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2023
Contribution to conference
Open Access
Digitalisation of agriculture: development and evaluation of a model-based requirements engineering process
Mannari C., Spagnolo G. O., Bacco M., Malizia A.
[Context and Motivation] The requirements elicitation process for socio-technical systems requires the involvement of diverse stakeholders with different backgrounds and skills. In these contexts, ef- fective communication between business analysts and stakeholders can be supported by model-based requirements engineering (MoDRE) strategies, which leverage diagrammatic notations as a means for information exchange. [Question/Problem] Several diagrams and approaches exist to facilitate MoDRE. However, empirical evidence on their applicability to real-world contexts with a relevant social com- ponent, and going through a process of digitalisation, is limited. Furthermore, existing approaches do not evaluate the impact that the deployment of a novel digital system has on the process and its actors. [Principal idea/Results] The research outlined in this paper aims to evaluate the joint usage of typical requirements engineer notations, namely i*, class diagrams, and business process models in the elicitation of requirements for socially-intensive systems that are going through a transformative digitalisation process. We apply these notations to represent the system-as-is, and the system-to-be, with the goal of also evaluating the impact of digitalisation. We focus on living labs (LL, i.e., networks of stakeholders participating in a socio-technical system) belonging to the agriculture domain, and provide a preliminary application on a farm that is introducing an AI-based irrigation system. [Contribution] The results show that effective communication with non-technical stakeholders is feasible with the envisioned approach. Although multiple iterations are required, agronomists and farmers are able to provide constructive feedback on the basis of the models. Furthermore, impacts in terms of additional/removed tasks and actors can be effectively characterised through business process models. As part of our overall project, we will refine the method, and then apply it in 20 living labs in the EU.Source: REFSQ 2023 - 29th International Working Conference on Requirement Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality: Posters and Tools, Barcelona, Spain, 17-20/04/2023
Mannari C., Spagnolo G. O., Bacco M., Malizia A.
[Context and Motivation] The requirements elicitation process for socio-technical systems requires the involvement of diverse stakeholders with different backgrounds and skills. In these contexts, ef- fective communication between business analysts and stakeholders can be supported by model-based requirements engineering (MoDRE) strategies, which leverage diagrammatic notations as a means for information exchange. [Question/Problem] Several diagrams and approaches exist to facilitate MoDRE. However, empirical evidence on their applicability to real-world contexts with a relevant social com- ponent, and going through a process of digitalisation, is limited. Furthermore, existing approaches do not evaluate the impact that the deployment of a novel digital system has on the process and its actors. [Principal idea/Results] The research outlined in this paper aims to evaluate the joint usage of typical requirements engineer notations, namely i*, class diagrams, and business process models in the elicitation of requirements for socially-intensive systems that are going through a transformative digitalisation process. We apply these notations to represent the system-as-is, and the system-to-be, with the goal of also evaluating the impact of digitalisation. We focus on living labs (LL, i.e., networks of stakeholders participating in a socio-technical system) belonging to the agriculture domain, and provide a preliminary application on a farm that is introducing an AI-based irrigation system. [Contribution] The results show that effective communication with non-technical stakeholders is feasible with the envisioned approach. Although multiple iterations are required, agronomists and farmers are able to provide constructive feedback on the basis of the models. Furthermore, impacts in terms of additional/removed tasks and actors can be effectively characterised through business process models. As part of our overall project, we will refine the method, and then apply it in 20 living labs in the EU.Source: REFSQ 2023 - 29th International Working Conference on Requirement Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality: Posters and Tools, Barcelona, Spain, 17-20/04/2023
See at:
ceur-ws.org 
| ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2023
Conference article
Unknown
Digitalising agriculture: design and development of a modelling web environment for end-users
Mannari C., Anichini E., Malizia A., Turchi T., Ferrari A., Bacco M.
Modern digital technologies have a promising potential in the development of sustainable agriculture. For example, cloud computers powered by 5G IoT components allow the development of sophisticated applications -- e.g., for food traceability, pest detection, automatic irrigation -- also making use of different AI-based techniques. At the same time, digitalisation in agriculture is considered a socio-technical process to be evaluated by different stakeholders through collaborative approaches. Model-based requirements engineering strategies, which leverage diagrammatic notations, can support information exchange between different domains. Based on the evaluation of different solutions, we found a lack of tools for designing and modelling systems accessible to end-users. Most professional tools are desktop applications based on complex interactions, limited user experience, or generalist web platforms needing more formal components. In our study, we developed a prototype of a web environment for modelling systems based on a visual language that can be exported into standard code. We aim to involve end-users in modelling their digital ecosystems as a preliminary task for developing further applications. The prototype was evaluated in a workshop with experts following the cognitive walkthrough methodology for usability inspection. The evaluation highlighted the UI requirements to support easy-to-understand visual elements and maximise the understanding of actions while limiting user errors.Source: VL/HCC 2023 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, Washington, DC, USA, 2-6/10/2023
Mannari C., Anichini E., Malizia A., Turchi T., Ferrari A., Bacco M.
