Synopsis of Presentation

Abstract

Caroline Eastman presented the main points in her paper, tied them into some of the other presentations at the workshop, and provided some of the background and rationale for the ideas presented in her paper. Among the points she made in her presentation were the following:

• Software engineering can be described as a science of the artificial. It involves the design and study of artificial designs.

• Software engineering, in terms of the structure of the community, could be classified as a professional adhocracy. This is a term used by sociologists of science to refer to one form of a loosely structured scientific community.

• One of the things that a scientific community does is exercise control over research activities.

• Mechanisms of control include textbook development and selection, employer directions, funding agency priorities, and peer review of papers and proposals.

• Her approach advocates an emphasis on design, which is practical because it tends to insure a steady flow of new designs. Moreover, it encourages the skills and attitudes needed in design.

• Rather than dealing with an unending stream of design languages, we want to be able to compare them.