Projects
How we’re pioneering more human-centric software
Involving researchers, organisations and communities around the world, our projects are advancing technology that champions values such as privacy, trust and fairness.
PROTIC (Participatory Research and Ownership with Technology, Information and Change)
Researchers: Gillian Oliver, Larry Stillman, Tom Denison, Misita Anwar, Viviane Hessami, Rifat Shams, Anindita Sarker, Monisha Biswas, Jigya Khabar and Manika Saha
A long-term partnership with Oxfam Bangladesh, PROTIC aims to propel farmers in rural Bangladesh towards economic stability and empowerment. More specifically, the project is developing a mobile phone information system and community ‘hub’ for isolated and coastal communities – amplifying their voices and driving meaningful change for people in poverty.
Women in STEM and Entrepreneurship (WISE) Program
Researchers: Mojtaba Shahin, Chris Gonsalvez, Jon Whittle, Chunyang Chen, Li Li and Xin Xia
Our goals in the WISE Program are three-fold. We aim to develop a technology-focused entrepreneurial mindset among young women, raise their awareness and participation in STEM – and explore how they develop computational thinking practices.
Human Values Modeling in Software
Researchers: Waqar Hussain, Jon Whittle, Harsha Perera and Gunter Mussbacher (McGill University)
This project focuses on introducing a framework that better translates human values into software requirements. It will model and evaluate different feature choices with respect to stakeholder values and inform decisions throughout development.
Addressing Human Values in Domain Modeling
Researchers: Waqar Hussain, Jon Whittle and Gunter Mussbacher (McGill University)
We’re improving model-based Requirements Engineering techniques with the help of a value-focused approach that captures the real needs of stakeholders. In this initiative, we propose a framework that’s supported by human values-focused guidelines to improve domain modelling practices.
Values Debt
Researchers: Waqar Hussain and Jon Whittle
Values debt is the sub-optimal implementation or outright exclusion of human values in software systems that reduces the chances of their acceptance and adoption, creating undesirable social outcomes. This project aims to develop a framework to classify values debt using Schwartz Theory of Human Values. This will allow developers to conveniently discuss and address human values that are at risk of being overlooked or omitted from the software. The framework will also be used to develop an AI-based tool to better visualise areas of values violation in the software.
Human Values in Software Repository Artefacts
Researchers: Arif Nurwidyantoro, Waqar Hussain, Mojtaba Shahin, Jon Whittle and Michel R.V. Chaudron (TU Eindhoven)
The two keys goals of this initiative are to investigate the extent that human values are present in software repository artefacts and develop an automated tool to detect them.
We are currently calling for participants to evaluate our human value dashboard. Open the project page for more details.
Human Values Violations in Contact Tracing Apps
Researchers: Humphrey Obie, Waqar Hussain , Mojtaba Shahin and Li Li
A partnership with the HumaniSE Lab at Monash, this project explores the degree that human values are violated in contact tracing apps around the world. Using insights from this study, our team will create an automated tool to detect violations of human values in app reviews and make recommendations, identify relevant features and make recommendations for developers to fix the issues. We’ll also provide visualisations of value violations to help app developers fix these issues.
Measuring values
A human values-centered approach to software engineering is crucial to success and yet, there is a consistent absence of standardised value management strategies within general software quality assurance. This project aims to develop practical measures – with a focus on testing, inspection and verification of human values in software artifacts – that will allow developers to evaluate human values at different stages of software engineering.
Value-logue
Software bias has the potential to cause significant socio-economic repercussions such as financial loss, reputational decline and decreased user satisfaction. Value-logue – a catalogue that contains best practices for the integration of privacy, accessibility, sustainability, and other human values into software – increases the care taken during the development of a project, helping to mitigate biases and avoid value breach.