All these have applications in many other areas, though they are far from exhausting the range of potentially useful modules. A recent dramatic example of a large distributed database system with obvious social issues is napster , which shares MP3 files over the internet. Over its very short lifetime, this system has caused severe disruption of several campus computer networks, and has inspired lawsuits from the music industry. The following is a general essay on the importance of the social for user interface design, part of the general point that it is always artificial to separate social and technical issues. So real engineering is about finding the right trande-offs among such factors.
Engineering is all about finding the right compromises.
Edison and Westinghouse, in their competition about AC vs. DC for mass power distribution, toured the country, giving dramatic demonstrations in theatres. Companies often spend a great deal of effort training employees in social skills such as conducting a meeting, ethics, management skills, group skills, etc., and that they claim that such skills are essential for advancement. These disasters have in common that they were impossible to hide, so that they are in fact the tip of an enormous iceberg of failures, including the near failure of Bank of America in the late 80s, which was never made public. Of course, these figures vary widely among projects. Another important fact is that most projects are cancelled before completion, again usually due to requirements problems.