Making Autonomic Computing Systems Accountable: The Problem of Human- Computer Interaction

The vision of autonomic computing raises fundamental questions about how we interact with computer systems. In this paper, we attempt to make a start at addressing these questions by outlining their character and proposing some strategies for understanding them better. We take systems management as an activity in which to explore these issues and examine the problem of how we may make autonomic computing systems accountable, in and through interaction, for their behaviour We conclude that there is no technological solution to this problem. Rather, it calls for designers of autonomic computing systems to engage with users so as to undestand at first hand the challenges of being a user.