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Full-Text Articles in Science and Technology Studies

What Users Do: Sa&D With The Atsa Method, Robert B. K Brown, Ian C. Piper Jun 2013

What Users Do: Sa&D With The Atsa Method, Robert B. K Brown, Ian C. Piper

Dr Ian Piper

Incomplete or inefficient elicitation, comprehension and transmission of client requirements are all sources of information system (IS) failure rates. Requirements may be missed, misunderstood or miscommunicated for the lack of a single, consistent, informing theory. Structured requirements elicitations techniques impose time delays. Cursory techniques can fail to reach any mutual understanding with the stakeholder. Formal methods can fail to cope with non-functional requirements and coder-oriented methods can put the cart before the horse, delivering something other than required. Agile methods can deliver hasty product, cobbled to meet first-cut requirements, perhaps justified by a notion that users cannot reach stable conclusions.


Pshell: The Distributed Shell Parallel Programming Environment, D Saffioti, Ian Piper, John Fulcher Jun 2013

Pshell: The Distributed Shell Parallel Programming Environment, D Saffioti, Ian Piper, John Fulcher

Dr Ian Piper

No abstract provided.


Eliciting And Specifying Requirements For Highly Interactive Systems Using Activity Theory, Robert B. K. Brown, Peter Hyland, Ian C. Piper Jun 2013

Eliciting And Specifying Requirements For Highly Interactive Systems Using Activity Theory, Robert B. K. Brown, Peter Hyland, Ian C. Piper

Dr Ian Piper

The processes of eliciting user requirements and formalising these into specifications are critical for the success of highly interactive systems. These processes are still poorly understood, partly because current methods are usually ad hoc and lack any theoretical basis. A number of researchers have used Activity Theory (AT) to refine these processes and have met with some success. To date, this approach has been more useful explaining the processes post hoc. This positional paper proposes an AT method for requirement elicitation and specification definition. The method is sufficiently prescriptive and well formed that it does not require any detailed understanding …


Specifying System Requirements Using The 5s Method, Robert B. K Brown, Peter Hyland, Ian C. Piper Jun 2013

Specifying System Requirements Using The 5s Method, Robert B. K Brown, Peter Hyland, Ian C. Piper

Dr Ian Piper

The 5S Method takes an Activity Theory approach to stakeholder elicitation. We interview stakeholders and build up a network of Activities according to Activity Theory precepts. These Activities are hierarchically decomposed into the smaller units of Action and Operation. This comprises a useful conceptual map of the human motivations and dependencies prior to insertion of the new computer based system. To identify and describe such a potential computer system, we analyse and identify linkages between the Activities and assemble a list of those which could usefully pass through such a computer system. Design decisions are driven and evaluated by reference …