Social Software Engineering
Encyclopedia
Social Software Engineering (SSE) is a branch of software engineering
that is concerned with the social aspects of software development. Whereas it is difficult to give an exact definition for the field, the participants of the 1st International Workshop on Social Software Engineering and Applications (SoSEA 2008) proposed the following characterization:
Thus, SSE can be defined as “the application of processes, methods, and tools to enable community-driven creation, management, deployment, and use of software in online environments”.
One of the main observations in the field of SSE is that the concepts, principles, and technologies made for social software
applications are applicable to software development itself as software engineering is inherently a social activity. SSE is not limited to specific activities of software development. Accordingly, tools have been proposed supporting different parts of SSE, for instance, social system design or social requirements engineering
Software engineering
Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software...
that is concerned with the social aspects of software development. Whereas it is difficult to give an exact definition for the field, the participants of the 1st International Workshop on Social Software Engineering and Applications (SoSEA 2008) proposed the following characterization:
- CommunityCommunityThe term community has two distinct meanings:*a group of interacting people, possibly living in close proximity, and often refers to a group that shares some common values, and is attributed with social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household...
-centered: Software is produced and consumed by and/or for a community rather than focusing on individuals - CollaborationCollaborationCollaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing...
/collectiveness: Exploiting the collaborative and collective capacity of human beings - Companionship/relationship: Making explicit the various associations among people
- Human/social activities: Software is designed consciously to support human activities and to address social problemsSocial problemsSocial problems are problems and difficulties that people often face in society. These include:*crime*corruption*poverty*homelessness*hunger*disease*drug addiction*alcoholism*schizophrenia*depression*pollution...
- Social inclusion: Software should enable social inclusion enforcing links and trust in communities
Thus, SSE can be defined as “the application of processes, methods, and tools to enable community-driven creation, management, deployment, and use of software in online environments”.
One of the main observations in the field of SSE is that the concepts, principles, and technologies made for social software
Social software
Social software applications include communication tools and interactive tools. Communication tools typically handle the capturing, storing and presentation of communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well. Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a...
applications are applicable to software development itself as software engineering is inherently a social activity. SSE is not limited to specific activities of software development. Accordingly, tools have been proposed supporting different parts of SSE, for instance, social system design or social requirements engineering
Requirements engineering
Requirements engineering is a systems and software engineering process which covers all of the activities involved in discovering, documenting and maintaining a set of requirements for a computer-based system...