INCLUSIVITY
Inclusive software should take into consideration the different end users who will likely use the product. software developers, have a responsibility to ensure that this is the case. Furthermore, software products that do not take into account different users are less likely to secure a significant market share.
Software design and development is a field that requires various skills and abilities. Companies engaged in the development of software should provide an inclusive work environment where the different strengths of their employees are recognised, utilised and respected. Software development involves far more than programming skills. Personnel are required with strong communication, teamwork, attention to detail, creativity, design and problem-solving skills. Different personnel will possess these skills in varying proportions. It is the job of management to foster and encourage the development and enhancement of skills in the workplace.
In this section, we consider perspectives to increase the inclusivity of software products as well as the skills required by personnel involved in the design and development of software.
PERSPECTIVES TO INCREASE THE INCLUSIVITY OF SOFTWARE
Let us now examine a number of perspectives that should be considered when designing software solutions. In most cases, these perspectives will have direct consequences to the design of the user interface.
Cultural and social perspectives
The culture of a people can be described as the set of ways of living built up over a period of time and passed from generation to generation. It is important that the beliefs and language of different cultures be considered when designing software. Similarly, the social structure of societies is influenced by their underlying culture.
How do we cater for these differences in practice? Firstly, we must understand or at least be empathetic to the needs of other cultures. It is not possible to be an expert on all cultures; however we can easily include users from a variety of cultures as part of the testing processes occurring during development. For example, in most western cultures we have a Christian name and a surname. This is not the case in many Asian cultures where a formal name and an informal name are more commonly used. Testing that includes users from the Asian culture, would quickly highlight this difference.Numbers, currency, times and dates are another common area of difference between cultures. In Australia, we express dates using day then month then year (e.g.. 25/112002). In America, they more commonly use month then day then year (e.g.. 1/25/2002). Again, those used to an alternative format, would soon encounter problems.
Throughout the years, humans have shaped the world and many societies have developed different cultural patterns. Culture is the way of life of a society. Through culture, we learn how to collaborate with groups of people and we learn how to survive and adapt to changes. It is composed of values and beliefs that are shared by other members of society, as well as species survival. Every culture has different cultural elements that are vital to one’s survival in a certain place.
According to Stout (2001) the concept of inclusion can be differentiated into mainstreaming, inclusion and full inclusion each describing the amount of time special education students become part of a normal education classes. “Inclusion is a term which expresses the commitment to educate each child, to the maximum extent possible, in the school and classroom he or she would otherwise attend” (definitions section, para. 2). This commitment is based on the belief that special needs students would profit from the regular classroom environment (Noll, 2014, p. 225). According to Stout (2001) research based evidence supports this belief as “Recent meta-analyses confirm a small to moderate beneficial effect of inclusion education on the academic and social outcome of special needs students” (Research section, para. 3). There are many who also believe that inclusion is good for the overall class as it can teach empathy, and “teaches us to think about we rather than I” (Sapon-Shevin, 2008, p227). There are others however, who feel that “Contrary to some egalitarians, a good society honors those who through intelligent good will, artistic talent, athletic prowess, or plain honest hard work make our lives better” (Carpenter, 2008, p.235) and therefore believe that it is ok to think of “I” and not we.
The culture of a community invariably determines the social structures and the formation of a society. Developed over time, culture is the collection of beliefs and values that a group of people maintain together. Culture is never constant, and thought to be continually renewed over years as new ideas and concepts become mainstream. It ranges from how people live, day to day topics for conversations, religion, and even entertainment. It is analogous to guidelines, or the rulebook of the said group of people. Society, on the other hand, emanates from the social structure of the community. It is the very institutions to which create a regulated and acceptable form of interaction between peoples. Indeed, culture and society are so perversely intertwined in a
What is culture? Many people ask themselves this question every day. The more you think about it the more confusing it is. Sometimes you start leaning to a culture and then people tell you you’re wrong
Whether you belong to a certain race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, geographical region or you identify with a certain sex you belong to a particular culture. Culture as define by Shiraev and Levy (2013), “Is a set of attitudes, behaviors, and symbols shared by a large group of people and usually communicated from one generation to the next” (p. ). In other words, we are a product of what has been handed down to us from the generations before. However, culture is evolving and it changes all the time. Hence the reason, no one group has a unique culture, since we are all influenced by each other’s way of life. As a result of this influence, we form relationships with people we know little about and share our values and beliefs with each other. Thereby creating a cross-cultural mix.