Modern digital technologies have a promising potential in the development of sustainable agriculture. For example, cloud computers powered by 5G IoT components allow the development of sophisticated applications -- e.g., for food traceability, pest detection, automatic irrigation -- also making use of different AI-based techniques. At the same time, digitalisation in agriculture is considered a socio-technical process to be evaluated by different stakeholders through collaborative approaches. Model-based requirements engineering strategies, which leverage diagrammatic notations, can support information exchange between different domains. Based on the evaluation of different solutions, we found a lack of tools for designing and modelling systems accessible to end-users. Most professional tools are desktop applications based on complex interactions, limited user experience, or generalist web platforms needing more formal components. In our study, we developed a prototype of a web environment for modelling systems based on a visual language that can be exported into standard code. We aim to involve end-users in modelling their digital ecosystems as a preliminary task for developing further applications. The prototype was evaluated in a workshop with experts following the cognitive walkthrough methodology for usability inspection. The evaluation highlighted the UI requirements to support easy-to-understand visual elements and maximise the understanding of actions while limiting user errors.Source: VL/HCC 2023 - IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and Human-Centric Computing, Washington, DC, USA, 2-6/10/2023
See at: CNR ExploRA
2023
Conference article
Open Access
ModeLLer - a prototype to support requirements elicitation in co-design environments
Mannari C., Anichini E., Bacco M., Ferrari A., Turchi T., Malizia A.
This contribution presents ModeLLer, a prototype of a web tool for system modelling based on a block-based visual editor. The aim of ModeLLer is to enable collaborative environments in requirements elicitation, allowing end-users to create UML class diagrams without any knowledge of the (semi-)formal UML notation.Source: RE 2023 - 31st IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference, Hannover, Germany, 04-08/09/2023
Mannari C., Anichini E., Bacco M., Ferrari A., Turchi T., Malizia A.
This contribution presents ModeLLer, a prototype of a web tool for system modelling based on a block-based visual editor. The aim of ModeLLer is to enable collaborative environments in requirements elicitation, allowing end-users to create UML class diagrams without any knowledge of the (semi-)formal UML notation.Source: RE 2023 - 31st IEEE International Requirements Engineering Conference, Hannover, Germany, 04-08/09/2023
See at:
ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2023
Conference article
Open Access
The ethical impact assessment of selling life insurance to titanic passengers
Gezici G., Mannari C., Orlandi L.
The Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) is a uniform legal framework to ensure that AI systems within the European Union (EU) are safe and comply with existing law on fundamental rights and constitutional values. The AIA adopts a risk-based approach with the aim of intending to regulate AI systems, especially categorised as high-risk, which have significant harmful impacts on the health, safety and fundamental rights of persons in the Union. The AIA is founded on the Ethics Guidelines of the High-Level Expert Group for Trustworthy AI, which are grounded in fundamental rights and reflect four ethical imperatives in order to ensure ethical and robust AI. While we acknowledge that ethics is not law, we advocate that the analysis of ethical risks can assist us in complying with laws, thereby facilitating the implementation of the AIA requirements. Thus, we first design an AI-driven Decision Support System for individual risk prediction in the insurance domain (categorised as high-risk by the AIA) based on the Titanic case, which is a popular benchmark dataset in machine learning. We then fulfill an ethical impact assessment of the Titanic case study, relying on the four ethical imperatives of respect for human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness, and explicability, declared by the High-Level Expert Group for Trustworthy AI. In the context of this ethical impact assessment, we also refer to the questions in the ALTAI checklist. Our discussions regarding the ethical impact assessment in the insurance domain demonstrate that ethical principles can intersect but also create tensions (intriguingly, only in this particular context), for which there is no definitive solution. When tensions arise, which may result in unavoidable trade-offs, these trade-offs should be addressed in a rational and methodical manner, paying special attention to the context of the current case study being evaluated.Source: HHAI-WS 2023 - Workshops at the Second International Conference on Hybrid Human-Artificial Intelligence, pp. 35–50, Munich, Germany, 26-27/06/2023
Project(s): SoBigData-PlusPlus
Gezici G., Mannari C., Orlandi L.
The Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) is a uniform legal framework to ensure that AI systems within the European Union (EU) are safe and comply with existing law on fundamental rights and constitutional values. The AIA adopts a risk-based approach with the aim of intending to regulate AI systems, especially categorised as high-risk, which have significant harmful impacts on the health, safety and fundamental rights of persons in the Union. The AIA is founded on the Ethics Guidelines of the High-Level Expert Group for Trustworthy AI, which are grounded in fundamental rights and reflect four ethical imperatives in order to ensure ethical and robust AI. While we acknowledge that ethics is not law, we advocate that the analysis of ethical risks can assist us in complying with laws, thereby facilitating the implementation of the AIA requirements. Thus, we first design an AI-driven Decision Support System for individual risk prediction in the insurance domain (categorised as high-risk by the AIA) based on the Titanic case, which is a popular benchmark dataset in machine learning. We then fulfill an ethical impact assessment of the Titanic case study, relying on the four ethical imperatives of respect for human autonomy, prevention of harm, fairness, and explicability, declared by the High-Level Expert Group for Trustworthy AI. In the context of this ethical impact assessment, we also refer to the questions in the ALTAI checklist. Our discussions regarding the ethical impact assessment in the insurance domain demonstrate that ethical principles can intersect but also create tensions (intriguingly, only in this particular context), for which there is no definitive solution. When tensions arise, which may result in unavoidable trade-offs, these trade-offs should be addressed in a rational and methodical manner, paying special attention to the context of the current case study being evaluated.Source: HHAI-WS 2023 - Workshops at the Second International Conference on Hybrid Human-Artificial Intelligence, pp. 35–50, Munich, Germany, 26-27/06/2023
Project(s): SoBigData-PlusPlus
See at:
ceur-ws.org | ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA
2022
Report
Open Access
DESIRA - D3.3 Use cases report
Bacco F. M., Ferrari A., Mannari C.
In DESIRA, five Living Labs were selected to carry out use case workshops. The objective was to codesign a digital tool in each different context. To do so, the participants agreed on one or more goals to be reached. Building on both the focal question and the scenario question that each Living Lab has developed in previous activities, a use case statement has been co-developed to carry out use case workshops. The use case statement describes the goal(s) of the tool to be co-designed, the involved actors, and the needed ICT components. The used methodology is described in this report, as well as the outputs of the process. The methodology has been adapted to the concept of socio-cyber-physical system that DESIRA developed, opening discussions on impacts, drivers, and barriers as further step in the process, following the high-level design of the digital tool and of its main functionalities. Each Living Lab identified what the participants deemed as needed in their region in terms of a novel digital tool. The presence of various stakeholders in Living Labs has made it easier to consider a wide range of needs since the very beginning, allowing everyone to have a role when it comes to the use of the co-designed digital tool. Such a mechanism, not embedded in the typical use case methodology - which only clarifies the role of those considered as users by ICT designers - has been further strengthened in the workshops, therefore going beyond the traditional approach. In fact, by fostering discussions on impacts, drivers, and barriers, the proposed methodology has allowed the participants to reflect, early on in the process, on the potential impacts of the introduction of digital technologies. Last but not least, it is worth pointing out that the outputs of the use cases, summarised in this document, provide a valuable starting point for software companies willing to design and develop digital tools not only according to users' needs and desires but also tailored to the different rural contexts herein under consideration.Source: ISTI Project Report, DESIRA, D3.3, pp.1–175, 2022
Project(s): DESIRA
Bacco F. M., Ferrari A., Mannari C.
In DESIRA, five Living Labs were selected to carry out use case workshops. The objective was to codesign a digital tool in each different context. To do so, the participants agreed on one or more goals to be reached. Building on both the focal question and the scenario question that each Living Lab has developed in previous activities, a use case statement has been co-developed to carry out use case workshops. The use case statement describes the goal(s) of the tool to be co-designed, the involved actors, and the needed ICT components. The used methodology is described in this report, as well as the outputs of the process. The methodology has been adapted to the concept of socio-cyber-physical system that DESIRA developed, opening discussions on impacts, drivers, and barriers as further step in the process, following the high-level design of the digital tool and of its main functionalities. Each Living Lab identified what the participants deemed as needed in their region in terms of a novel digital tool. The presence of various stakeholders in Living Labs has made it easier to consider a wide range of needs since the very beginning, allowing everyone to have a role when it comes to the use of the co-designed digital tool. Such a mechanism, not embedded in the typical use case methodology - which only clarifies the role of those considered as users by ICT designers - has been further strengthened in the workshops, therefore going beyond the traditional approach. In fact, by fostering discussions on impacts, drivers, and barriers, the proposed methodology has allowed the participants to reflect, early on in the process, on the potential impacts of the introduction of digital technologies. Last but not least, it is worth pointing out that the outputs of the use cases, summarised in this document, provide a valuable starting point for software companies willing to design and develop digital tools not only according to users' needs and desires but also tailored to the different rural contexts herein under consideration.Source: ISTI Project Report, DESIRA, D3.3, pp.1–175, 2022
Project(s): DESIRA
See at:
ISTI Repository | CNR ExploRA