Integrating Social Values into Software Design Patterns

Software Design Patterns (SDPs) are core solutions to the recurring problems in software. However, adopting SDPs without taking into account their value implications may result in breach of social values and ultimately lead to user dissatisfaction, lack of adoption, and financial loss. An example is the airline system that overcharged people who were trying to escape from the Hurricane Irma. though not intentional, overlooking social values in the design of the airline system resulted in a significant dissatisfaction and loss of trust. To mitigate such value breaches in software design we propose explicitly taking into account social values in SDPs. To achieve this, we outline a collaborative framework that allows for (i) specifying the value implications of the SDPs, (ii) developing or extending SDPs for integrating social values, (iii) providing guidance on the value-conscious adoption of design patterns, (iv) collecting and analyzing insights from collaborators, (v) maintaining an up-to-date library of the valufied design patterns, and (vi) incorporating lessons learned from the real-world adoption of valuefied design patterns into the proposed framework for its continuous improvement in integrating social values into software design.