CC 316: Applications Development and Emerging Technologies - Key Concepts and Vocabulary

Comprehensive flashcard deck reviewing emerging technology concepts, digitization workflows, ethical frameworks, research methodologies, requirements engineering, innovation lifecycle, user experience design, usability testing, and software deployment principles.

Emerging technology

A new or developing technology whose capabilities and effects are still becoming clear, characterized by an uncertain future impact and stage of development.

Invention

The creation of something entirely new.

Innovation

The successful introduction of a new or significantly improved product, service, process, or practice that creates value.

Incremental innovation

Small, evolutionary improvements made to existing products, processes, or services.

Radical innovation

Major technological or procedural changes that may create new markets or displace familiar solutions.

Radical novelty

An emerging technology characteristic where a genuinely new capability, principle, or approach is introduced rather than a routine update.

Relatively fast growth

An emerging technology characteristic marked by rapid development in research, adoption, or performance.

Coherence

An emerging technology characteristic where separate research ideas begin to converge into a recognizable technology field.

Prominent impact

An emerging technology characteristic denoting significant potential to substantially affect industries or society.

Uncertainty and ambiguity

An emerging technology characteristic where future development, benefits, and risks are not yet fully understood.

Collingridge dilemma

A management dilemma stating that early in a technology's life, change is easy but information on impacts is incomplete; later, impacts are understood, but change is difficult and costly.

Iterative risk assessment

A continuous evaluation sequence (Assess risks → Monitor actual use → Learn from evidence → Adjust design or rules → Reassess) allowing new evidence to alter earlier decisions.

Inherently safer design (ISD)

A design philosophy that attempts to remove or reduce hazards directly within the design itself rather than relying solely on extra warnings or protective equipment.

Add-on safety

A safety approach that keeps a hazard present but controls user exposure through alarms, barriers, rules, or personal protective equipment.

Minimize (ISD principle)

An inherently safer design principle focused on reducing the amount or scale of a hazard, such as keeping only needed quantities of dangerous material.

Substitute (ISD principle)

An inherently safer design principle centered on replacing a hazardous substance or material with a safer alternative.

Moderate (ISD principle)

An inherently safer design principle focused on choosing lower-risk operating conditions or less dangerous forms.

Simplify (ISD principle)

An inherently safer design principle focused on avoiding needless complexity and reducing confusing steps in safety-critical processes.

First Machine Age

The historical industrial period when machines such as steam engines multiplied physical human power.

Second Machine Age

The modern technological era where digital tools support and automate tasks associated with human thinking.

Reskilling

The process of learning new skills as technological advancements alter job tasks, roles, and workplace demands.

Digitization

The technical process of converting information from physical or analog form into digital data.

Digitalization

The use of digital tools and technologies to improve an existing process or workflow.

Digital transformation

The comprehensive redesign of services, operations, and organizational models around digital technology.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

A software capability used during digitization capture to identify and extract editable text from scanned images.

Metadata

Descriptive reference data added to digital files, such as file title, creation date, and reference numbers.

Digital divide

An inequality in people's ability to access, afford, use, and benefit from digital technologies.

Privacy

The ethical and operational principle ensuring the appropriate, limited, and responsible collection and use of personal data.

Security

The protection of systems, networks, and data from unauthorized access, damage, cyberattacks, or misuse.

Fairness

An ethical principle requiring systems to avoid unjust discrimination and prevent biased outcomes among different user groups.

Transparency

An ethical principle requiring systems to clearly explain their behavior, automated decisions, and operational limitations to users.

Accountability

An ethical principle identifying who has decision-making authority and who is responsible when an automated or technical system fails.

Sustainability

An ethical principle considering the long-term societal and environmental impacts of developing and running technical services.

Qualitative approach

A research method that relies on descriptions, opinions, experiences, and observations to explain phenomena.

Quantitative approach

A research method focused on numerical patterns, counts, measured times, and statistical totals.

Mixed-method approach

A research methodology that deliberately integrates both qualitative and quantitative evidence to understand a problem.

Interdisciplinary research

A collaborative research approach that integrates knowledge, concepts, and expertise from multiple academic or technical fields.

