SoD: Design Exploration -- Supporting A Design Process for Engaging Users

该项目构建了支持用户表达以及软件设计人员收集和使用这些信息的工具。设计探索过程为用户和其他涉众提供了一个构建工具包，他们可以在其中创建带注释的部分设计。设计存储库收集部分设计并执行自动分析，包括注释的文本分析和图形设计的空间分析，以帮助识别集合中有趣的示例和模式。最后，为软件设计人员提供了一个探索界面，用于在集合中搜索和浏览，以便更好地理解任务域、用户期望和工作实践。设计存储库包括结合文本分析和图形布局分析的算法，以索引、聚类和关联用户响应。基于这些结果，探索界面为软件设计者提供了各种搜索和导航功能。这种方法使软件设计人员能够决定查看什么以及何时查看，但支持这些决策。此外，结合搜索和浏览选项允许基于软件设计人员对集合的理解、他们对关联/相关项的先前访问、他们当前活动的焦点和他们的偏好的各种工作实践。这种组合在今天的Web上很流行。这个项目的结果将对设计过程产生影响，使更多的用户和利益相关者能够参与设计，并将促进围绕软件设计问题的不同观点的沟通。项目网站（http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/DesignExploration/）将用于传播研究结果，包括本项目开发的工具，这些工具将免费分发，用于软件开发工作。

This project builds tools supporting user expression and the collection and use of this information by software designers. The design exploration process provides users and other stakeholders a construction kit where they create annotated partial designs. A design repository collects partial designs and performs automatic analysis, including textual analysis of annotations and spatial analysis of graphical designs, to help identify interesting examples and patterns within the collection. Finally, an exploration interface is provided to software designers that provides for searching and browsing within the collection in order to better understand the task domain and user expectations and work practices. The design repository includes algorithms combining the analysis of text and the analysis of graphical layouts to index, cluster, and associate the user responses. Based on these results the exploration interface provides a variety of search and navigation features to the software designer. This approach leaves the software designer in control of deciding what to see and when to see it but supports these decisions. Additionally, combining search and browse options allows for a variety of work practices based on the software designers' understanding of the collection, their prior access to associated/related items, the focus of their current activity, and their preferences. This combination is prevalent today on the Web. The results of this project will have an impact on the design process by enabling the inclusion of a greater number of users and stakeholders in design and will facilitate communication about different perspectives on issues surrounding the design of software. The project Web site (http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/DesignExploration/) will be used to disseminate the research results, including the tools developed in this project that will be freely distributed for use in software development efforts.