On enriching requirements engineering work using icons

Global Communication with Icons : Hotel Safety as an Environmental Context

Icons are small signs with fixed meanings. Icons are usually context specific. For example in the context of a hotel, the client can often find icons in hotel room books and safety guides. Scandic Hotel chain, for example, currently provides the manual for its safety system in 14 languages. There are at least two major shortcomings of this system: (1) in emergency or panic situations, it is very difficult to find your own language from the leaflet, and (2) there are no Asian languages. There is an obvious need for a global icon-based hotel safety language. In our paper, we introduce an icon-based model, language and mobile application for hotel safety. peerReviewed

Icon Recognition and Usability for Requirements Engineering

When we introduce icon-based language into the context of requirements engineering, we must take into account that what users perceive as recognizable and usable depends on their background. In this paper, we argue that it is not possible to provide a single set of visual notations that appeal to all of stakeholders. Instead, we suggest an adaptable preference framework, which generates personalized notations that correspond to personal background. We present and evaluate icon-based language: a new kind of approach to requirements engineering work to explore its possibility and usability. In an initial evaluation of students residing in Finland, results reveal that users are able to recogni…

Icons: Visual representation to enrich requirements engineering work

Adapting icons in requirements engineering can support the multifaceted needs of stakeholders. Conventional ap- proaches to RE are mainly highlighted in diagrams. This paper introduces icon-based information as a way to represent ideas and concepts in the requirements engineering domain. We report on icon artifacts that support requirements engi- neering work such as priority types, status states and stakeholder kinds. We evaluate how users interpret meanings of icons and the efficacy of icon prototypes shaped to represent those requirements attributes. Our hypothesis is whether practitioners can recognize the icons’ meaning in terms of their functional representation. According to the empi…

Icon-based language in requirements development

Icon Representations in Supporting Requirements Elicitation Process

Abstract. T his paper considers the diff iculties faced by the stakeholders in general requirements engineering (R E ) . These difficulties range from the complexity of requirements gathering to requirements presentation . Affordable visualization techniques have been wide ly implemented to support th e re quirements engineering community . However, no universal characteristic s that could be associated with requirements completion have been identified so far . T he research focus of this paper is driven by the above considerations to introduce the icon - base d language comprising a set of icon notations, syntactic and semantics . Icon - based language would support the requirements engine…