Mixing Social Science and Software Design

exploring the relationship between social science and software development methodologies: a blog by Pascal Belouin

Mixing Social Science and Software Design

Software as Discourse

The central perspective that underlies most of the articles featured on this blog could be summarised by the notion of ‘software as discourse’. I would like to give an overview of what this concept means to me from a theoretical point of view, on which assumptions it relies, and what it entails from a methodological [...]

Applying Conversation Analysis Concepts to Interaction Design?

Conversation Analysis could be defined as a discourse analysis method which relies on the assumption that only talk-in-interaction constitutes a valid object of analysis: relevant meaning is only created in the framework of an actual conversation between two or more participants. Thus, Conversation Analysis is often described as a positivist approach: conversation analysts argue that [...]

§357 · May 19, 2011 · Theory · 2 comments · Tags: conversation analysis, data, discourse, discourse analysis, interactive systems, language, method, social theory, Theory

Towards a Critical Discursive Analysis of Neuroscientific Accounts of Addiction

I take the liberty of going off-subject a little bit by publishing this essay I wrote recently. Hope some will find it of interest! Abstract Neuroscientific discourses about addiction have greatly contributed to our understanding of the biological phenomena that accompany repeated, compulsive drug use. We now have a deep understanding of the mode of [...]

§358 · May 12, 2011 · Theory · 1 comment · Tags: culture, discourse, discourse analysis, foucault, genealogy, history, mauss, meaning, neuroscience, power, research, Rose, social theory, sociology, subject, Weber

The Emergence of Meaning Through System Use: The central role of interaction and its implications in terms of design methodology

I have tried to show in previous posts how certain aspects of an interactive system such as how it works, what it does, or what it represents, could be seen as emerging in the framework of its actual use. Furthermore, I have tried to provide a theoretical grounding to such an approach by borrowing from [...]

§328 · May 9, 2010 · Theory · 1 comment · Tags: agile, developer, discourse analysis, grounded theory, Practice, social theory, Theory, user-centric, web applications, web development

Social science for software developers – Using tools from social science to inform software design: should software developers also be social scientists?

Here are the slides from a talk I did in London at dev8d, where I tried to focus on the practical aspects of things. I hope some developers around here find it interesting! Dev8D Presentation Pascal Belouin View more presentations from Pascal Belouin.

A practical example of the application of Conversation Analytic concepts

The transcript presented below is a classic piece of data that have been used extensively by numerous conversation analysts to illustrate a rather large variety of CA concepts and notions. Below is a short example of how conversation analysis can be carried out, and what kind of results it can yield. Transcript: A call to [...]

§113 · March 16, 2010 · Practice · (No comments) · Tags: discourse, discourse analysis, language, method, research

Conversation Analysis: a short introduction

Conversation analysis, or CA, focuses on the fine-grain analysis of talk in the framework of actual, day-to-day conversations between social actors. Its aim is to provide practical tools for allowing an understanding of the tacit rules and inherent order of common, day-to-day conversations by using short transcripts or recordings as data. This discourse analysis tradition [...]

§107 · March 16, 2010 · Theory · (No comments) · Tags: conversation analysis, data, discourse, discourse analysis, language, method, research

Research proposal : A Foucauldian analysis of the evolution of the discourse about software development methodologies

Abstract It could be argued that discourse surrounding software development methodologies has evolved in recent years from a focus on technology and pure computer science subjects to issues of values, meaning and communication. This shift in the way software development is perceived in the professional world could be further explored through a Foucauldian analysis of [...]

Applying social scientific concepts to domain definition: a short overview

One of the main issues in the design of most commercial software products is what is commonly called ‘domain definition’. This activity could be roughly understood as the definition of the ‘objects’ and processes that the system will have to manage or provide support for. An interesting thing about domain definition is that it could [...]

exploring the relationship between social science and software development methodologies: a blog by Pascal Belouin