Framework for near real-time (meta) modeling on the Web. Permits the collaborative editing of meta models and the generation of near real-time collaborative modeling editors. It uses a visual modeling approach.
http://dbis.rwth-aachen.de/cms/research/ACIS/SyncMeta
Recombinant DNA technology (Immunological screening)
Near Real-Time Collaborative Modeling Framework
1. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
1 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Near Real-Time Collaborative
Conceptual Modeling on the Web
Michael Derntl, Petru Nicolaescu, Stephan Erdtmann
Ralf Klamma, Matthias Jarke
RWTH Aachen University
Lehrstuhl Informatik 5 – Information Systems
lastname@dbis.rwth-aachen.de
ER 2015 | 21 Oct 2015
This work has been funded with support from the European Commission. This presentation reflects
the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which
may be made of the information contained therein.
2. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
2
Motivation
Conceptual modeling
– Key activity in many areas
– Social, creative process [FK98] – collaborative work [RKV08]
Typical collaboration: asynchronous
Availability of near real-time (NRT)
collaborative modeling tools
– On desktop and on the Web
– From highly domain-specific tools like Kanban Tool1…
– … to very generic ones like draw.io2
1 http://kanbantool.com
2 http://www.draw.io
3. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
3
Near Real-Time Collaborative Editing
Synchronous editing independent of the location of the
users
– Propagation of user actions to collaborators
– Responsiveness similar to single-user applications
– Consistency maintenance
Inconsistencies caused by divergence or causality-
violation [SE98]
Two approaches for consistency preservation
– Conflict prevention [XZS00]
– Conflict resolution [SE98]
Architectures
– Centralized architecture (client/server)
– Decentralized architecture (peer-to-peer)
4. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
4
Objectives
Functional
• Framework for NRT
collaborative modelling
(domain-independent)
• Meta model based
• Visual modeling
• Awareness
• Structure editing support
Non-Functional
• Open source code
• Building on open
protocols
• Runs in Web browsers
Research the shift towards Web-based collaborative modeling
7. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
7
Real-time collaboration on both modeling layers
Meta-Modeling Framework:
Modeling Process & User Roles
11. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
11
Model Editor is special instance of Meta-Model Editor
Uses special Export Widget for Model Editor Generation
GUI Architecture
12. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
12
Technical Realization
Communication protocol: XMPP
– Suitable protocol for NRT communication
– Multiple extensions available (publish subscribe, multi-user chat)
– Client and server support
Open source ROLE SDK based on Apache Shindig
– User management
– Personal and collaborative widget space management
– XMPP based multi-user chat
Inter-widget communication (IWC) [GVD+11]
– Local IWC based on HTML5 Web Messaging API
– Remote IWC based on XMPP Publish Subscribe XEP
– Strophe.js (XMPP over BOSH and WebSockets)
Conflict Resolution
– Opencoweb OT Javascript framework
13. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
13
Model Editor - Functionality
Near real-time synchronization
Awareness
- Activity Pane
- Highlighting of nodes
User interaction to add nodes / edges
- Palette
- Context menu
Export of Model as JSON, PNG File
- Custom export widgets
14. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
14
End-User Evaluation
Goal
- Evaluation of usability and usefulness of Model Editor
- Obtain feedback for improvement
Methodology
- Editor instance for i* modeling language [Yu95]
- Evaluation session in groups of two
- Participants could see and talk to each other, but were not
able to see each other‘s screen (Skype-like setting)
- Task: Jointly recreate a given i* model using the editor
- Rating using surveys with seven-point Likert scale items
15. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
15
End-User Evaluation (cont.)
