The Vision Requirements Engineering In Society

The Vision Requirements Engineering In Societyguenther Ruhe Maleknaz

Industry and society are facing radical changes due to fast growing digital technologies and its ubiquity [7], [8]. Products and services are increasingly integrating the real and digital worlds, transforming industries and daily life. Requirements Engineering (RE), a discipline focused on eliciting, analyzing, specifying, and validating software requirements, has evolved over the past decades to address these societal changes. This paper explores the evolving role of RE within society, reflecting on a quarter-century of research, current trends, and future challenges, emphasizing its capacity to bridge technical development with societal needs, ensure safety, foster innovation, and promote responsible digital transformation.

Since its inception, RE has transitioned from a technology-centric activity to a decision-oriented discipline embedded within societal contexts [2], [3]. The proliferation of digital devices, social media, and cloud computing has enriched the data landscape with satellite data, which informs requirements decisions [4], [12], [17]. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook serve as sources of valuable insights into user needs and societal trends, influencing requirement decisions for applications like wildfire emergency response tools [21]. Moving from intuition-based to evidence-based decision-making, RE increasingly relies on analyzing public opinions, app reviews, and social discussions to determine feature priorities and system qualities [20], [21].

The decision-making process in RE now involves a broader spectrum of stakeholders, including consumers and the general public. Crowdsourcing mechanisms, exemplified by methods like CrowdRE, enable the participation of diverse groups in requirements elicitation, fostering inclusivity and richer data collection [1], [18]. This shift reflects the importance of stakeholder involvement in achieving system success and aligning technological solutions with societal expectations. Moreover, RE's role is expanding to encompass aspects such as resilience, human engagement, value elicitation, dependency management, and ethical considerations, which are critical in the context of digital transformation [9], [10], [13], [16].

The societal impact of RE is evident across various domains. In safety-critical systems, requirements for security and safety are paramount, especially in autonomous vehicles and connected medical devices, where cyber-security concerns are directly linked to societal trust and safety [7], [9], [19]. The rising importance of digital health, particularly among aging populations, necessitates understanding user attitudes and needs through social media analysis to inform system design [11], [16]. Smart cities and IoT systems represent another frontier, requiring requirements that specify connectivity, data management, self-adaptation, and interoperability among heterogeneous devices and infrastructures [10], [19]. These developments pose new challenges for RE, demanding models and processes that can handle distributed, dynamic, and data-rich environments.

Furthermore, the continuous evolution and operation of large software systems necessitate a paradigm of ongoing requirements engineering. Conventional one-time elicitation is inadequate; instead, continuous RE must model dependencies, risks, and performance over decades of operation [9], [13]. This continuous approach ensures resilience and robustness against failures, cyber-attacks, or changing societal demands. Innovation constitutes another vital societal aspect driven by RE. As industries converge through digital transformation, requirements facilitate the development of connected services, enabling new business models and fostering sustainability in the social economy [9], [13], [15].

Despite the progress, substantial challenges remain. The integration of societal values, human factors, and ethical considerations into RE processes is still evolving [9]. Addressing dependencies across user experience, privacy, data security, and ethical concerns will be essential for responsible digital innovation. The call for embedding RE at the core of engineering education, industry practices, and societal decision-making is increasingly urgent. RE should not merely focus on specifications but must actively shape societal outcomes, emphasizing value, resilience, human engagement, and dependency management to promote societal well-being through technology.

Paper For Above instruction

In an era characterized by rapid digital transformation, the role of Requirements Engineering (RE) has become increasingly vital in shaping societal progress and ensuring that technological advancements serve human needs responsibly. This paper delves into the evolution of RE from a technical activity to a societal instrument, highlighting key trends, challenges, and future directions.

Historically, RE emerged as a discipline dedicated to technical specifications, process modeling, and system validation, primarily within software development. Over time, however, it has expanded to encompass decision-making processes that involve diverse stakeholders, including end-users, organizations, regulators, and the general public. This broadening scope has been driven by the proliferation of digital devices, social media, and connected infrastructure, collectively generating an abundance of societal data that can inform requirements decisions [2], [4]. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook serve as mirrors of societal needs, attitudes, and emerging issues, providing rich sources of satellite data that influence requirement specifications [12], [17], [21]. For example, analyzing wildfire-related tweets and app reviews revealed that existing systems often neglect critical public needs, underscoring the importance of evidence-based decision-making in RE [21].

Decisions in RE increasingly rely on empirical data rather than intuition, leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning to extract actionable insights from social media, app stores, and other user-generated content [20]. This evidentiary approach enhances the relevance and acceptance of systems by aligning them with actual societal requirements. Furthermore, the participatory nature of RE has evolved through crowdsourcing initiatives like CrowdRE, which democratize requirements elicitation and validation, involving a wide spectrum of stakeholders beyond traditional representatives [1], [18]. Such inclusivity enriches requirement quality and ensures that systems address diverse societal needs and values.

RE's societal influence extends across critical domains, notably in safety-critical systems, digital health, smart cities, and cyber-physical systems. In safety-critical systems—autonomous vehicles, medical devices—the emphasis is on ensuring safety, security, and resilience, as failures can have profound societal repercussions [7], [9], [19]. Requiring rigorous security standards and safety assurance processes, requirements serve as safeguards for public trust and societal welfare. In digital health, understanding user attitudes, especially among older populations, via social media analysis informs user-centered design and acceptance [11], [16]. Smart city initiatives harness IoT and cyber-physical systems to optimize urban services, energy, and mobility, requiring requirements that specify connectivity, data management, and adaptability to dynamic conditions [10], [19].

One of RE's emerging paradigms is support for continuous requirements engineering, which recognizes that large software-driven systems evolve over decades. This ongoing process manages dependencies, risks, and performance metrics, fostering resilience against failures, cyber threats, and societal shifts [9], [13]. Such systems must adapt to changing contexts, necessitating flexible models, iterative processes, and real-time feedback mechanisms. This continuous RE approach aligns with the need for sustainable, long-term societal benefits of digital systems.

Innovation driven by requirements engineering is central to digital transformation. Connectivity enables new business models, service delivery, and social innovation. Requirements act as catalysts for integrating technologies, fostering a sustainable social economy, and supporting digital inclusion [9], [13], [15]. As industries converge through digital platforms, RE facilitates managing complex dependencies among services, devices, and users, promoting seamless integration, usability, and societal acceptance.

Despite these advances, challenges arise from ethical, privacy, and societal value considerations. Embedding human-centered design, privacy-preserving mechanisms, and ethical standards into RE processes is crucial for responsible innovation. The integration of societal values into requirements must be systematic and proactive, with transparency and stakeholder engagement as foundational principles [9].

To realize RE’s societal potential, it must be embedded at every stage of the engineering lifecycle, from education to industry practice. Requirements engineering must shift from a reactive activity to a proactive instrument for societal betterment. It should foster resilience, promote human-centric solutions, and manage dependencies across social, technological, and organizational dimensions. Ultimately, the discipline can be a driving force toward a sustainable, inclusive digital society that enhances quality of life, safety, and social cohesion.

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