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G. Fitzpatrick:
"How can we re-interpret `requirements engineering´ in this age of `computers everywhere for everyone´?";
Talk: BINUS University, Jakarta, Indonesia (invited); 2018-03-27.

All software development models start with some form of requirements gathering and analysis/specification, i.e., requirements engineering (RE). However RE has its origins in a different age of computing. What does RE mean now that computing has moved beyond the office and the desktop, and infiltrates all aspects of everyday life? Functionality, productivity and efficiency are no longer key criteria for software, but instead notions such as quality of experience, the ability to engage, to entertain, and to connect and communicate, and so on. Many of these applications are driven more by opportunities than needs. Further, we are not just designing for technical systems but socio-technical systems, with technology only one small part of a broader context. If RE only focuses on the technical artefact, we risk designing systems that can have unwanted consequences, or that do not fit into people´s lives. In this presentation, I will draw on three case studies to illustrate some particular challenges for how we understand `gathering requirements´ and what we are designing for. While these are only illustrative of some of many possible issues, my hope is that they will start us thinking more about how to re-imagine the notion of requirements and the role of the software developer/HCI practitioner in the software development process.