Analysis Section
From Science of Design
Within Computer Science, there is an active discussion of the nature of a science of design -- particularly for software -- and how to grow the existing elements of such a science into a mature science.
Contents |
Books and Papers
Herbert Simon: The Sciences of the Artificial MIT Press, 1996 (3rd edition). Order it from Amazon.com
- Much of the discussion of a science of design is inspired by Simon's Sciences of the Artificial, which laid out a basis. Simon explores design as a science; in particular he refutes the proposition that software does not admit of the same sorts of science as the natural world.
See also Bibliography Section and descriptions of various courses in the Education Section for more extensive bibliographic material.
Workshops, Conferences, and Panels
Science of Design Symposium (2007)
From the Call for Papers:
The SoDS2007' conference will bring together a community of practitioners to share a multidisciplinary approach to teaching creativity and design. The objective of the symposium is to provide an inspiring environment for a focused, target-oriented discussion regarding existing and new concepts in creativity and design as it applies to software artifacts and systems.
Featuring
- Creativity and Design
- Multidisciplinary Teaching and Learning of Creativity and Design
- Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Creativity and Design
- Activities and Exercises for Stimulating Creativity and Design
- Learning Outcomes and Assessment in Creativity and Design
- Enabling Creativity in Software Design/Software Intensive Systems
- Creativity and Design Support Tools and Technologies
Goal of SoDS'2007
- Build an interdisciplinary and diverse community of faculty and students around creativity and design.
- Build a foundation for teaching the science of design to students and faculty.
- Share methods and techniques for teaching creativity and design
- Share methods for assessing the impact of teaching creativity and design
Int'l Conf on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technologies (2006)
The First International Conference on Design Science Research in Information Systems and Technology was held in February 2006. The papers are available on the web site.
From the conference overview: "This International conference is aimed to bring together a community of academics, researchers and practitioners that are involved in every aspect of Design Science. The importance of design was first brought to light by Herbert Simon’s famous “Sciences of the Artificial”. Since then, a whole body of research whose goal is to design and invent methods, processes and systems has emerged. The creation of IT artifacts and their evaluation is central to this paradigm. This conference will explore both the design methodology aspects as well as research conducted using design science. The objective of the conference is to bring together researchers from different backgrounds ranging from computer science, information systems, and software engineering to social ethnography designers to create a forum for discussing novel solutions to emerging problems. "
ICSE Plenary Panel (2005)
A plenary panel on Science of Design was organized at ICSE'05 by Kevin Sullivan and Jeff Magee. Naturally, it focused on a science of design for software engineering. The idea of creating this web site as a community resource emerged from the discussion after that panel. The description of the panel was:
- The build-out of software-intensive systems that started about fifty years ago has transformed the world’s economies, institutions, and cultures. Rapid growth and change seem sure to continue. The frantic pace of discovery and innovation to date has, in some ways, hindered reflection on what we’re enabling, what kind of software-intensive society we wish to promote for our descendants, and what new knowledge and perspectives we need to design future systems in ways to foster the creation and preservation of a healthy, prosperous and open society.
- This 2005 ICSE panel features three leading scholars of software and software-intensive system design -— broadly construed -— who will present diverse perspectives on prospects, problems and priorities for a science of design, with a focus on the design of software and software-intensive systems. Issues that panelists could discuss include the goals of such a science; the phenomena that are its proper subject; the form and testing of its theories; major open problems; the relationship of such a science to current research efforts in the field; short- and longer-term challenges in developing and teaching an effective theory and practice of design; and intellectual and societal benefits that are expected to emerge from research in this area.
Panelists were Carliss Baldwin, Michael Jackson, and Mary Shaw
NSF Workshops on Science of Design (2003-04)
NSF sponsored a series of workshops on the Science of Design in 2003-04.
The workshop on Information Systems, organized by Raghu Ramakrishnan, Phil Bernstein and Alon Halevy, was held Seattle in September 2003.
The workshop on Open Source, organized by Les Gasser and Walt Scacchi, was held in Irvine in September 2003.
The workshop on Software-Intensive Systems, organized by Kevin Sullivan, was held at Airlie Center VA in November 2003.
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