Towards public understanding of software through modeling

We consider the public understanding of software and its engineering to be imperative for citizens in the rapidly digitizing world. In this vision paper, we explore the possibilities of using software and systems engineering models for communicating quality aspects of software-intensive systems to their users. We provide a scope, vision, and research challenges in this direction, aiming to facilitate transparency about design choices and relevant quality attributes in areas such as safety, security, and privacy. Ultimately, we envision that these efforts can contribute to an improved public understanding of software systems.