How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations

Dirk Van Der Linden; Anna Zamansky; Irit Hadar

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_28

How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations

Dirk Van Der Linden, Anna Zamansky, Irit Hadar

Department of Information Systems

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

Abstract

The Physics of Notations [9] (PoN) is a design theory presenting nine principles that can be used to evaluate and improve the cognitive effectiveness of a visual notation. The PoN has been used to analyze existing standard visual notations (such as BPMN, UML, etc.), and is commonly used for evaluating newly introduced visual notations and their extensions. However, due to the rather vague and abstract formulation of the PoN’s principles, they have received different interpretations in their operationalization. To address this problem, there have been attempts to formalize the principles, however only a very limited number of principles was covered. This research-in-progress paper aims to better understand the difficulties inherent in operationalizing the PoN, and better separate aspects of PoN, which can potentially be formulated in mathematical terms from those grounded in user-specific considerations.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling - 17th International Conference, BPMDS 2016, 21st International Conference, EMMSAD 2016, Held at CAiSE 2016, Proceedings
Editors	Rainer Schmidt, Ilia Bider, Sérgio Guerreiro, Wided Guédria
Publisher	Springer Verlag
Pages	448-462
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Print)	9783319394282
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_28
State	Published - 2016
Event	17th International Conference on Business Process Modeling, Development and Support, BPMDS 2016 and 21st International Conference on Exploring Modeling Methods for Systems Analysis and Design, EMMSAD 2016 held at Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAiSE 2016 - Ljubljana, Slovenia Duration: 13 Jun 2016 → 14 Jun 2016

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing
Volume	248
ISSN (Print)	1865-1348

Conference

Conference	17th International Conference on Business Process Modeling, Development and Support, BPMDS 2016 and 21st International Conference on Exploring Modeling Methods for Systems Analysis and Design, EMMSAD 2016 held at Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAiSE 2016
Country/Territory	Slovenia
City	Ljubljana
Period	13/06/16 → 14/06/16

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.

Keywords

Cognitive effectiveness
Operationalization
Physics of notations
Visual notations

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Management Information Systems
Control and Systems Engineering
Business and International Management
Information Systems
Modeling and Simulation
Information Systems and Management

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_28

Cite this

Van Der Linden, D., Zamansky, A., & Hadar, I. (2016). How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations. In R. Schmidt, I. Bider, S. Guerreiro, & W. Guédria (Eds.), Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling - 17th International Conference, BPMDS 2016, 21st International Conference, EMMSAD 2016, Held at CAiSE 2016, Proceedings (pp. 448-462). (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing; Vol. 248). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_28

Van Der Linden, Dirk ; Zamansky, Anna ; Hadar, Irit. / How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations. Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling - 17th International Conference, BPMDS 2016, 21st International Conference, EMMSAD 2016, Held at CAiSE 2016, Proceedings. editor / Rainer Schmidt ; Ilia Bider ; Sérgio Guerreiro ; Wided Guédria. Springer Verlag, 2016. pp. 448-462 (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing).

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abstract = "The Physics of Notations [9] (PoN) is a design theory presenting nine principles that can be used to evaluate and improve the cognitive effectiveness of a visual notation. The PoN has been used to analyze existing standard visual notations (such as BPMN, UML, etc.), and is commonly used for evaluating newly introduced visual notations and their extensions. However, due to the rather vague and abstract formulation of the PoN{\textquoteright}s principles, they have received different interpretations in their operationalization. To address this problem, there have been attempts to formalize the principles, however only a very limited number of principles was covered. This research-in-progress paper aims to better understand the difficulties inherent in operationalizing the PoN, and better separate aspects of PoN, which can potentially be formulated in mathematical terms from those grounded in user-specific considerations.",

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Van Der Linden, D, Zamansky, A & Hadar, I 2016, How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations. in R Schmidt, I Bider, S Guerreiro & W Guédria (eds), Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling - 17th International Conference, BPMDS 2016, 21st International Conference, EMMSAD 2016, Held at CAiSE 2016, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 248, Springer Verlag, pp. 448-462, 17th International Conference on Business Process Modeling, Development and Support, BPMDS 2016 and 21st International Conference on Exploring Modeling Methods for Systems Analysis and Design, EMMSAD 2016 held at Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering, CAiSE 2016, Ljubljana, Slovenia, 13/06/16. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_28

How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations. / Van Der Linden, Dirk; Zamansky, Anna ; Hadar, Irit.
Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling - 17th International Conference, BPMDS 2016, 21st International Conference, EMMSAD 2016, Held at CAiSE 2016, Proceedings. ed. / Rainer Schmidt; Ilia Bider; Sérgio Guerreiro; Wided Guédria. Springer Verlag, 2016. p. 448-462 (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing; Vol. 248).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Van Der Linden D, Zamansky A , Hadar I. How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations. In Schmidt R, Bider I, Guerreiro S, Guédria W, editors, Enterprise, Business-Process and Information Systems Modeling - 17th International Conference, BPMDS 2016, 21st International Conference, EMMSAD 2016, Held at CAiSE 2016, Proceedings. Springer Verlag. 2016. p. 448-462. (Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing). doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-39429-9_28

How cognitively effective is a visual notation? On the inherent difficulty of operationalizing the physics of notations

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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