dependability
Ian Sommerville 2006
 
Mission control system (NASA)

 

Technical approaches to system dependability can take us so far but, however good our technology, computer hardware and software will still sometimes fail. My interests are in dependability from a socio-technical perspective where the aim is for the socio-technical systems as a whole to be dependable, even when the embedded computer systems fail. This involves understanding how people cope with failure and organisational vulnerabilities - characteristics of organisations that lead to systems failure.

For more information, see the DIRC and INDEED project web sites.