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MDWA: a model-driven Web augmentation approach—coping with client- and server-side support

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Abstract

Web augmentation is a set of techniques allowing users to define and execute software which is dependent on the presentation layer of a concrete Web page. Through the use of specialized Web augmentation artifacts, the end users may satisfy several kinds of requirements that were not considered by the analysts, developers and stakeholders that built the application. Although some augmentation approaches are contemplating a server-side counterpart (to support aspects such as collaboration or cross-browser session management), the augmentation artifacts are usually purely client-side. The server-side support increases the capabilities of the augmentations, since it may allow sharing information among users and devices. So far, this support is often defined and developed in an ad hoc way. Although it is clear that server-side support brings new possibilities, it is also true that developing and deploying server-side Web applications is a challenging task that end users hardly may handle. This work presents a novel approach for designing Web augmentation applications based on client-side and server-side components. We propose a model-driven approach that raises the abstraction level of both, client- and server-side developments. We provide a set of tools for designing the composition of the core application with new features on the back-end and the augmentation of pages in the front-end. The usability and the value of the produced augmentations have been evaluated through two experiments involving 30 people in total.

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Notes

  1. Web Scraper, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/web-scraper/jnhgnonknehpejjnehehllkliplmbmhn?h1=es.

  2. Evernote, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/evernote-web-clipper/pioclpoplcdbaefihamjohnefbikjilc?hl=es-419.

  3. https://sites.google.com/site/webobjectambient/.

  4. https://github.com/pmaglione/mdwa_comments.

  5. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHuNJBFXxaLCXzK_0pTkANEZ9RXsUsCSO.

  6. Examples documentation and videos https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PVSGmClH8MbVvJpeGq7eeuo7Yojqf9CE.

  7. Tumpermonkey—https://www.tampermonkey.net/.

  8. https://www.lowes.com, last accessed May 17th 2019.

  9. https://www.amazon.com, last accessed May 17th 2019.

  10. http://www.tractorsupply.com, last accessed May 17th 2019.

  11. http://www.greasespot.net.

  12. http://www.arg-agro.com.ar/.

  13. http://www.arg-agro.com.ar/, last accessed Feb 12th 2018.

  14. http://www.semillas-organicas.com.ar/, last accessed Feb 12th 2018.

  15. https://www.easy.com.ar/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/es/easyar, last accessed Feb 12th 2018.

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Acknowledgements

Authors of this publication acknowledge the contribution of the Project 691249, RUC-APS: Enhancing and implementing Knowledge based ICT solutions within high Risk and Uncertain Conditions for Agriculture Production Systems (www.ruc-aps.eu), funded by the European Union under their funding scheme H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015.

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matias Urbieta.

Additional information

Communicated by Prof. Joerg Kienzle.

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Surveys used in the experiments

Surveys used in the experiments

The next surveys were used on both experiments. Only a subset of question was used only in the toolset evaluation for assessing the perception about the approach.

1.1 Initial survey

This survey aims at gathering information about subject user.

  • Nationality

  • Age

  • Gender

  • Current level of education:

  • My training focuses mainly on the field of:

  • Occupation/job position:

  • How often do you use the Web?

  • How many years have you been using the Web?

  • How often do you use a Web browser in your daily activities?

  • Do you know about browser extensions?

  • How often do you use extensions for Web browsers in general?

  • What *desktop* Web browser do you use frequently?

1.2 Final survey

This survey is twofold: system usability scale questions and additional inquiring questions:

  • SUS

    • I think that I would like to use this system frequently.

    • I found the system unnecessarily complex.

    • I thought the system was easy to use.

    • I think that I would need the support of a technical person to be able to use this system.

    • I found the various functions in this system were well-integrated.

    • I thought there was too much inconsistency in this system.

    • I would imagine that most people would learn to use this system very quickly.

    • I found the system very cumbersome to use.

    • I felt very confident using the system.

    • I needed to learn a lot of things before I could get going with this system.

  • Additional questions (only for the toolset usability evaluation)

    • Start time of the experiment

    • End time of the experiment

    • Do you think the tool was hard to use? Why?

    • What other uses of the tool do you come up with?

    • Did you detect any problem in the use of the tool? Which one(s)?

    • Do you think there are aspects of the tool that can be improved? Which ones?

    • Do you have any other comments about the tool, the approach or the experiment?

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Urbieta, M., Firmenich, S., Bosetti, G. et al. MDWA: a model-driven Web augmentation approach—coping with client- and server-side support. Softw Syst Model 19, 1541–1566 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10270-020-00779-5

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