Executable task models

ABSTRACT

Current task modeling techniques have a shortcoming in that they only use the model at design time. This means that the information contained in the model has to be embedded into the application and makes the task model static. In this paper we propose using the task model at runtime, in order to simplify producing applications which adapt to the actions of the user. In particular, we extend the ConcurTaskTree (CTT) notation to allow dynamic execution of a task model. A key feature of our extension is that it gives semantics for the use of information exchange operators. Our second contribution is an implementation of our dynamic task model. We present a prototype application which shows how the interactions with the task model at runtime allow us to produce a dynamic and context aware user interface.

REFERENCES

• 1: Marc Abrams , Constantinos Phanouriou , Alan L. Batongbacal , Stephen M. Williams , Jonathan E. Shuster, UTML: an appliance-independent XML user interface language, Proceeding of the eighth international conference on World Wide Web, p.1695-1708, May 1999, Toronto, Canada
• 2: Barbosa, S. D. J., Greco de Paula, M., Pereira de Lucena, C. J., Adopting a Communication-Centered Design Approach to Support Interdisciplinary Design Teams. In SE-HCI workshop at ICSE 2004, Edinburgh
• 3: Elizabeth Furtado , Vasco Furtado , Kênia Soares Sousa , Jean Vanderdonckt , Quentin Limbourg, KnowiXML: a knowledge-based system generating multiple abstract user interfaces in USIXML, Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on Task models and diagrams, November 15-16, 2004, Prague, Czech Republic [doi>10.1145/1045446.1045469]
• 4: Limbourg, Q., Vanderdonckt, J., Michotte, B., Bouillon, L., Florins, M., Trevisan, D., UsiXML: A User Interface Description Language for Context-Sensitive User Interfaces, In Proc. of the ACM AVI'2004 Workshop
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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
      D.2.2 Design Tools and Techniques

Keywords:
dynamic UI construction, proactive user interfaces, task modeling