The Design of Nothing: A Working Philosophy

Abstract

New and emergent computing architectures and software engineering practices provide an opportunity for environmental models to be deployed more efficiently and democratically. In this paper we aim to capture the software engineering practices of environmental scientists, highlight opportunities for software engineering and work towards developing a domain specific language for the configuration and deployment of environmental models. We hold a series of interviews with environmental scientists involved in developing and deploying computer based environmental models about the approach taken in engineering models, and describe a case study in deploying an environmental model (WRF: Weather Research Forecasting) on a cloud architecture. From these studies we find a number of opportunities for a) software engineering methods and tools such as Domain Specific Languages to play a role in abstracting from underlying computing complexity, and for b) new architectures to increase efficiency and availability of deployment. Together, we propose they will allow scientists to concentrate on fundamental science rather than specifics of the underlying computing. CCS CONCEPTS• Applied computing → Environmental sciences; • Software and its engineering → Abstraction, modeling and modularity;

Design Research-in-the-Moment: Eliciting Evolutive Traces during the Covid-19 Crisis

“…In design research we trade some degree of accuracy in order to access areas that are yet-tobe or not-fully-formed. Therefore, our output is probabilistic, and research is always preliminary in its nature (Rodgers and Bremner, 2018) (Galdon and Hall, 2019). Moreover, in exchange we provide guiding knowledge for prospective developments -as Glanville proposed, "knowledge for" future action and possibilities rather than "knowledge of" past actions and events (Glanville, 2005).…”