Society is increasingly dependent on software applications, systems, and platforms, as functionality in all aspects of business, government, and everyday life is implemented through software. Laws and regulations, which aim to ensure accountability to societal goals and norms, increasingly depend on software for their implementation and effectiveness. Whereas organizations and individuals throughout our history have been expected to comply with laws and regulations, now software systems also must be accountable and comply with them. Software systems need to be designed with legal and regulatory compliance in mind, and should be adaptable to changing laws and regulations, which themselves evolve with changing citizen expectations and social norms.

Among other topics, recent research in designing accountable software systems has examined:

• The translation and alignment of legal and engineering vocabularies needed to design, analyze and verify accountable systems
• The social dynamics and networks of individuals in the delivery of public services;
• The accountability of software that coordinates public services between autonomous groups; and
• The impact of software ownership dynamics on the accountability of software frameworks and platforms.

While this research showcases the challenges and opportunities of accountable design, the need to envision unifying themes and lessons learned from across the contributing disciplines still remains and is fundamental to pursuing the larger vision of accountable design.