Widening user programming participation: Generic Modelling

Figure 59 shows the main areas of application for User Driven Modelling. This research has concentrated mainly on the central area of Decision Support, but it could be widened to Knowledge Management, and to Simulation.

people, and then of complex calculations that may draw on many parts of the ontology representation. For the types of modelling shown in Figure 59 pure Knowledge Management may not require any calculation, however this representation can be complex as the aim of the Knowledge Management and how wide ranging this needs to be is not known, as there is not the target of a Decision Support model to be constructed from the knowledge. This thesis concentrated on using Knowledge Management for Decision Support, which required complex and recursive calculations. For simulation the calculations may be required in real time. Therefore complexity of calculation increases in the direction from Knowledge Management to Decision Support to Simulation, and complexity of information representation increases in the other direction from Simulation to Decision Support to Knowledge Management.

Whatever is being modelled, the main issue is enabling management of complexity through appropriate structuring, visualisation, and interaction. Naeve (2005) examines Semantic Isolation, Semantic Coexistence, and Semantic Collaboration. In section 3.6 Ontologies and Semantic Web and their role in Modelling’ of this thesis the implications of the need for appropriate and systematic use and

combination of tools and techniques in order to enable Semantic Collaboration were examined. When the appropriate structure is created with these tools and techniques, modelling of things other than cost for engineering components uses the same categories and just requires different equations, so this methodology broadens to engineering modelling of properties other than cost e.g. design and/or manufacture (process plan). All the information necessary for creating a CAD (Computer Aided Design) type representation can be made available in the various categories and is indeed necessary for the production of the most accurate cost estimates. This made it possible to translate between a tree/graph-based representation and a CAD style representation. A further advantage of this

methodology is that it allows estimates to be made at top level in the tree in early stage design, but this early estimate can be developed at a later stage when more is known of the design and production processes. This makes it possible to add further detail to improve the accuracy of cost modelling and/or other engineering modelling. Representing things other than engineering components merely requires different categories, so this methodology could be re-used for other modelling problems such as scientific modelling and economic modelling. This broadens to any problem that can be represented by linked equations, which can be visualised, especially if combined with Natural Language Programming (NLP) research, e.g. (Mihalcea, 2006). Visualisation and management of the information can aid in constructionist understanding of problems by modelling them (Papert, 1991) (Resnick, 1996). This methodology and constructionist approach ensures greater user involvement in model production and management.

User involvement is important in development of software but a domain expert does not necessarily possess expertise in software development, and a software developer cannot have expertise in every domain to which software might apply. So it is important to make it possible for software to be created, in ways that are as close as possible to those which the domain expert normally uses. This research

domain (aerospace engineering for example) who can develop their own programs and have access to such facilities is fairly low, but the proportion that are computer literate in the everyday use of computers is much higher (Scaffidi et al., 2006). Harnessing of computer literacy to allow domain experts to develop and share models increases productivity for software development and reduces the proportion of misunderstandings between domain experts and developers. Domain experts can then explore a problem they are trying to solve and produce code to solve it. The role of software developers would then become more that of a system creator, mentor and enabler rather than someone who has to translate all the ideas of domain experts into code themselves. Other software developers may work at providing better translation software for the domain experts (e.g. engineers). Creation of a systematic environment for model building can be assisted by advancing research in current tools and techniques, and standardising the representation and navigation of information. This enables complex problems to be represented by networks of models and modellers that share information.

As end-users are beginning to creating simulations and other software it is important to address this need and attempt to establish a dependable way for them to do this. To achieve the above aims it was necessary to research the interface between Meta-Programming, Modelling and Simulation, and Semantic Web Model Creation, shaded in Figure 60. This could allow end-users to develop their own Semantic Web based simulation and modelling tools using a graphical visual interface.

Figure 60. End-User Programming, Modelling and Meta-Programming with Semantic Web To achieve the aim of widening user programming to involvement in more generic

could enable generic programming, including for modelling/programming that is not tree based, then enabling a wider user base. This user interface can be created in a simple way even through a spreadsheet, or database data entry forms. Chelsom et al. (2011) illustrate this approach.