Requirement

A documented need, feature, operational condition, or capability that a system must satisfy.

Business requirement

A requirement defining organizational goals and high-level intended outcomes for a project.

User requirement

A requirement specifying what a specific type of user needs to accomplish with a system.

Functional requirement

A requirement specifying the exact actions, behaviors, or tasks that a system must perform.

Non-functional requirement

A requirement defining how well a system must perform, including operational criteria, speed, and security constraints.

Scope creep

The uncontrolled addition of features and changes to a project without evaluation of impact on budget, schedule, and resources.

Stakeholder

An individual, group, or organization with an interest in, or influence on, the outcomes of a system development project.

Software Requirements Specification (SRS)

A full, structured formal document that records all system requirements and operating behaviors.

User story

A short, concise requirement statement written from the perspective of an end user, highlighting their goal and underlying motivation.

Use case

A structured description detailing the step-by-step interaction between an actor and a system to accomplish a specific goal.

Acceptance criteria

The pre-established conditions that a feature or requirement must satisfy before it is approved as complete.

Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM)

A tracking grid that links requirements forward to design, code, and tests, and backward to their original business sources.

MoSCoW

A prioritization technique categorizing requirements into Must have, Should have, Could have, and Won't have this time.

Product innovation

The introduction of a new or significantly improved good or service to meet user needs.

Process innovation

The implementation of a new or significantly better production or delivery method.

Marketing innovation

The application of a significantly revised method for presenting, packaging, or promoting an offering.

Organizational innovation

The creation of a new way to structure workplace routines, team collaborations, or external business relationships.

Management of Technology (MOT)

A strategic discipline connecting technical capabilities with organizational goals across the entire technology life cycle.

Pilot

A controlled, small-scale initial test of a real technical process conducted before committing to a full deployment.

User Interface (UI)

The visual and interactive mechanisms of an application that a person sees and manipulates, such as buttons, menus, and forms.

User Experience (UX)

The holistic experience a person has while interacting with a product, including feelings of ease, frustration, and satisfaction.

Usability

The extent to which specified users can achieve specified goals effectively, efficiently, and satisfactorily in a specified context of use.

Effectiveness

A core usability metric assessing whether a user can complete an intended task correctly and completely.

Efficiency

A core usability metric evaluating the amount of time, steps, and mental or physical effort expended to achieve a goal.

Satisfaction

A usability metric measuring the user's subjective comfort, acceptability, and positive attitude toward using a system.

Usability testing

An empirical evaluation method where representative users execute realistic tasks while researchers observe and record difficulties.

Moderated test

A usability testing format in which an active facilitator directly guides participants and provides instructions.

Unmoderated test

A usability testing format where participants complete test tasks independently without a live facilitator present.

Software deployment

The coordinated set of activities that makes a software system available for operational use and maintains its ongoing execution.

Process coverage

A deployment framework factor evaluating how many distinct life cycle deployment activities an automation tool supports.

Process changeability

A deployment framework factor evaluating whether deployment procedures can be altered to match varying organizational needs.

Interprocess coordination

A deployment framework factor evaluating the capacity to manage and coordinate dependencies across multiple systems and components.

Site information

Deployment data detailing the target environment, including operating system, hardware memory, storage capacity, and network settings.

Product information

Deployment data describing the software package itself, including internal components, build versions, and external dependencies.

Policy information

Deployment data establishing organizational rules and security parameters regarding when and how installations and updates occur.

Release (deployment activity)

The activity of packaging and publishing a software version for distribution to target environments.

Install (deployment activity)

The activity of placing, unbundling, and configuring software files on a specific target system.

Activate (deployment activity)

The activity of making an installed software component executable and available to run.

Deactivate (deployment activity)

The deployment activity that stops an active software component from running without removing its files.

Adapt (deployment activity)

The activity of altering deployment configurations and environmental settings to match modified hardware or system conditions.

De-install (deployment activity)

The activity of systematically removing software files and associated configurations from a target host.

De-release (deployment activity)

The activity of formally withdrawing a software release from public distribution and ending its ongoing support.