Considering Context and Users in Interactive Systems Analysis

Abstract

Abstract. Although the take-up of formal approaches to modelling and reasoning about software has been slow, there has been recent interest and facility in the use of automated reasoning techniques such as model checking [5] on increasingly complex systems. In the case of interactive systems, formal methods can be particularly useful in reasoning about systems that involve complex interactions. These techniques for the analysis of interactive systems typically focus on the device and leave the context of use undocumented. In this paper we look at models that incorporate complexity explicitly, and discuss how they can be used in a formal setting. The paper is concerned particularly with the type of analysis that can be performed with them.

State of the Art on Formal Methods for Interactive Systems

“…The approach covers the three aspects we are considering: in (Campos and Harrison 2011), the approach is used to model the functional core and user interfaces of an infusion pump; and assumptions about user behaviours are covered in (Campos and Harrison 2007), by strengthening the pre-conditions on the actions the user might execute.…”

“…In this framework, the properties are specified using the CTL (Computational Tree Logic) temporal logic, allowing the verification of usability and functional properties (Campos and Harrison 2008). Particularly, the following usability properties can be expressed: The approach is applied to several case studies (Campos and Harrison 2001;Harrison et al 2013), specifically, in safety-critical systems (e.g., healthcare systems (Campos 1999;Campos and Harrison 2009;Campos and Harrison 2011;Harrison et al 2015) and avionics systems (Campos and Harrison 2007;Doherty et al 1998;Sousa et al 2014)), showing that the approach scales well to real-life applications. Ausbourg et al (France, 1996 Modelling Another approach based on the York interactor model is proposed in (d 'Ausbourg 1998;d'Ausbourg et al 1998).…”

Systematic Analysis of Control Panel Interfaces Using Formal Tools

“…The above analysis limits consideration by ignoring the function of the panel. In the style of [2] an alternative stategy would be to explore how the device enables the environment to reach a desired temperature. This property relates to the context of use of the device, the temperature of the environment, which is not present in the model.…”

A Fluid Flow Approach to Usability Analysis of Multi-user Systems

“…The question of the paper is how to analyze collective behavior of users in relation to a system prior to fielding the system. While formal models have been developed and explored that are relevant to modeling the interaction between an individual user and device in context (see e.g., [8,9]) and general behavior of users have been captured through normative task models (see e.g. [10,20]) the impact of modeling collective behaviors within interactive systems have not been studied.…”