Culture is the unique way to act and think within a people from a certain place. It’s the way the people hold their beliefs, what they hold valuable, how they speak and even how they write. Culture is how people relate and act with one another within a certain space. Culture can vary from place to place such as city, state, country or continent.
Culture can be defined as the way of life of a particular people, shown in their behaviors and habits, their behaviors and habits toward each other, and their moral and/or religious beliefs. Many different aspects can be used when trying to define what makes up a culture of a particular group of people. The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition describes culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and understanding that are learned by socialization. In many countries, the culture can be derived from many different groups of people in their country. A country can be comprised of the cultures of many different groups of people making the culture of an entire country very diverse. Culture is formed
While developing a software many complex activities are required which in turn have dependencies along them. Large software projects require the involvement of programmers, documentation specialists, program managers, architects, database analysts, system analysts, , and trainers and last but not the least testers. Along with their independent responsibilities these persons are also responsible to maintain and keep a check on the software system quality as well.
Diversity is a notion, when applied to the majority of circumstances, can create a positive conclusion. The trick to producing a positive outcome is often how the different aspects are brought together. Consider a classic dinner combination peas and carrots, the two colors look appealing and the two flavors comes together as one making a superb side dish. Now consider oil and water, these two substance are not often considered a good combination. Although, this is not always the case; olive oil and vinegar (which is water based) when mixed, come together into a delectable salad dressing. Diversity and inclusion should also apply to humans by bringing people together who are different it can creates a whole that is enhanced by the uniqueness of each individual.
As technology advances, employers ask for new skills. Computer software engineers must continue to learn such skills if they hope to remain in this field. To help them keep up with the technology changes, continuing education and professional development seminars are offered by employers and software vendors, colleges and universities, private training institutions, and professional computing societies.
It is well known that the team work is far better than performing a task individually. Such kind of practice plays a very important role in software engineering. A lot of things can be achieved together with the combination of diversified people, as they input different tactics and skills so that the main objective of a certain mission can be accomplished appropriately. Even though teaming up and working for a project is essential and helpful; there exist some issues that could bring interruptions and conflicts in the team.
The Unified Modeling Language is a standard language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software systems, as well as for business modeling and other non-software systems. The key is to organize the design process in a way that clients, analysts, programmers and other involved in system development can understand and agree on. The UML provides the organization. The UML was released in 1997 as a method to diagram software design, by some of the best minds in object oriented analysis and design. It is by far the most exciting thin to happen to the software industry in recent years. Every other engineering discipline has a standard method of documentation. Electronic engineers have schematic diagrams; architects and mechanical engineers have blueprints and mechanical diagrams. The software industry now has UML.
Requirements engineering begins during the communication activity, continues into the modeling activity, and builds a bridge from the system requirements into software design and construction. Through requirements engineering, there is an examination of the context of software work performed. It is essential for the software engineering team to understand all requirements of a problem before the team tries to solve the problem. An identification of specific needs that the design and construction must address is also included. Further is a need for the identification of the priorities that guides the order for the completion of work. This i...
Cushman, M., & Mclean, R. (2008). Guest editorial Exclusion , inclusion and changing the face of information systems research. Information Technology & People, 21(3), 213-221
According to Geert Hofstede (1983, p. 76), culture can be explained as the ‘collective programming of the mind’ and it influences how people think and how they act in different situations. This distinguishes members of one group or category from another. He argued that people are mentally programmed and that it influences the lifestyles, attitudes and norms of people and their belonging in particular groups (Hofstede 1983, p. 76). Another definition of culture is that it explains the different way in which people of different populations perceive values, norms, attitudes and roles in society. By gaining an understanding of the differences that separates a culture from another and gaining knowledge on how cultures operate on a daily basis, conflicts and misunderstandings can easily be avoided (He & Liu 2010, p. 2).