Modern computer systems are ubiquitous in contemporary life yet many of them remain opaque. This poses significant challenges in domains where desiderata such as fairness or accountability are crucial. We suggest that the best strategy for achieving system transparency varies depending on the specific source of opacity prevalent in a given context. Synthesizing and extending existing discussions, we propose a taxonomy consisting of eight sources of opacity that fall into three main categories: architectural, analytical, and socio-technical. For each source, we provide initial suggestions as to how to address the resulting opacity in practice. The taxonomy provides a starting point for requirements engineers and other practitioners to understand contextually prevalent sources of opacity, and to select or develop appropriate strategies for overcoming them.

翻译：现代计算机系统在日常生活中无处不在，然而其中许多系统仍然是不透明的。这在公平性或问责制等关键需求至关重要的领域带来了重大挑战。我们提出，实现系统透明度的最佳策略因特定背景下普遍存在的不透明性来源而异。综合并扩展现有讨论，我们提出了一种分类法，包含八种不透明性来源，这些来源分为三大类别：架构性、分析性和社会技术性。针对每种来源，我们提供了在实践中解决由此产生的不透明性的初步建议。该分类法为需求工程师及其他从业者理解情境中普遍存在的不透明性来源，并选择或制定克服这些不透明性的适当策略提供了起点。