AN ABSTRACT FRAMEWORK FOR GLOBALISING INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

We present an abstract framework for designing and developing globalis ed interactive systems from simple components viewed as games [1] (K. Stathis, M.J. Sergot, Games as a Metaphor for Interactive Systems, in: M.A. Sasse, R.J. Cunningham, R.L. Winder (Eds.), People and Computers XI (Proceedings of HCI'96), August 1996, London, UK, BCS Conference S eries, Springer-Varlag, pp. 19-33). We identify a set of concepts requ ired to specify and implement interactions, in such a way whereby inst antiating the specifications and implementations of games we obtain co mponents that correspond to localised instances of an interactive syst em. Localisation is also obtained by either customising the specificat ion or the implementation of the interactive system, or both, The fram ework also caters for complex interactive systems which are interprete d as compound games built-up from sub-games. In this case, coordinatio n of sub-games is the main issue that we must address at the global le vel. This is resolved by specifying and implementing sub-games as acti ve components of the more complex games, and, as a result, we localise the coordination of components in the interactive system. The framewo rk lends itself towards a methodology that is suitable for globalising the development of interactive systems. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V .