SAwD - Socially Aware Design: An Organizational Semiotics-Based CASE Tool to Support Early Design Activities

摘要

Developing technology to attend to social demands is an increasing challenge for the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) area. Ubiquitous Computing, Wearable Computing, Social Software, and the Internet of Things are examples of how ICT has permeated personal and collective life. Technology affects people, even the ones who do not use it. Therefore, designing technology now requires higher social awareness and responsibility, as well as ethical commitment from all stakeholders. Naturally, such a process demands for artifacts and methods grounded on different theories and practices, capable of facilitating the understanding of the social world and its complexity, in an effective way. In this paper, we introduce a Socially Aware Design (SAwD) system which is a CASE tool designed to support early design activities when a problem is understood and a solution is proposed. This tool aids to articulate ideas from Organizational Semiotics and Participatory Design. We present the theoretical and methodological grounds of our work about the design rationale for SAwD and how it disseminates both the practice of a socially aware design and an adoption of theories.