=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2075/FIRE18_paper3
|storemode=property
|title=Be Ahead of the Game: Gamification for Inclusive RE
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2075/FIRE18_paper3.pdf
|volume=Vol-2075
|authors=Naomi Unkelos-Shpigel,Irit Hadar
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/refsq/Unkelos-Shpigel18
}}
==Be Ahead of the Game: Gamification for Inclusive RE==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2075/FIRE18_paper3.pdf
Be Ahead of the Game:
Gamification for Inclusive RE
Naomi Unkelos-Shpigel, Irit Hadar
Information Systems Department, University of Haifa
Carmel Mountain 31905, Haifa, Israel
naomiu@is.haifa.ac.il,hadari@is.haifa.ac.il
Abstract. Requirement Engineering (RE) research has evolved in the last dec-
ades, addressing new challenges emerging from advanced software development
methodologies, and from extending the user population to special groups of users.
Although more and more products are developed for special needs user groups,
only few research works address the unique challenges of eliciting requirements
for users with whom such collaboration requires overcoming substantial barriers.
In parallel, the use of gamification techniques has been investigated for the pur-
pose of enhancing RE task performance, typically not addressing special user
groups. In this paper, we focus on using gamification for RE tasks, intended for
three special user groups: young children, individuals on the spectrum of autism,
and elderly adults. We propose a model representing cognitive barriers hindering
the RE process with the aforementioned groups of users, and set the ground for a
research agenda which addresses theseText barriers of communication and engage-
ment, by exploring gamification as a facilitator of inclusive RE.
Keywords: Inclusive requirement engineering, gamification, children, autism,
elderly adults.
1 Introduction
Requirements engineering (RE) is an important part of software development, and has
a considerable effect on the quality of the deployed software and on customer satisfac-
tion. Several challenges were found in RE, many of which are related to stakeholder
involvement in, and contribution to, the various RE tasks – requirements elicitation,
specification and validation ([6][11]). The RE process requires ongoing communication
involving customers, managers and developers. In the software domain, RE is typically
even more complex than in other product domains, as often the stakeholders come from
different backgrounds, with many of the end users having little or no technical under-
standing of the software product developed. This makes the tasks of eliciting require-
ments and specifying them in a way that will be coherent to all stakeholders highly
complex. RE, starting with the task of requirements elicitation becomes even more
challenging when the end users have further barriers, affecting their motivation, com-
munication capabilities, or both.
Copyright (c) by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted for private and academic purposes.
This position paper aims to explore the use of gamification for facilitating inclusive
RE. It briefly reviews existing literature in order to understand what has been achieved
so far in inclusive RE, and to what extent gamification has been included in these re-
search efforts (section 2). Next, we propose a model of communication and engagement
barriers hindering RE with special populations and discuss the potential contribution of
gamification for overcoming these barriers (section 3). We summarize the paper by
presenting guiding research questions for future research (section 4).
2 Scientific Background
2.1 Gamification in RE
Gamification is defined as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts in
order to encourage individuals to participate in certain tasks and contribute to their suc-
cess [3]. In recent years, various gamification elements have been embedded in different
information systems and applications in general and, more recently, in applications in-
tended for the use of RE in particular.
Research works concerning gamification in RE have thus far been mostly examined
empirically with student participants (e.g., [1][11]), with several recent studies con-
ducted with practitioners (e.g., [8][9][10]). For example, gamification used in virtual
teams during requirements elicitation was found to assist the teams to locate experts and
share their knowledge [9]. Another work [4] identified three types of activities needed
to be performed when engaging gamification into RE: analysis, integration, and evalua-
tion, and found that students performing these activities had better results in RE. These
research works mostly focused on measuring the outcomes of embedding gamification
techniques in RE processes. Still, a systematic research revealing specific factors leading
to motivation and productive behavior, thus guiding gamification design, is yet to be
conducted. Little attention has been paid to the individual influence of each gamification
technique, or of the combination thereof, on the results [8] [17].
In the following subsection, we bring several examples of special groups for whom
gamification has been used for eliciting requirements.
