Computer supported cooperative work in software engineering

Summary form only given. The explosive growth of Internet and wireless infrastructure allows software development collaboratively from multiple locations. Technology and standards have evolved to the point where it is feasible to perform full life cycle software development through multiple site cooperation. In fact, most large software corporations have distributed or even global software development, an example of which is the current trend of outsourcing to India and China. Much research in the area of CSCW concentrated on the area of improving efficiency of groupware. Topics include group awareness, multi-user interfaces, concurrency control, communication and coordination within the group, shared information space and the support of a heterogenous, open environment which integrates existing single-user applications, and etc. The focus is on application of CSCW technology to software engineering regarding collaborative software development, including design, workflow, testbeds, and etc. In particular, we would like to discuss one fundamental question, i.e. whether CSCW software development is more efficient than single-location software development. The topics of our discussion include, but are not limited to the following: 1. What is the impact of CSCW on software reliability, as compared with single-site software development? 2. What is the impact of CSCW on software productivity as compared with single site software development? 3. What are the benefits of CSCW for software engineering? 4. What are the new research topics in CSCW for software engineering? 5. How can CSCW be used in software design, development and testing?