Usage-based chunking of Software Architecture information to assist information finding

Moon Ting Su*, John Hosking, John Grundy, Ewan Tempero

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

One of the key problems with Software Architecture Documents (ADs)2 Software Architecture Document (AD). is the difficulty of finding information required from them. Most existing studies focus on the production of ADs or Architectural Knowledge (AK)3 Architectural Knowledge (AK)., to allow them to support information finding. However, there has been little focus placed on the consumption of ADs. To address this, we postulate the existence of a concept of “usage-based chunks” of architectural information discoverable from consumers’ usage of ADs when they engage in information-seeking tasks. In a set of user studies, we have found evidence that such usage-based chunks exist and that useful chunks can be identified from one type of usage data, namely, consumer's ratings of sections of ADs. This has implications for tool design to support the effective reuse of AK.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)215-238
Number of pages24
JournalJournal of Systems and Software
Volume122
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2016
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Usage-based chunking of Software Architecture information to assist information finding'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this