CGL Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, May 3, 1995

Location:: DC 1304
Time:: 1:30 PM
Chair:: Julie Waterhouse

1. Adoption of the agenda - additions/deletions thereto.

2. Coffee Hour and Next Meeting:

Coffee hour this week:

???

Coffee hour next week:

???

Next Meeting

Time:: May 10, 1995
Location:: DC 1304
Chair:: Yanchun Zhao
Tech Presentation:: Haroon Sheikh

Forthcoming: (list next 4 and trades)

Chairs:: Richard Bartels; John Beatty; Ian Bell; Leith Chan
Tech presentations:: Riston Tapp; Greg Veres; Julie Waterhouse; Yanchun Zhao

3. Technical Presentation:

Presenter:: Randall Reid
Title: The Role of Metaphor in Interface Design
Abstract:: Interface metaphors have always been seen as useful in learning and using user interfaces. However, what is less obvious is the actual use of metaphors in designing and implementing interfaces. In this talk, a brief outline will be given defining interface metaphors and their role in design and implementation. In particular, some musing on the movement from method to model to tool will be given.

4. General Discussion Items:

None yet.

5. Action List (remember to update AL_active)

6. Directors Meeting:

7. Seminar(s):

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO
SEMINAR ACTIVITIES

MASTER'S THESIS PRESENTATION

                    -Friday, May 12, 1995

Randall  William  Horman, graduate student, Dept. Comp.
Sci., Univ. Waterloo, will speak on "Towards a General,
Theoretic Foundation of Software Architecture".

TIME:                1:30-2:30 p.m.

ROOM:                DC 1331

ABSTRACT

As  the  computational  capacity  of  computing systems
advances  at an unrelentless and exponential rate, ever
larger   and   more   complex   software   systems  are
constructed   to   solve  increasingly  more  elaborate
problems.  Recently,  a new level of abstraction, known
as  Software  Architecture, has emerged, the purpose of
which  is  to  elevate  the  solution space of software
systems  to  a  level  on  par with the intricacies and
complexities inherent in the contemporary problem space
of  distributed  and  heterogeneous  computing,  multi-
databases,  large multi-user, interactive environments,
secure   and   fault-tolerant   systems,   and  massive
parallelism.  During  its formative period, the nascent
discipline  of  Software Architecture has witnessed the
proffering   of   numerous,   alternative   abstraction
mechanisms   and  techniques  by  software  engineering
researchers   and   practitioners,  each  of  which  is
intended  to  address adequately various aspects of the
practice    of   this   new   level   of   abstraction.
Unfortunately,  there  is no well-established, general,
theoretical  foundation  for Software Architecture, the
existence  of  which would act as a unifying influence,
guiding  the  effective  formulation and application of
the  corresponding  architectural tools, processes, and
notations.  Toward  this  end,  a Software Architecture
Model  of  Well-Organized  Complexity  is developed and
applied  as a metric to judge the acceptability of four
discovered approaches to a comprehensive, cohesive, and
general  foundation  of  Software  Architecture.  As  a
result  of this suitability analysis, several desirable
attributes  or  characteristics  of  a  well-conceived,
general,    theoretical    foundation    of    Software
Architecture are proposed.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ | SEMINAR ToRCHI Information Bulletin SEMINAR | +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+ IE Seminar Announcement You are invited to attend the following seminar: VIRTUAL REALITY AS A CHALLENGE FOR PERFORMANCE RESEARCH Prof. Andries F. Sanders Department of Psychology Free University (Vrij Universiteit) Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands Advances in computer technology enable more and more sophisticated simulations of real tasks, varying from simple simulations of process control and management P i.e. management games P to complex simulations of "virtual reality", like flying an aircraft, manoeuvring a ship or making a space walk. After a brief introduction and some examples, an inventory will be made of shortcomings of some simulations, from the user's point of view. Major challenges from a Human Factors point of view include (1) adequate performance measures, (2) indices of validity, and (3) training programmes. These are discussed in turn. One question which arises is to what extent traditional performance theory can cope with these issues: Is there an exchange between basic issues in performance theory and problems in the application of simulators concerned with virtual reality? Thursday, May 11, 1995 1500-1600h (3:00 - 4:00 PM) Department of Industrial Engineering, Room RS211 4 Taddle Creek Road University of Toronto Coffee and cookies to follow Co-sponsored by UofT Human Factors Special Interest Group / HFES Student Chapter +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Mailing list enquiries to: torchi@itrc.on.ca OR ToRCHI c/o CSRI, | | 6 Kings College Rd - Rm 398, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ont. M5S 1A1 | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+