Panels

Wednesday, May 16, 2001

S18
Software Engineering Body of Knowledge Panel (SWEBOK)

(Part of the education track)

Panel chair:
Peter Freeman,
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Contact:
Hossein Saiedian
saiedian@eecs.ukans.edu

Panelists:
Don Bagert,
Texas Tech University, USA;
Robert Dupuis,
Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada;
Dennis J. Frailey,
Raytheon Company, USA;
Hossein Saiedian,
University of Kansas, USA;
Mary Shaw,
Carnegie Mellon University, USA; and
Barrie Thompson,
University of Sunderland, UK

The goals of the SWEBOK project has been to develop a topical guide to the body of knowledge (BoK) supporting the discipline of software engineering. The project, sponsored by IEEE Computer Society, is over three years old and is nearing completion of its third and final stage. However, there has been some disagreement as to whether there is currently a common core software engineering body of knowledge at its current stage of evolution, and if so, what is size and contents of that BoK.

This panel will present the current status of the SWEBOK and discuss its strengths and weakness, as well as address the more general question of the possible existence and nature of a software engineering body of knowledge.

The panel discussion will have two parts. The first part will be an informative session. A short history will be presented and issues related to the curriculum, accreditation, and the maturity of the field to warrant a defined BoK will be discussed. In the second part, the panel members will discuss and debate the planned experimentation of the guide, its shortcomings, and how various computing societies may and should cooperate to improve the guide.

Wednesday, May 16, 2001; 4:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m.

Thursday, May 17, 2001

S37
Impact Project Panel

(Part of the CHASE track)

"Determining the Impact of Software Engineering Research Upon Practice"

Panel chair:
Leon J. Osterweil,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA

Contact:
Leon Osterweil
ljo@cs.umass.edu

Panelists:
Jacky Estublier,
French National Research Organization (CNRS), France;
Dieter Rombach,
Fraunhofer IESE, Germany; and
Mary Lou Soffa,
University of Pittsburgh, USA

The goal of the Impact project is to study the impact that software engineering research has had upon software development practice. The reasons for doing this include: identifying the sorts of contributions that have had substantial impact, determining the research modalities that have been relatively more successful, and anticipating the directions that software engineering research might most effectively pursue, based upon its history and positioning. Impact project research will be held to the highest standards of scrupulous scholarship. It is expected to be useful to the software engineering research and development communities, as well as to other academic disciplines, government funding agencies and the public at large in helping with the objective assessment of the software engineering community's record of achievement.

The output of the project will be series of documents and briefings targeted to different audiences. At the base of the documentation will be a series of articulate, objective, and complete scholarly papers, each tracing the way in which software technology that is in common use has drawn upon software engineering research. Each of these papers is expected to be of journal quality and size, and is expected to be published eventually in a high quality journal. It is expected that each such paper will be the product of the joint efforts of a team of perhaps 8–10 experts in the particular area. It is anticipated that as many as 20 such papers will be produced, each studying the genesis of a different area of important contemporary software engineering practice. It is also expected that a compendium of the papers will be published as a separate volume, perhaps as part of the ICSE 2002 proceedings.

Thursday, May 17, 2001; 4:00 p.m.–5:30 p.m.

Friday, May 18, 2001

S42
Perspectives on Software Engineering Panel (PoSE)

"The Future of Software Engineering"

Panel chair:
David Notkin,
University of Washington, USA

Contact:
David Notkin
notkin@cs.washington.edu

Panel presentation slides

Panelists:
Marc Donner,
Morgan Stanley, USA;
Michael D. Ernst,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA;
Michael Gorlick,
Endeavors Technology, Inc., USA;
Margaret-Anne Storey,
University of Victoria, Canada; and
E. James Whitehead, Jr.,
University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

This session will be divided into two parts. The first part will consist of six invited speakers giving their view of the future of software engineering: most of these speakers will be advanced or recently graduated Ph.D. students, while several of them will be active researchers who will speak on the software engineering challenges in areas of growing importance (such as ubiquitous computing). The second part will be an open microphone for the audience to ask questions and comment on their view of the future of software engineering.

Friday, May 18, 2001; 8:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m.

S50
Software Engineering Research Agendas Panel (SERA)

"What can't we do, but need to learn how to do?"

Panel chair:
Dieter Rombach,
Fraunhofer IESE, Germany

Contact:
Dieter Rombach
rombach@iese.fhg.de

Panelists:
Ross Jeffery,
University of New South Wales, Australia;
Ali Mili,
West Virginia University, USA;
Leon J. Osterweil,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA;
David L. Parnas,
McMaster University, Canada; and
Tetsuo Tamai,
University of Tokyo, Japan

The software challenges of the new millenium include more mature users expecting functioning software, more critical technical and business applications requiring dependable software, globalization requiring distributed development teams, and paradigm clashes between new and old economy firms. Software engineering has to be evaluated anew in terms of "what can’t we do today, and what do we have to learn how do in order to meet those challenges". This panel discusses and proposes urgent research topics as well as research programs to address those topics. Although, such discussions are going on in all different countries (e.g., PITAC in the US, similar activities in Germany, this international panel will add new perspectives thought inter-cultural cross-fertilization. The panel will consist of three parts: Position statements and brief discussion among panelists, questions/answers from the audience, and summary.

Friday, May 18, 2001; 3:15 p.m.–4:45 p.m.