Institute for Software Research
This workshop will bring together technical staff of NASA/Ames and faculty and staff researchers from University of California's Institute for Software Research (ISR). The goal of the workshop is to generate a joint understanding of collaborative software engineering tools informed from four perspectives: 1) technology, 2) theory, 3) field studies, and 4) specific NASA problems. Examples of some expected outcomes would be a greater understanding of how existing software technology can support collaborative software engineering, what insight can be provided by current theories of computer-supported cooperative work, what is entailed in conducting field studies of sites, and how each of these applies to problems present at NASA.
The participants from ISR are highly qualified to address many of the perspectives described above. Some highlights of the team's recent activities include a book and special issue of the Journal of Human-Computer Interaction on the interaction of software in the real world (Dourish), a special issue of the Journal of Computer-Supported Cooperative Work on field studies for collaborative and knowledge-based systems (Redmiles), development of Web technologies for collaboration (Taylor), contributions to software tools for collaboration, including workflow (Taylor), configuration management (van der Hoek), event notification servers and event monitoring (Redmiles), and field studies at various sites including NASA/JPL (Mark).
The focus on collaborative and intelligent software engineering tools is very apropos. The growing trend for distributed software development in the 80s and 90s is more prevalent than ever. However, for various reasons, organizations seek to minimize travel in support of distributed collaborations. Also, with work by companies such as Microsoft, IBM (Lucent), and many others, technologies for collaboration are more available. Nonetheless, many research perspectives are essential to understanding how to apply existing technology and what gaps need to be filled by new research.
This workshop is sponsored by the UC Irvine Institute for Software Research (ISR) and NASA Ames Research Center.
Comments and questions: Debra A. Brodbeck, ISR Technical Relations Director, brodbeck@uci.edu