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 F

GE Global Research 2 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 3 What if we wanted to create application UI’s like these…

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

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

GE Global Research 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%?

GE Global Research 7 What we did to achieve the vision… 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

GE Global Research 8 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 9 Semantic Models Core functionality and properties are inherited from upper-level models of human-computer interaction What we just did Create new application using ACUITy 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 10 ACUITy: Adaptive Work-Centered User Interface Technology

GE Global Research 11 Adaptive Work-Centered Support 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 “provide an integrated and tailored support system that … offers support to work in a flexible and adaptable manner” (Eggleston & Whitaker, 2002)Eggleston & Whitaker, 2002 (from Eggleston & Whitaker, 2002) See “Recent Papers” at

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

GE Global Research 13 Semantic Concepts in Professor Vantage

GE Global Research 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

GE Global Research 15 Template for Professor Vantage (Example) Professor Vantage in App Frame Student Grade Table in Professor Vantage Subject (Individual or Class)PropertyRestriction TypeRestriction Value : : Professor Home Subject (Individual or Class)PropertyRestriction TypeRestriction Value : Course 101 Student Grades :

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

GE Global Research 17 Semantic Concepts in Student Vantage

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

GE Global Research 19 Semantic Concepts in Student Summary

GE Global Research 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

GE Global Research 21 Semantic Concepts in Student Selector

GE Global Research 22 Semantic Concepts in Student Grade Input Form

GE Global Research 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

GE Global Research 24 Semantic Concepts in Overview Vantage

GE Global Research 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 Plugin framework e.g. External tools, roles and permissions, ad hoc data access Exploit instance data e.g. Extent peer group learning, use trends, patterns Extend/create richer UI e.g. AJAX, Autolayout, Rich client

GE Global Research 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

ACUITy on SourceForge: ACUITy Forum: Contact us: Andy Crapo Amy Aragones Jeanette Bruno Marc Garbiras