Storyboarding – High-Level Engineering of Web Information Systems

Abstract

A web Information System (WIS) is an information system that can be accessed via the world-wide-web. We will describe the various aspects of web information systems (WISs) such as purpose, usage, content, functionality, context, presentation. Further we will present three major blocks dealing with strategic modelling of WISs, usage modelling of WISs by means of storyboarding, and semantics and pragmatics of storyboarding. Strategic modelling lays out the plan for the whole WIS without drifting into technical details. It specifies the purpose(s) of the system, and what are criteria for the WIS being successful. Usage modelling emphasises storyboarding, which consists of three interconnected parts: the modelling of the story space, the modelling of the actors, i.e. classes of users, and the modelling of tasks. We will first present the modelling language of storyboarding. Then, we will briefly discuss semantic aspects of storyboarding focusing on an algebraic approach to reason about storyboards emphasising the personalisation with respect to preference rules, and the satisfiability of deontic constraints. Finally we will address pragmatics of storyboarding, the necessary complement devoted to what the storyboard means for its users. The part of pragmatics is concerned with usage analysis by means of life cases, user models and contexts that permit a deeper understand of what users actually understand the system to be used for.