Monday, September 12, 2016

EditedProc: Preface to the 5th International Workshop on Theory and Application of Visualizations and Human-centric Aspects in Processes.

Preface to our workshop at BPM 2016 - TAProViz2016. Collaboration with my Austrian Friends - Stefanie Rinderle-Ma and Simone Kriglestein.  Preface contents can be found here.

Abstract: This is the fifth TAProViz workshop being run at the 14th International Conference on Business Process Management (BPM). The intention this year is to consolidate on the results of the previous successful workshops by further developing this important topic, identifying the key research topics of interest to the BPM visualization community. Towards this goal, the workshop topics were extended to human computer interaction and related domains.

Submitted papers were evaluated by at least three program committee members, in a double blind manner, on the basis of significance, originality, technical quality and exposition. Three full papers were accepted for presentation at the workshop from five submissions.

The papers address a number of topics in the area of process model visualization, in particular:

– Visualization of Layout Metrics for Business Process Models

– Eye Tracking and Process of Process Modeling

– Visually Comparing Process Dynamics

Journal: On the (virtual) getting of wisdom: immersive 3D interfaces for eliciting spatial information from experts, J. Spat. Stat.

Have had a journal paper accepted for Spatial Statistics (Elsevier).  Product of my collaboration with Kerrie Mengersen and Peter Bruza.  Paper can be found here

Abstract: Expert information is a valuable resource in developing robust spatial models to improve understanding and prediction of systems in health, environment, business and society. However, getting experts to reliably activate and encode what they know has proven to be an elusive goal. A root cause of this elusiveness is the fact that expert knowledge is largely tacit, i.e., experts struggle to describe what they know. The imperative to address this goal is increasing. There is a constant need for better models of expert knowledge in organizations, much observational data is sparse and inadequate for spatial modelling, and many domains have knowledgeable workers leaving in numbers. Interviews are often used for eliciting expert knowledge, due to their ease of implementation. However, there is evidence that a lack of appropriate stimuli reduces the quality of knowledge elicited. This paper explores the use of immersive 3D virtual worlds for improved knowledge elicitation, due to their priming effects on memory recall. A case study on habitat prediction for a rock wallaby species is presented, in which the new approach is trialed. This paper is one of the first that aims to combine new virtual spatial technology with expert elicitation for improved spatial statistical modelling.


BookChap: A concept for collaborative business process modeling in interactive spaces

Have had a book chapter accepted.  Product of work with my friends Alex Nolte, at Bochum and Craig Ainsworth, at Middlesex University. Book chapter can be found here
Abstract: Analyzing and redesigning business processes is a complex task. It requires the collaboration of multiple actors such as process stakeholders, domain experts and others. Current approaches mainly focus on collaborative modeling workshops where participants verbally contribute their perspective on a process along with ideas on how to potentially improve it. These workshops are supported by modeling experts who facilitate the workshop, and modelers who translate participants’ verbal contributions into representations of a modeling notation and integrate them into a process model. This setting however limits participation to verbal contributions and therefore negatively affects their motivation to contribute during a workshop since they will mostly have to wait until they are allowed to contribute. Unpleasant experiences in the course of participation can cause reluctance when everyday work practice has to be changed in accordance with the results of a workshop. Furthermore, this setting makes workshop outcomes strongly dependent on facilitators and modelers since they handle all the changes that are potentially applied to a process. Interactive technology such as smartphones, tablets, digital tabletops and interactive walls provide the opportunity for participants to directly interact with process models thus potentially increasing their motivation to contribute. Interactive spaces where different interactive technologies are combined also allow for orchestrating collaboration since it is possible to form breakout groups on demand or work on a process model in solitude before coming back together. Consequently, these possibilities support the balance between the impact of facilitators and modelers on the one side and the influence of the participants on the other side. In this paper we will describe an approach that combines different modes of collaboration using different interactive devices in order to not only increase the quality of process models but also increase the involvement of participants and make workshops a more efficient and motivating experience.

Paper: A 3D visualization approach for process training in office environments, COOPIS 2016

Have had a paper accepted for COOPIS 2016, part of a collaboration with my friends Banu Aysolmaz and Hajo Reijers, at VU Amsterdam. Paper can be found here.

Abstract: Process participants need to learn how to perform in the context of their business processes. Process training is challenging due to cognitive difficulties in relating process model elements to real world concepts. In this paper we present a 3D Virtual World (VW) process training approach for office environments. In this VW, process participants can experience a process in an immersive environment. They inter- act with VW representations of process elements in changing locations, based on process activities. By means of embodied 3D representation, deep immersion and engagement in this environment, enhancements in long term memory learning and episodic memory usage for knowledge retrieval are expected. Our illustration of an example process model shows the applicability of the approach. We list a number of future directions to extend the use and the benefits.

Ross