SPLASH 2010 workshop on flexible modeling tools

"Flexible modeling tools" hold the promise of bridging the gap between formal modeling and free-form authoring. This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners to explore ideas and showcase early results in this emerging field. Both formal modeling and free-form authoring offer important benefits for software architects and designers, as well as others. Unfortunately, contemporary tools often force users to choose one style of work over the other. During the exploratory phases of design, it is more common to use white boards than modeling tools. During the early stages of architectural analysis, it is more common to use office tools like PowerPoint and Excel. These tools offer ease of use, freedom from strict representation rules, and the ability to readily prepare attractive presentations for a variety of stakeholders. However, users miss out on the clarity, consistency, and completeness that can accrue from using modeling tools, as well as the powerful visualization, navigation, manipulation, and guidance that semantics-driven tools can provide. At this workshop, people who build tools and people who use tools for software development will discuss the reasons for the current state of the practice, and will focus on tool users' needs and tool capabilities to address those needs. Papers and live demonstrations will present work on free-form authoring tools, formal modeling tools, and hybrid tools that aim to achieve the benefits of both.