2.2 Gamification in inclusive RE
2.2.1 RE for young children as users
RE for young children, who are still unable to express their needs of a software prod-
uct, is usually done by educational experts, whereas the intended users are involved in
the process only as testers [16]. This method, called child-centered design, is common
when designing games for children. However, it does not involve the children in early
stages of the product development, and, in particular, in RE. Several attempts have re-
cently been made to involve children in RE. For example, Heikkinen et al. [7] created
a tool for requirements elicitation for mobile applications for children. They found a
technical gap between the children’s requirements and the developers’ capabilities, and
concluded that with the lack of proper requirements management, many of the desired
3
requirements collected from the children could not be mapped to technical capabilities.
Marti and Giusty [14] asked children with disabilities to use a robot for assisting them
in social interactions; this facilitated the enhancement of the robot’s visual interface.
The involvement of children in the RE process of products designed for them is still
relatively scarce. The few attempts made highlight the need for a systematic method
guiding the elicitation of requirements from young or disabled children, in a way that
would lend these requirements to be “translatable” to the developers.
2.2.2 RE for end users on the spectrum of autism.
Some effort has been invested during the last decade in researching RE for autistic
spectrum disorder (ASD) users. The main progress in this area is the acknowledgment
that AURE (Autistic Users RE) requires special attention, such as visual over verbal
communication, that rationalization plays an important role in this process, as does
prepping a detailed report of the process conclusion [15].
Documented challenges of requirements elicitation for ASD users (typically focus-
ing on children) stem mostly from the fact that verbal communication is very difficult,
and while some advantages were found in the work of ASD children interacting with a
robot as an agent, many challenges remained [12]. Additional empirical efforts were
made, such as using picture completion tasks instead of user stories, bearing promising
results [2]. In recent years, as research concerning gamification for ASD children has
evolved, gamification has been used for collaboration among young ASD children as a
way to assist them in understanding social contexts and encouraging motivation to par-
ticipate in these games [9]. The game serves as a therapeutic tool, as well as a source
of enjoyment. Such game could possibly be designed for the specific use of eliciting
requirements for software products to be used by ASD children.These attempts are still
in preliminary steps of their operationalization in RE for ASD users. As communication
is difficult and the engagement of these users is usually low, additional strategies are
needed in order to understand what their needs are.
2.2.3 RE for elderly end users
As the use of computers and mobile applications becomes a necessity today, and with
the rise of digital healthcare for all, including elderly patients, elderly users often strug-
gle with the use of these applications. One major challenge in assisting elderly users to
overcome the technology gap is their lack of motivation and engagement in performing
tasks related to the use of these applications [5][13].
Several examples of gamification exist in the literature, where gamification was em-
ployed to engage elderly users to use technology and to be aware of its risks. For ex-
ample, a game was designed to increase elderly users’ motivation in user authentication
when using online applications. The results showed that although gamification was
helpful in promoting authentication awareness among elderly users, the task was highly
time consuming and was thus recommended to be restricted to scenarios where a higher
level of security is required [5]. While limited, this example shows some promise as to
the potential of gamification to engage elderly users in technology-related processes.
3 Inclusive RE Barriers - Proposed Model
Literature review reveals very few examples of using gamification as an inclusive
mechanism in RE. In other words, the question of whether gamification may enhance
requirements elicitation from special groups, with whom traditional RE methods do not
produce the desired results, is yet to be addressed. As a starting point for directing this
research, we propose a model that captures and maps the different communication and
engagement levels, with regards to the example populations (see Fig.1).
Unlike traditional RE, in which users are capable to communicate their needs, and
are often keen to express their opinions and thoughts, in the case of inclusive RE, at
least one of the characteristics – communication or engagement – is compromised. In
the case of young children, for example, we can expect them to demonstrate high en-
gagement in the process (and even more so, when they are asked to play a game), but
the younger the children the more difficult it is to communicate with them and capture
a clear and realistic specification of their requirements. In the case of elderly adults, we
may assume high communication skills (as long as their cognitive condition is not im-
paired), but often low engagement, due to the reluctance to use technology, as discussed
above. RE for users on the spectrum of autism presents challenges on both dimensions:
communication and engagement.
Fig. 1. Communication and engagement model for inclusive RE
We propose a research agenda that can guide research works aiming to investigate and
improve requirements elicitation for special populations. Specifically, we propose to ad-
dress the following research questions: How can gamification be used for improving
requirements elicitation from populations with (1) communication barriers? (2) engage-
ment barriers? (3) with both, communication and engagement, barriers?
