These approaches emerge from different, to some extent controversial, discourses in the social sciences. So far, their applicability to software development and use has largely been discussed in separate arenas. While the discipline of software engineering is mainly concerned with the formal principles, the technical basis and the methodological support for software development, the reflection of software practice as a human activity needs to go beyond an engineering framework. Methods and their underlying concepts are social vehicles for technical work. They embody a perspective on software development, concerning, for example, who is to be involved, which activities need to be supported and how, and what aims should be achieved.
Software development incorporates organizational concepts.
The use of software products constrains collaborative work and organizational development. Thus, reifications in software systems have an impact on the potentials of organizational change. In order to take these aspects into account, social science approaches are needed as guidance for software development in social contexts. The seminar was arranged so as to promote a conversation about social science approaches in their relevance to software development. On one hand, approaches from the activity theoretic, ethnomethodological, discursive, and systemic schools were presented in their applicability to software development.