4.7 Application of the graphical notation of the
Figure 4.13: ThinkLet construction plan: FreeBrainstorm
The construction plan of the thinkLetFreeBrainstormstarts with a transition element that divides the group flow into concurrent participant flows. Each participant is guided to the process templatepreparation, which is used to provide information about the col-laboration process and generate a set of contributions as a basis for the brainstorming phase.
Figure 4.14 represents the construction plan of the process templatepreparation. This construction plan is connected to the construction plan of the thinkLetFreeBrainstorm by the following data and signal parameters:
process information a data parameter that represents general infor-mation about the collaboration process.
process task a data parameter that represents a task that is used by a participant in an associative process to generate a contribution.
process result a data forward element that is used to provide the generated contribution of a participant to other collaboration processes.
According to the process templatepreparation, a participant is guided to the context-oriented thinXel read information. This thinXel shows the participant information about the collaboration process, which are defined by the data parameterprocess infor-mationand provided via the data path that connects the data parameter to the thinXel el-ement. In a second step, the participant flow guides the participant to the data-oriented thinXelcreate contributionthat represents the intention to generate a contribution for a given task. The thinXel is connected with the data parameterprocess taskto provide a predefined task as a stimulus for an associative process. The generated contribution will be sent to the data forward elementprocess result, which is connected to the public storage elementcontributions. The participant leaves the process templatepreparation after the generation of a contribution and is guided by a participant flow to a transition element that synchronises the participant flows of the participants.
During the preparation phase, a facilitator can stop the phase by sending a signal via the signal parameterstop preparationto the response elementend preparation phase.
The response element interrupts all participants that use the process template prepara-tionin their current activities and guides them to a transition element to synchronize the concurrent processes of the participants.
Figure 4.14: Process template construction plan: preparation
Figure 4.15: Process template construction plan: brainstorming
The transition element sends the participants as a group to the brainstorming phase of the collaboration process. The resulting groupflow activates the sender elementstart timerthat sends a start signal to the signal generatortimer, which is used to limit the time of the process phase brainstorming. The timer is set to a value that is predefined by the data parametertime for brainstorming. A transition element again divides the group flow into concurrent participants flows and guides each participant to the process templatebrainstorming, which is used to generate new contributions and to comment existing contributions in an associative process. Figure 4.15 represents the construction plan of the process templatebrainstorming. This construction plan is connected to the construction plan of the thinkLetFreeBrainstormby the following data and signal parameters:
brainstorming task a data parameter that represents a brain-storming task that is used during the col-laboration process.
list: contributions a data parameter to provide a list of con-tributions which are used to generate new contributions or to comment existing con-tributions
list: blocked contributions a data parameter that provides a list of con-tributions currently used by other partici-pants.
selected contribution a data forward element that is used to mark the selected contribution of a participant as blocked for other participants.
generated contribution a data forward element that is used to pro-vide the generated contribution of a partic-ipant to other collaboration processes.
The construction plan starts with a sender elementget contributionthat automatically sends a signal to the data generatorselect contribution. This generator uses the data parameterlist: contributions andlist: blocked contributionsto select a contribution that is currently not used by another participant. A selected contribution and related comments for this contribution are stored via a data path in the private storage place ele-mentactive contribution. Furthermore, the data forward elementselected contribution provides the selected contribution to the thinkLet construction planFreeBrainstorm, which stores the selected contribution in the public storage place elementblocked
con-tributions, which in turn provides input data for the data parameterlist:blocked contri-butions. The decision elementcontribution != nullchecks if a contribution exists and - if a contribution exists - guides the participant to the context-oriented thinXelselect activity. Otherwise, a participant is guided to the elementendof the construction plan and finishes the brainstorming phase.
The thinXel select activity provides the selected contribution and possible existing comments and instructs the participant to decide between the following activities: ’to improve the contribution by creating a comment’ or ’to use the contribution as a stim-ulus to generate a new contribution’.
If the participant decides to improve the given contribution by adding a new comment, the decision elementactivity == commentguides the participant to the data-oriented thinXelcreate a comment. The thinXel provides the given contribution and the brain-storming task as stimuli and instructs the participant to create a comment that improves the given contribution. A created comment is stored via the forward data element gen-erated contribution in the global storage place elementcontributions of the thinkLet construction planFreeBrainstormand will be available to each participant. The partic-ipant is guided back to the senderget contributionto get a new contribution.
Another participant flow is described for the situation that the participant wants to use the presented contribution as a stimulus to generate a new contribution. In this case the participant is guided by the decision elementactivity == commentto the data-oriented thinXelcreate a contribution. Here, the thinXel provides the given contribution and the brainstorming task as stimuli and instructs the participant to create a new contribution, which is stored via the forward data elementgenerated contributionin the global stor-age place elementcontributionsand can be seen by other participants. The participant is guided back to the senderget contributionto get a new contribution.
If the participant does not want to improve the given contribution or to generate a new contribution and aborts the context-oriented thinXelselect activity, the participant flow guides the participant back to the senderget contributionto get a new contribution.
The same happens, if the participant aborts the data-oriented thinXelscreate a com-mentandcreate a contribution.
The brainstorming phase stops, if the activated signal generatortimerof the thinkLet construction planFreeBrainstormsends a signal after a certain period of time to the response elementend brainstorming phase. This element interrupts all participants in their current activities and guides them to a transition element, where the participants will be guided as a group to the exit of the thinkLet element.