Values and principles
🚧 This section is still in active development and is subject to changes 🚧
We want to enable greater use of all our software outputs (including the code itself) and limit the technical debt and expertise needed to develop, maintain, and modify Seedcase software. As a team, we also want to build and develop in ways that are easier and clearer to everyone involved. For these reasons, any implementation of the architectural designs for Seedcase software has these core values that influence our principles.
Above all else, Seedcase software follows a domain-driven design approach. We are integrated within a health research and clinical setting, and are also lead by a health researcher. The people who test out our software are also domain experts like researchers and technical staff who would also be the end users.
Values
The core values directing and shaping many aspects of the Seedcase software are:
Principles
The guiding principles below are those shaped and informed by the core values:
Re-use existing material
There already exists many great software tools, infrastructures, and resources that haven’t been incorporated into common health research practice. We will make use of and/or modify these materials where we can.
Be familiar to or used by researchers currently or within the near future
To ensure the greatest potential for continued maintenance, development, and use, the software should use or be built with tools and skills that are at least familiar or soon to be familiar to more technical researchers.
Be familiar to skilled personnel
Skilled personnel such as research software engineers, data engineers, and data scientists will build, modify, or contribute to this software and need to be familiar with them.
Be open source
Software that isn’t open source is by definition not transparent, FAIR, or open. This is a requirement as it will encourage wide and easy re-use.
Integrates easily with other software
Modular software that follows common input/output conventions and has well-designed and documented APIs are easier to build with and maintain.
Historically stable and reliable
While there are always new software being built, maintenance and development is easier when using those that are established.
Likely to be used in the future or is easily interchangeable with potential future tools
Technology progresses quite quickly, so we will rely on software that is likely to still be used or can be switched to other tools.
Be developed or supported by organizations that adhere to open principles
There are many organizations that develop or support open source software, but not all of them have openness as a core value and mission.
Be usable in diverse computing environments
Not all institutions or companies have the funding or access to more powerful computing environments. To be equitable and inclusive, we will consider, and where relevant, develop for environments with less powerful read/write speeds, limits in memory and storage, and/or lower Internet access and connectivity.