People are key participants in ULS systems. Many problems in complex systems today stem from failures at the individual and organizational level.

Understanding ULS system behavior will depend on the view that humans are elements of a socially constituted computational process. This research involves anthropologists, sociologists, and social scientists conducting detailed socio-technical analyses of user interactions in the field, with the goal of understanding how to construct and evolve such socio-technical systems effectively.

Relevant Glossary Terms

Recommended Reading

Dourish, P. Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2001.

Dourish, P. "Seeking a Foundation for Context-Aware Computing." Human-Computer Interaction 16 (2001): 229–241.

Hutchins, E. Cognition in the Wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995.

Luff, P.; Hindmarsh, J. & Heath, C. (eds.). Workplace Studies: Recovering Work Practice and Informing Systems Design. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Luff, P. & Heath, C. Technology in Action. Cambridge University Press, 2000.

Latest ULS Systems News

Read Greg Goth's May 2008 IEEE Software article: "Ultralarge Systems: Redefining Software Engineering?"