In order to address these questions, we propose to construct a framework of models,
where each model refers to various gamification techniques, with regard to different
special user groups. Several combinations of gamification techniques should be evalu-
ated for each group, trying to determine which gamification techniques can enhance the
RE process, facilitating and promoting user communication, engagement, or both.
5
4 References
1. Alami, D., and Dalpiaz, F.: A Gamified Tutorial for Learning about Security Requirements
Engineering. In: Requirements Engineering Conf. (RE), IEEE 25th Int. ,418-423. (2017).
2. Davis, M., Dautenhahn, K., Nehaniv, C., and Powell, S..: Towards an interactive system
eliciting narrative comprehension in children with autism: A longitudinal study. Designing
accessible technology, 101-114 (2006).
3. Deterding, S., Khaled, R., Nacke, L., and Dixon, D.: Gamification: Toward a definition.
In: CHI 2011 gamification Workshop Proceedings ,12-15 (2011).
4. Dubois, D. J., and Tamburrelli, G.: Understanding Gamification Mechanisms for Software
Development. In: The 2013 9th Joint Meeting on Foundations of SE,ACM,659-662(2013).
5. Ebbers, F., and Brune, P.: The Authentication Game-Secure User Authentication by Gami-
fication? In: Int. Conf. on Advanced IS Engineering, 101-115. Springer, Cham. (2016).
6. Fernandes, J., Duarte, D., Ribeiro, C., Farinha, C., Pereira, J. M., and da Silva, M. M.:
iThink: A Game-Based Approach Towards Improving Collaboration and Participation in
Requirement Elicitation. Procedia Computer Science, 15, 66-77. (2012).
7. Heikkinen, K., Kallonen, P., Paananen, J., Porras, R., Purves, R., Read, J. C., and Welch,
G.: Designing Mobile Applications for Children. User Req. Wireless, 42(7). (2015).
8. Kolpondinos, M. Z. H., and Glinz, M.: Behind Points and Levels—The Influence of Gami-
fication Algorithms on Requirements Prioritization. In: Requirements Engineering Confer-
ence (RE), 2017 IEEE 25th International ,332-341. IEEE. (2017).
9. Law, F. L., Mohd Kasirun, Z., and Gan, C. K.: Gamification Towards Sustainable Mobile
Application. In 5th Malaysian Conf. on Soft. Eng. (MYSEC), IEEE, 349-353. (2011).
10. Lombriser, P., and van der Valk, R.: Improving the Quality of the Software Development
Lifecycle with Gamification (2011).
11. Marshburn, D. G., and Henry, R. M.: Improving Knowledge Coordination in Early Stages
of Software Development Using Gamification. In: Proceedings of the Southern Ass. for Info.
Sys. Conf. Savannah, Ga, USA. (2013).
12. Malinverni, L., Mora-Guiard, J., Padillo, V., Valero, L., Hervás, A., and Pares, N.: An In-
clusive Design Approach for Developing Video Games for Children with Autism Spectrum
Disorder. Computers in Human Behavior, 71, 535-549. (2017).
13. Maiden, N., Zachos, K., Lockerbie, J., Levis, S., Camargo, K., Hoddy, S., and Allemandi,
G.: Evaluating Digital Creativity Support To Improve Health-and-Safety in a Manufacturing
Plant. In Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Sys-
tems ,7005-7014. ACM (2017).
14. Marti, P., and Giusti, L.: A Robot Companion for Inclusive Games: A User-Centred Design
Perspective. In: IEEE Int.Conf. on Robotics & Automation, 4348-4353. IEEE (2010).
15. Pardo, S., Howard, S., and Vetere, F.: Child-Centered Evaluation: Broadening the Child/De-
signer Dyad. Advances in Human-Computer Interaction (2008).
16. Tahir, M. N., Khan, S., and Raza, A.: Challenges in Requirements Engineering for Mobile
Applications for Disabled–Autism. Journal on Industrial and Intelligent Info, 1(4). (2013).
17. Unkelos-Shpigel, N., and Hadar, I. (2015, August). Inviting everyone to play: Gamifying
collaborative requirements engineering. In Empirical Requirements Engineering (EmpiRE),
2015 IEEE Fifth International Workshop on ,13-16, (2015). IEEE.