Can Videos be Used to Communicate Non-functional Requirements? An Early Empirical Investigation

Non-functional requirements (NFRs) are not easy to elicit and formulate. Technology development and social media platforms made videos one of the primary means to communicate different information. Also, for software products, videos are used to, e.g., validate the idea of products before development-vision videos, to present them-product videos. Thus, a question arises can we use videos to communicate NFRs within Requirements Engineering activities? We designed an empirical study to answer the stated question and conducted an early investigation of 5 vision videos. We found that requirements about interoperability, time behavior, and usability were the most frequently mentioned in vision videos. We identified also several methods of expressing NFRs, e.g., by showing end-user reactions, using captions or narrator. Our study is the first attempt to investigate the research question. It follows from it that videos seem to be a useful means to communicate NFRs. We identified several challenges in using this medium and in analyzing videos that allowed us to suggest areas that can be included in the roadmap for further research in this area.