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Composing an Initial Domain-Specific Modeling Language Notation by Reusing Icons

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Business Modeling and Software Design (BMSD 2023)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 483))

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Abstract

Domain-Specific Modeling Languages (DSMLs) increasingly gain attention in the field of Conceptual Modeling as they target a particular problem in a delineated application domain by using concepts that are tailored to end-users. As such, DSMLs provide a flexible approach that can be used in different application domains. To realize their potential, the graphical notation of a DSML must be aligned with the users’ knowledge and perceptions. In particular, an intuitively understandable DSML notation is important to facilitate communication with the end-users. Therefore, we propose a technique for composing an initial DSML notation by reusing icons. This technique is applied in the context of the Process-Goal Alignment (PGA) business modeling technique. Furthermore, we empirically evaluate the proposed technique by an experiment with 85 business users, in which we compare the intuitiveness of the newly developed and existing PGA notations. The results show that the semantic transparency of the newly developed notation is significantly higher than the existing PGA notations. More specifically, the composition technique based on the reuse of icons enables to derive the meaning of DSML concepts correctly.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    E.g., Unicode Block “Miscellaneous Symbols” [online], https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/block/U+2600, last accessed: 13.03.2023

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Open Universiteit, Valkenburgerweg 177, 6419 AT, Heerlen, The Netherlands

    Ben Roelens, Rob Ebben & Rogier van de Wetering

  2. Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Ben Roelens

Authors
  1. Ben Roelens
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  2. Rob Ebben
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  3. Rogier van de Wetering
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Correspondence to Ben Roelens .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Boris Shishkov

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Roelens, B., Ebben, R., de Wetering, R.v. (2023). Composing an Initial Domain-Specific Modeling Language Notation by Reusing Icons. In: Shishkov, B. (eds) Business Modeling and Software Design. BMSD 2023. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 483. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36757-1_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36757-1_16

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-36757-1

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