 2.x and newer 3.x versions. The paper identifies serious design flaws in the Processing Modeler. Applying the Physics of Notations theory resulted in certain practical recommendations, such as changing the fill colour of symbols, increasing the size and variety of inner icons, removing functional icons, and using a straight connector line instead of a curved line. Another recommendation was to provide a supplemental preview window for the entire model in order to improve user navigation in huge models. Objective eye-tracking measurements validated some results of the evaluation using the Physics of Notations. The respondents read workflows to solve different tasks and their gazes were tracked. Evaluation of the eye-tracking metrics revealed the respondents’ reading patterns of the diagram. Evaluation using both Physics of Notation theory and eye-tracking measurements inspired recommendations for improving visual notation. A set of recommendations for users is also given, which can be applied easily in practice using a contemporary visual notation.

Monoidal Categories

A monoidal category is a category equipped with extra data, describing how objects and morphisms can be combined in parallel. This chapter introduces the theory of monoidal categories, including braidings, symmetries and coherence. They form the core of this book, as they provide the basic language with which the rest of the material will be developed. We introduce a visual notation called the graphical calculus, which provides an intuitive and powerful way to work with them. We also introduce the monoidal categories Hilb of Hilbert spaces and linear maps, Set of sets and functions and Rel of sets and relations, which will be used as running examples throughout the book.