Human-centered design is a design and management framework that develops solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process. Human-centered design builds upon participatory action research by moving beyond participants’ involvement and producing solutions to problems rather than solely documenting them. In the Human-Centered System, there exists a symbiotic relation between the human and the machine in which the human being would handle the qualitative subjective judgements and the machine the quantitative elements.

Human-Centered Design (HCD) is a process by which we better understand the challenges, goals, needs, and desired experiences of groups of people that may interface with a service, software, or system that we are designing. The Human-Centered Design Working Group seeks to approach the development of the OpenTEAM technology ecosystem from the perspective of users, making sure products are usable and useful from the perspective of the user/human.

Involvement and empowerment, where the worth and self dignity of all people are recognized. Inclusion refers to the behaviors and social norms that ensure people feel welcome.

System integration is defined in engineering as the process of bringing together the component subsystems into one system (an aggregation of subsystems cooperating so that the system is able to deliver the overarching functionality) and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a system, and in information technology as the process of linking together different computing systems and software applications physically or functionally, to act as a coordinated whole.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing science related to climate change. The IPCC provides adaptation and mitigation strategies in addition to regular scientific assessments on climate change, its implications, and potential future risks at a global scale. Special methodology reports provide practical guidelines for the preparation of greenhouse gas inventories.

Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system whose interfaces are completely understood to work with other products or systems, at present or in the future, in implementation or access, and without any restrictions. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader definition takes into account social, political, and organizational factors that impact system-to-system performance.

The Internet of Things is the network of physical devices and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enables these things to connect and exchange data, creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems

A kit is a group of tools which are assembled together to address higher level challenges (personal or organizational). Kits are modular and tools can be swapped in and out to address changes in systems understanding and different approaches.