Serenity: A Case Study in Developing Sustainable Information Systems

Abstract

The Internet has made a huge impact on the way we, as humans, communicate. During the last decade a series of new communication mediums have emerged and communication protocols have come and gone. This puts new requirements on the development process and architecture of the communication platforms, operated by communities, in order to pro-actively ensure support for future communication protocols. Even further, additional requirements are added when the software itself will be maintained by a community. In this thesis we explore the world of Free/Libre and Open Source Software in a case study of the Serenity Information System. We present our suggestions of usable design-principles and our process in developing a sustainable information system.