III-CXT: Process Families and Their Application to Online Dispute Resolution

这项研究将通过生成在线争议解决(ODR)流程系列，并通过在国家调解委员会(NMB)使用来评估它们，来评估创建流程系列的生成性方法。生成性方法将以NMB的流程目标规范为指导，这些规范的重点将根据有形目标(如解决具体冲突)和无形目标(如赋权和建立关系)的不同权重而有所不同。流程族将通过将不同的流程关注点组合(如协调、代理行为和构件流)绑定到高级元流程框架中来生成。生成的过程实例还将包括指定的仪器和测量工具。这将促进国家监测机构和项目研究人员对这些进程的评估，并将成为评估总体生成性方法的基础。这种方法需要一种明确分离关注点的过程定义语言。一个例子是在UMassas开发的Little-Jil过程定义语言，它将被用作本研究的基础。该项目将增进对程序生成和程序技术的一般理解，同时也为国家协调机构创建有用的程序，并为利用争端解决程序和一般程序进行社会科学试验提供一个更好的框架。该项目团队包括计算机科学研究人员、一名网上解决专家、争端解决研究人员和NMB的代表。该团队已经成功地对之前的一个项目进行了NSF资助的研究，该项目的结果表明了这里提出的研究的必要性。智力价值：这个项目继续探索使用软件工程观点和技术将过程作为严格可定义的对象来处理的价值。这里讨论的主要问题是流程系列的管理。以前的研究表明，像NMB这样的组织需要一系列的过程，而不是单一的过程，而且这种过程可能并不总是旨在生产单一的产品，也不是有形的产品。使用清楚地分离关注点的过程定义语言似乎是解决这些需求的一种有希望的方法，该方法将在本研究中被采用和评估，从而对理解过程的形式性质作出重要贡献。将建立一个流程生成框架，用于生成实际的网上解决流程，供全国网上解决机构使用和评估。这些过程的严密性和精确度，以及它们纳入评价工具，将有助于比较在精确记录的方式上不同的过程。这将是对社会科学研究的重要贡献，支持社会科学家对程序进行精确实验的能力，网上解决程序被用作第一个例子。更广泛的影响：所提供的网上解决程序将在许多方面对NMB具有相当大的价值。这些程序将提高NMB在处理航空和铁路行业纠纷方面的有效性。它们还将作为NMB培训新人员的辅助工具。这些进程的清晰度和精确度将使其成为持续讨论和评估的适当主题，从而提高解决冲突的效力。此外，NMB的成功将展示这些想法和方法对其他数十个负责解决争端的政府机构的适用性。

This research will evaluate a generative approach to creating families of processes, by generating families of Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) processes, and evaluating them through use at the National Mediation Board (NMB). The generative approach will be guided by NMB specifications of process goals, which will vary in emphasis according to different weightings of both tangible goals, such as resolving a specific conflict, and such nontangible goals as empowerment and relationship-building. The process families will be generated by binding different combinations of process concerns, such as coordination, agent behaviors, and artifact flows, into a high-level metaprocess framework. The generated process instances will also include specified instrumentation and measurement vehicles. This will facilitate the evaluation of the processes by NMB and project researchers and will form the foundation for evaluation of the overall generative approach. This approach will require a process definition language that features clear separation of concerns. An example is the Little-JIL process definition language, developed at UMass, which will be used as the basis for this research. The project will add to understanding of process generation and process technology in general, while also creating useful processes for the NMB, and a superior framework for social science experimentation with dispute resolution processes as well as processes in general. The project team includes computer science researchers, an ODR expert, dispute resolution researchers, and representatives from the NMB. The team has conducted successful NSF-funded research on a previous project, whose results indicate the need for the research proposed here. Intellectual Merit: This project continues the exploration of the value of using software engineering perspectives and technology to deal with processes as rigorously definable objects. The main issue addressed here is the management of families of processes. Previous research indicates that organizations like NMB require families of processes, rather than a single process, and that such processes may not always be aimed at producing a single product nor one that is tangible. Use of a process definition language featuring clean separation of concerns seems to be a promising way to address these needs, and that approach will be pursued and evaluated in this research, thus making an important contribution to understanding the formal nature of processes. A process generation framework will be built and used to generate real ODR processes that will be used and evaluated by the NMB. The rigor and precision of these processes, and their incorporation of vehicles for evaluation, will facilitate the comparison of processes that differ in precisely documented ways. This will be an important contribution to social science research, supporting the ability of social scientists to perform precise experimentation with processes, with ODR processes being used as a first example. Broader Impact: The ODR processes provided will be of considerable value to the NMB in a number of ways. The processes will improve NMB's effectiveness in dealing with disputes in the airline and railroad industries. They will also serve as an aid that NMB can use to train new personnel. The clarity and precision of the processes will render them suitable subjects for ongoing discussion and evaluation, leading to improvements in conflict resolution effectiveness. Moreover, success at the NMB will demonstrate the applicability of these ideas and approaches to the dozens of other government agencies responsible for dispute resolution.