The IFIP Working Group (WG) 2.7/13.4 on User Interface Engineering aims at advancing the state of the art in all aspects of designing, building and evaluating interactive computing systems with a particular focus on principled, methodological engineering approaches. The scope of investigation comprises, among others, methods and tools for modelling, prototyping, developing and evaluating interactive computing systems, quality models for interactive systems, and new interface technologies suitable to improve user interaction. Methods can include human-, model- or AI-based approaches.
The WG understands UI Engineering as the creation and application of scientific knowledge and systematic, structured design and evidence-based methods to improve the user-related and system-related qualities of interactive systems. UI Engineering addresses all aspects related to methods, processes, tools, technologies, and empirical studies involved in the invention, design and building of interactive systems. Of particular interest are topics advancing the state of the art in the engineering of interactive systems, such as:
- Modelling, specification and analysis of interaction and interactive systems
- Requirements engineering for interactive systems
- Methods, processes, principles and/or tools for building interactive systems (e.g., design, implementation, prototyping, evaluation, verification and validation, testing)
- Software architectures for interactive systems
- Formal methods within interactive systems engineering
- Bridging the gap between engineering and design practices.
- Engineering design and evaluation tools
- Computational techniques for designing and evaluating interactive systems
- Interactive data-driven systems
- Explore and/or employ of diverse interaction techniques and devices (e.g., adaptive, context-aware, tangible, haptic, touch and multitouch input, voice, gestures, recognition of physiological signals, multimodal input, mobile and wearable systems, virtual, augmented, mixed and extended reality)
- Engineering hardware or software integration in interactive systems (e.g., fabrication and maker processes, physical computing, cyber-physical systems)
- Engineering interactive systems for diverse user groups (e.g., children, elderly, people with disabilities,…)
- Engineering collaborative multi-user interactive systems
- Engineering interactive systems embedding AI-technologies
- Engineering interaction-driven AI-technologies
- Applying AI technologies in methods, processes and tools for building interactive systems in all stages of the engineering lifecycle
The Working Group brings together researchers and practitioners from all fields concerned with the engineering of interactive systems to exchange their knowledge and to foster collaborations on dedicated research topics. The WG’s work mode comprises regular working meetings and dedicated projects carried out in meetings and through online collaboration. An important objective is also to transfer UI engineering knowledge to a broader audience of system designers and developers. The WG supports this through publications as well as conference events. Since 2009, the WG is a major supporting organization of the yearly ACM SIGCHI Symposium on Engineering Interactive Computing Systems (EICS). Interested researchers are welcome to participate in the WG as observers and may become members in case of their continued interest and contribution to WG activities.