Is it about Human(itie)s? Experiences from Software Projects across three Faculties

Abstract

Considering the experience with software development in research projects in three different faculties, it is argued here that the issue of underspecification and finding out what is really wanted is not restricted to the Humanities. Rather, it occurs in Science and Social Science seemingly at the same ratio. However, in absence of representational data, statements at which exact shares the phenomenon really occurs, lead up the garden path. Hence, the question is raised whether the focus of software development in the Humanities should shift to human per se describing the fact that underspecification is a human trait of complex planning and problem solving behavior, but independent from the faculty’s epistemology. And possibly it comes to the fore in science more bluntly and it is particularly apparent in the Humanities, i.e. less blended. In fact, any specific account of software development in the Humanities is misleading because the focus on the Humanities blends the hermeneutics inherent in scientific work in general.