TY - GEN
T1 - Improving the Usability of a MAS DSML
AU - Miranda, Tomás
AU - Challenger, Moharram
AU - Tezel, Baris Tekin
AU - Alaca, Omer Faruk
AU - Barišić, Ankica
AU - Amaral, Vasco
AU - Goulão, Miguel
AU - Kardas, Geylani
N1 - TUBITAK) under grant 115E591
FCT/MCTES PEst UID/ CEC/04516/2013
FCT/MCTES TUBITAK/0008/2014
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Context: A significant effort has been devoted to the design and implementation of various domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) for the software agents domain. Problem: Language usability is often tackled in an ad-hoc way, with the collection of anecdotal evidence supporting the process. However, usability plays an important role in the productivity, learnability and, ultimately, in the adoption of a MAS DSML by agent developers. Method: In this chapter, we discuss how the principles of The “Physics” of Notations (PoN) can be applied to improve the visual notation of a MAS DSML, called SEA_ML and evaluate the result in terms of usability. Results: The evolved version of the language, SEA_ML++, was perceived as significantly improved in terms of icons comprehensibility, adequacy and usability, as a direct result of employing the principles of PoN. However, users were not significantly more efficient and effective with SEA_ML++, suggesting these 2 properties were not chiefly constrained by the identified shortcomings of the SEA_ML concrete syntax.
AB - Context: A significant effort has been devoted to the design and implementation of various domain-specific modeling languages (DSMLs) for the software agents domain. Problem: Language usability is often tackled in an ad-hoc way, with the collection of anecdotal evidence supporting the process. However, usability plays an important role in the productivity, learnability and, ultimately, in the adoption of a MAS DSML by agent developers. Method: In this chapter, we discuss how the principles of The “Physics” of Notations (PoN) can be applied to improve the visual notation of a MAS DSML, called SEA_ML and evaluate the result in terms of usability. Results: The evolved version of the language, SEA_ML++, was perceived as significantly improved in terms of icons comprehensibility, adequacy and usability, as a direct result of employing the principles of PoN. However, users were not significantly more efficient and effective with SEA_ML++, suggesting these 2 properties were not chiefly constrained by the identified shortcomings of the SEA_ML concrete syntax.
KW - Domain specific modeling language
KW - Multi-agent systems
KW - Physics of Notations
KW - SEA_ML
KW - Usability
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069814183&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-25693-7_4
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-25693-7_4
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85069814183
SN - 978-3-030-25692-0
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 55
EP - 75
BT - Engineering Multi-Agent Systems - 6th International Workshop, EMAS 2018, Revised Selected Papers
A2 - Mascardi, Viviana
A2 - Weyns, Danny
A2 - Ricci, Alessandro
PB - Springer Verlag
CY - Cham
T2 - 6th International Workshop on Engineering Multi-Agent Systems, EMAS 2018
Y2 - 14 July 2018 through 15 July 2018
ER -