Participants
- Ten group sessions with 20 participants in total
- Diverse expertise of conceptual modeling and the i*
modeling language (novices as well as experts)
- Regular to frequent usage of graphical editors
16. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
16
Evaluation:
Quantitative Results
Overall
– Very positive overall rating (M = 5.7; SD = 1.2)
– User interface and usability also good (M = 5.9 and 5.7,
respectively)
– Ratings independent of user experience (r = .32; p = .17)
User interaction
– For adding nodes resp. edges participants prefer the context
menu (M = 5.9 and 5.7, resp.) over palette (M = 5.3 each)
Awareness
– Node highlighting (M = 5.7; SD = 1.2) slightly higher than
activity pane (M = 5.5; SD = 1.4)
17. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
17
Evaluation:
Suggested Improvements
Increase overview for large models
Highlighting of remote changes
Keyboard shortcuts
Multiselection of nodes
Automatic node arrangement
Drag & drop from palette
18. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
18
Conclusion and Future Work
Key points
- Browser-based Meta-Modeling Framework
- Generation of RTC Editors for Visual Modeling Languages
Different types of user interaction
Awareness
- Pilot case: i* editor; generally positive evaluation
Future work
- Views for NRT modeling
- Recommendations during modeling
- Improvement of collaboration using the Yjs OSS library
19. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
19
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
nicolaescu@dbis.rwth-aachen.de
Nicolaescu Petru
SyncMeta Project Description
GitHub: https://github.com/rwth-acis/syncmeta
20. Lehrstuhl Informatik 5
(Information Systems)
Prof. Dr. M. Jarke
20
References
[BEW04] Bardohl, R.; Ermel, C.; Weinhold, I: GenGED–a visual definition tool for visual modeling environments. In Pfaltz, J. L.; Nagl, M.;
Böhlen, B. (Hrsg.): Applications of Graph Transformations with Industrial Relevance. Springer, Berlin, 2004; p. 413–419.
[Eh05] Ehrig, K. et al.: Generation of visual editors as eclipse plug-ins. In: Proc. 20th IEEE/ACM Int. Conf. on Automated Software
Engineering. ACM, New York, 2005; p. 134–143.
[FK98] Floyd, C.; Klischewski, R.: Modellierung - ein Handgriff zur Wirklichkeit. Zur sozialen Konstruktion und Wirksamkeit von Informatik-
Modellen. In: Pohl, K.; Schürr, A.; Vossen, G. (Hrsg.): Modellierung '98. CEUR-WS.org, 1998.
[FK13] Fill, H.-G.; Karagiannis, D.: On the conceptualisation of modelling methods using the ADOxx meta modelling platform. In: Enterprise
Modelling and Information Systems Architectures, 8(1), 2013.
[GBR12] Gallardo, J.; Bravo, C.; Redondo, M. A.: A model-driven development method for collaborative modeling tools. Journal of Network
and Computer Applications, 35(3), 2012; p. 1086–1105.
[GVD+11] Govaerts, S.; Verbert, K.; Dahrendorf, D.; Ullrich, C.; Schmidt, M.; Werkle, M.; Chatterjee, A.; Nussbaumer, A.; Renzel, D.;
Scheffel, M.; Friedrich, M.; Santos, J. L.; Duval, E.; Law, E.: Towards Responsive Open Learning Environments: The ROLE Interoperability
Framework. In: Proc. EC-TEL 2011. Springer, Berlin, 2011; S. 125-138.
[LVA04] de Lara, J.; Vangheluwe, H.; Alfonseca, M.: Meta-modelling and graph grammars for multi-paradigm modelling in AToM³. Software
and Systems Modeling, 3(3), 2004; p. 194–209.
[Mi07] Minas, M.: Generating meta-model-based freehand editors. Electronic Communi-cations of the EASST, 1, 2007.
[SLHi14] Schmid, O., Lisowska Masson, A., Hirsbrunner, B.: Real-time collaboration through web applications: an introduction to the Toolkit
for Web-based Interactive Collaborative Environments (TWICE). Personal and Ubiquitous Computing
18(5) (2014) 1201{1211[Ol07] Olivé, A.: Conceptual modeling of information systems. Springer, 2007.
[RKV08] Renger, M.; Kolfschoten, G. L.; de Vreede, G.-J.: Challenges in Collaborative Modeling: A Literature Review. Lecture Notes in
Business Information Processing, Volume 10, 2008; p. 61-77.
[SE98] Sun, C.; Ellis, C.: Operational transformation in real-time group editors: issues, algorithms, and achievements. In: Proc. 1998 ACM
Conf. on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. ACM, New York, 1998; p. 59–68.
[TPK07] Tolvanen, J.-P.; Pohjonen, R.; Kelly, S.: Advanced tooling for domain-specific modeling: Metaedit+. In: Sprinkle, J.; Gray, J.; Rossi,
M.; Tolvanen, J.-P. (Hrsg.): 7th OOPSLA Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling, Finland, 2007.
[XZS00] Xue, L.; Zhang, K.; Sun, C.: Conflict control locking in distributed cooperative graphics editors. In: Proc. 1st Int. Conf. on Web
Information Systems Engineering. IEEE, Los Alamitos, 2000; p. 401–408.