Article

Software, architecture, and participatory design

Authors:

Stephen Rank,

Carl O'Coill,

Cornelia Boldyreff,

Mark DoughtyAuthors Info & Claims

WISER '04: Proceedings of the 2004 ACM workshop on Interdisciplinary software engineering research

Pages 45 - 48

https://doi.org/10.1145/1029997.1030007

Published: 05 November 2004 Publication History

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Abstract

Much work in software architecture has been inspired by work in physical architecture, in particular Alexander's work on 'design patterns'. By contrast, Alexander's work is little-used in town planning and architecture. In this paper, we examine some of the reasons that this is so, describe some parallels and differences between the fields of physical and software architecture, and identify areas in which future collaboration may be fruitful. The notion of 'participatory design' is important in software engineering and in urban regeneration, but the participatory mechanisms in each field are quite different.

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Cited By

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Doughty MO'Coill C(2008)Online gaming and web-based communities: serious games for community developmentInternational Journal of Web Based Communities10.1504/IJWBC.2008.0191974:3(384-391)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1504/IJWBC.2008.019197
Acharya KInakage MCheok A(2008)The Indian neighbourhood user and designing for mobile internetProceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology10.1145/1501750.1501833(352-355)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1501750.1501833
Spraragen S(2005)The challenges in creating tools for improving the software development lifecycleProceedings of the 2005 workshop on Human and social factors of software engineering10.1145/1083106.1083118(1-3)Online publication date: 16-May-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1083106.1083118
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Index Terms

Software, architecture, and participatory design
1. Social and professional topics
2. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Designing software
  2. Software organization and properties
    1. Software system structures
      1. Software architectures

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Reviews

Reviewer: Robert C. Burns

The parallels and differences between software and buildings are most frequently noted by software architects. This paper continues that tradition, by explicitly examining the use of patterns and user participation in both software and building architecture. While appealing to software architects, this comparison will only whet their appetites, since it simply describes the phenomena instead of attempting to prescribe its best use. The authors explain that building architects are culturally expected to produce original-looking designs, while software architects are rewarded for repeatedly employing proven designs. Similarly, the point is made that both disciplines are expected to be cost-conscious, and to get users to participate during design activities. This results in an explanation of why building architects have resisted the use of patterns, but embraced user participation, while the situation is reversed in software. An implied point made by the authors is that both types of architects can learn from the practices of the other discipline. Readers who want to pursue these thoughts through additional research will gain the most from the 38 citations, which equally refer to literature in both disciplines. Practitioners may be intrigued by the paper, but will dismiss it quickly, because it does not offer prescriptive advice. However, there is real social science value in seeing this comparison made by scholars who are able to effectively navigate similar knowledge in both disciplines. For example, research on the intersection of patterns and participatory design in software could easily progress from this work. Online Computing Reviews Service

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

WISER '04: Proceedings of the 2004 ACM workshop on Interdisciplinary software engineering research

November 2004

96 pages

ISBN:1581139888

DOI:10.1145/1029997

Program Chairs:
Nikolay Mehandjiev
University of Manchester
,
Pearl Brereton
Keele University
,
Keith Bennett
University of Durham
,
David Budgen
Keele University
,
Paul Layzell
University of Manchester

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 05 November 2004

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WISER04: Workshop on Interdisciplinary Software Engineering Research

November 5, 2004

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Cited By

View all

Doughty MO'Coill C(2008)Online gaming and web-based communities: serious games for community developmentInternational Journal of Web Based Communities10.1504/IJWBC.2008.0191974:3(384-391)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1504/IJWBC.2008.019197
Acharya KInakage MCheok A(2008)The Indian neighbourhood user and designing for mobile internetProceedings of the 2008 International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology10.1145/1501750.1501833(352-355)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2008
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1501750.1501833
Spraragen S(2005)The challenges in creating tools for improving the software development lifecycleProceedings of the 2005 workshop on Human and social factors of software engineering10.1145/1083106.1083118(1-3)Online publication date: 16-May-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1083106.1083118
Spraragen S(2005)The challenges in creating tools for improving the software development lifecycleACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/1082983.108311830:4(1-3)Online publication date: 16-May-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1082983.1083118

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Recommendations

The role of design fiction in participatory design processes

Software architecture: reflections on an evolving discipline

The early shaping of participatory design at PDC

Reviews

Access critical reviews of Computing literature here