Software engineering for and with artists: a case study

Authors:
Anna Trifonova;Øyvind Brandtsegg;Letizia Jaccheri
Affiliations:
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway;Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway;Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
Venue:
Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on Digital Interactive Media in Entertainment and Arts
Year:
2008

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Abstract

The article presents ImproSculpt -- a live performance instrument for algorithmic composition and improvised audio manipulation. A custom version of the software has been used within several interactive art installations, one of which (i.e. Flyndre) will be described. Besides the software characteristics and usage modes we present and discuss the software engineering challenges, problems and lessons learned during the development of ImproSculpt. Several methodologies were used in the case study: observing the project through its life cycle; analyzing the software and its documentation; questionnaire with the artist who is also the main developer; two software engineering interventions. The support of high performance, easy modifiability and availability were found to be particularly important. The development of a modular architecture has been identified as a way to satisfy some of the non-functional quality attributes of the software that appeared with the growth of the project. Furthermore, ImproSculpt has been published as open source software in order to increase access to wider public and stimulate input from interested community - software developers and artists.