Towards Self-Explaining Digital Systems: A Design Methodology for the Next Generation

Abstract

As digital systems get ever more complex, their behaviour may at times appear unfathomable. Users will only be prepared to accept this if they are convinced that the system does indeed work correctly. Thus, we argue the need for self-explaining systems: systems that are able to explain their behaviour, and the reasons for it. In this paper, we propose first steps towards a design methodology for such systems, and argue that beyond user acceptance, self-explanation also has other applications such as self-verification and reconfiguration. We propose a conceptual framework for self-explaining systems, discuss how to achieve completeness, and consider implementation aspects.