The Rise and Fall of COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Apps: when NFRs Collide with Pandemic

Bano, M; Arora, C; Zowghi, D; Ferrari, A

The Rise and Fall of COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Apps: when NFRs Collide with Pandemic

Bano, M

Arora, C Zowghi, D Ferrari, A

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Publisher:: IEEE
Publication Type:: Conference Proceeding
Citation:: 2021 IEEE 29th International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE), 2021, 00, pp. 106-116
Issue Date:: 2021-11-18

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Bano, M https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1447-9521
dc.contributor.author	Arora, C
dc.contributor.author	Zowghi, D
dc.contributor.author	Ferrari, A
dc.date	2021-09-20
dc.date.accessioned	2022-06-12T06:22:57Z
dc.date.available	2022-06-12T06:22:57Z
dc.date.issued	2021-11-18
dc.identifier.citation	2021 IEEE 29th International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE), 2021, 00, pp. 106-116
dc.identifier.isbn	9781665428569
dc.identifier.issn	1090-705X
dc.identifier.issn	2332-6441
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/158115
dc.description.abstract	To complement the manual contact-tracing methods, a flood of coronavirus-related apps was launched in the first half of 2020. Despite the incredible promises made by the governments, contact-tracing apps did not live up to expectations. We provide a contextual perspective of the government commissioned contact-tracing apps from four countries to understand the non-functional requirements (NFRs) and socio-technical factors that hindered the success of these apps. We collected the user reviews from the app stores for iOS and Android versions and identified top news articles related to each app. Our analysis revealed that the dominant factors behind the negligible success of these apps are complex and entangled with the cultural and political dimensions rather than being just technical. The multilayer diversity of the target users also impacted the design and development of contact-tracing apps in an extremely challenging situation. This perspective paper brings into light important elements, such as politics and socio-cultural aspects that should be studied in the design of contact-tracing apps, and public apps in general.
dc.language	en
dc.publisher	IEEE
dc.relation.ispartof	2021 IEEE 29th International Requirements Engineering Conference (RE)
dc.relation.ispartof	2021 IEEE 29th International Requirements Engineering Conference
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1109/re51729.2021.00017
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess
dc.title	The Rise and Fall of COVID-19 Contact-Tracing Apps: when NFRs Collide with Pandemic
dc.type	Conference Proceeding
utslib.citation.volume	00
utslib.location.activity	Notre Dame, IN, USA
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Computer Science
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access	*
dc.date.updated	2022-06-12T06:22:56Z
pubs.finish-date	2021-09-24
pubs.publication-status	Published
pubs.start-date	2021-09-20
pubs.volume	00

Abstract:

To complement the manual contact-tracing methods, a flood of coronavirus-related apps was launched in the first half of 2020. Despite the incredible promises made by the governments, contact-tracing apps did not live up to expectations. We provide a contextual perspective of the government commissioned contact-tracing apps from four countries to understand the non-functional requirements (NFRs) and socio-technical factors that hindered the success of these apps. We collected the user reviews from the app stores for iOS and Android versions and identified top news articles related to each app. Our analysis revealed that the dominant factors behind the negligible success of these apps are complex and entangled with the cultural and political dimensions rather than being just technical. The multilayer diversity of the target users also impacted the design and development of contact-tracing apps in an extremely challenging situation. This perspective paper brings into light important elements, such as politics and socio-cultural aspects that should be studied in the design of contact-tracing apps, and public apps in general.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/158115