TY - GEN
T1 - Clarity from confusion
T2 - 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009
AU - Nickerson, Jeffrey V.
AU - Corter, James E.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Two tools are described that help designers visualize the structure of a system in the requirements phase of a project. First, a matrix is constructed that represents the tendency of components to interact. The matrix is derived from sequence diagrams, which in turn are based on textual scenarios. This interaction matrix is transformed into a structure plot of the system, showing a graph of the essential connections between actors. Second, this same matrix is used to generate a sequence plot: a sequence diagram optimized for problem-solving. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach, first with a simulation study, and later with a participant-based study of inference from diagrams. The results suggest that a similarity-based approach to information systems design can generate new testable tools. Pragmatically, the tools help novices and experts alike by automatically generating candidate system configurations in the form of structural diagrams, and by generating better sequence diagrams.
AB - Two tools are described that help designers visualize the structure of a system in the requirements phase of a project. First, a matrix is constructed that represents the tendency of components to interact. The matrix is derived from sequence diagrams, which in turn are based on textual scenarios. This interaction matrix is transformed into a structure plot of the system, showing a graph of the essential connections between actors. Second, this same matrix is used to generate a sequence plot: a sequence diagram optimized for problem-solving. We illustrate the effectiveness of this approach, first with a simulation study, and later with a participant-based study of inference from diagrams. The results suggest that a similarity-based approach to information systems design can generate new testable tools. Pragmatically, the tools help novices and experts alike by automatically generating candidate system configurations in the form of structural diagrams, and by generating better sequence diagrams.
KW - Information systems design
KW - Insight
KW - Network scaling
KW - Sequence diagrams
KW - Visualization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84870815454&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84870815454&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84870815454
SN - 9781615675814
T3 - 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009
SP - 1826
EP - 1835
BT - 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009
Y2 - 6 August 2009 through 9 August 2009
ER -