The modern world has made available a wealth of new possibilities for interacting with computers, through advanced Web applications, while on the go with handheld smart telephones or using electronic tabletops or wall-sized displays. Developers of modern interactive systems face great problems: how to design applications which will work well with newly available technologies, and how to efficiently and correctly implement such designs. Design, Specification and Verification of Interactive Systems 2008 was the 15th of a series of annual workshops devoted to helping designers and implementers of interactive systems unleash the power of modern interaction devices and techniques. DSV-IS 2008 was held at Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada, during July 16–18, 2008. This book collects the best papers submitted to the workshop. There were 17 full papers, 10 late-breaking and experience report papers, and two demonstrations. Keynote presentations were provided by Judy Brown of Carleton University and Randy Ellis of Queen’s University. The first day of the workshop addressed the problems of user interface evaluation and specification, with particular emphasis on the use of task models to provide hi- level approaches for capturing the intended functionality of a user interface. Day two continued this theme, examining techniques for modeling user interfaces, particularly for mobile and ubiquitous applications. Presenters also discussed advanced implem- tation techniques for interactive systems. Finally, day three considered how to arc- tect interactive systems, and returned to the themes of evaluation and specification.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Design, Specification, and Verification of Interactive Systems, DSVIS 2006, held in Dublin, Ireland in July 2006. The 19 revised full papers presented together with one keynote paper, and two working group reports were carefully reviewed and selected from 57 submissions during two rounds of reviewing and improvement.

This book constitutes the refereed post-proceedings of the 12th International Workshop on Design, Specification, and Verification of Interactive Systems, DSV-IS 2005. The 20 revised full papers, 1 keynote paper, and 4 summaries of group discussions are organized in topical sections on teams and groups, sketches and templates, away from the desktop, migration and mobility, analysis tools, model-based design processes and tools, and group discussions.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on Design, Specification, and Verification of Interactive Systems, DSV-IS 2003, held in Funchal, Madeira Island, Portugal, in June 2003. The 26 revised full papers and 5 revised short papers presented together with an invited paper have passed through two rounds of reviewing, selection, and improvement. The papers are organized in topical sections on test and evaluation, Web and groupware, tools and technologies, task modeling, model-based design, mobile and multiple devices, UML, and specification languages.

The wait for the year 2000 was marked by the fear of possible bugs that might have arisen at its beginning. One additional fear we had during this wait was whether - ganising this event would have generated a boon or another bug. The reasons for this fear originated in the awareness that the design of interactive systems is a fast moving area. The type of research work presented at this unique event has received limited support from funding agencies and industries making it more difficult to keep up with the rapid technological changes occurring in interaction technology. However, despite our fear, the workshop was successful because of the high-quality level of participation and discussion. Before discussing such results, let us step back and look at the evolution of DSV-IS (Design, Specification and Verification of Interactive Systems), an international wo- shop that has been organised every year since 1994. The first books that addressed this issue in a complete and thorough manner were the collection of contributions edited by Harrison and Thimbleby and the book written by Alan Dix, which focused on abstractions useful to highlight important concepts in the design of interactive systems. Since then, this area has attracted the interest of a wider number of research groups, and some workshops on related topics started to be organised. DSV-IS had its origins in this spreading and growing interest. The first workshop was held in a monastery located in the hills above Bocca di Magra (Italy).

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on the Design, Specification, and Verification of Interactive Systems, DSV-IS 2001, held in Glasgow, Scotland, UK, in June 2001. The 12 revised full papers presented have gone through two rounds of reviewing, selection, and revision. The book offers topical sections on mobile interface design, context-sensitive interfaces, supervision and control systems, temporal and stochastic issues, and new perspectives.

Making systems easier to use implies increasingly complex management of communication between users and applications. An increasing part of the application program is devoted to the user interface. In order to manage this complexity, it is very important to have tools, notations, and methodologies that support the designer's work during the refinement process from specification to implementation. The purpose of this proceedings of the first (1994) Eurographics workshop on this area is to review the state of the art. It compares the different existing approaches in order to identify the principal requirements and the most suitable notations and methods, and indicates the relevant results.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 9th International Workshop on the Design, Specification, and Verification of Interactive Systems, DSV-IS 2002, held in Rostock, Germany in June 2002. The 19 revised full papers presented have gone through two rounds of reviewing, selection, and improvement. All aspects of the design, specification, and verification of interactive systems from the human-computer interaction point of view are addressed. Particular emphasis is given to models and their role in supporting the design and development of interactive systems and user interfaces for ubiquitous computing.

Does modelling, formal or otherwise, play a role in designing interactive systems? A proliferation of interactive devices and technologies is used in an ever increasing diversity of contexts and combinations in professional and every-day life. This development poses a significant challenge to modelling approaches used for the design of interactive systems. The papers in this volume discuss a range of modelling approaches, the representations they use, the strengths and weaknesses of their associated specification and analysis techniques and their role in supporting the design of interactive systems.

An increasing recognition of the role of the human-system interface is leading to new extensions and styles of specification. Techniques are being developed that facilitate the expression of user-oriented requirements and the refinement and checking of specifications of interactive systems. This book reflects the state of the art in this important area and also contains a summary of working group discussions about how the various techniques represented might be applied to a common case study.