WikiSym 2007

Wikis for Software Engineering Workshop

Sunday, October 21st, 13:30-17:00

An informal and open gathering for researchers and practitioners interested in using, developing or studying wikis and wiki-based tools for supporting software engineering activities.

NEW! All the details on the Wikis4SE wiki at: http://wikis4se.org

Introduction

The use of wikis in software engineering dates back to 1995, when Ward Cunningham created the first ever wiki (known as the Wiki) as a platform for discussing patterns and software development efforts.

The simplicity and effectiveness of wikis as a medium for collaborative authoring has lead to their explosive popularity across many domains, and attention has largely shifted to those domains.

Many organizations continue to use wikis to support software projects and have gained experience and insights on their power and limitations. Meanwhile, researchers and practitioners are coming up with new ways to support the unique needs of software development, and of integrating wikis into the development process.

Goals

This workshop aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts interested in exploring the potential of wikis as an effective tool to support software engineering activities.

Specifically, it is an opportunity to:

• Learn from the knowledge and experience gained in using wikis for software engineering.
• Learn about wiki implementations and tools specific to the needs of software engineering.
• Identify benefits and best practices.
• Identify limitations and challenges.
• Develop an agenda for future research and development to advance the state of the art.
• Establish new collaborations between researchers and practitioners.

Topics

Examples of relevant topics include, but are not limited to:

• Experience
  • Reports on experiences in using wikis to support software engineering.
  • Wikis in software engineering educational settings.
  • Practices and tips you would like to share.
  • Evaluation of the applicability of specific wiki implementations and features.
• Integration
  • Integration of wikis with software engineering tools (IDEs, modeling tools, test tools, Q&A tools, configuration management systems, etc.).
  • wikis as front-ends or as actual knowledge management platforms in software projects.
  • wiki as a collaboration tool in global software development
• Extensions and tools
  • wiki engines with specialized support for software projects
  • Specific markup languages for software development.
  • Tools based on wiki principles
  • Mechanisms for preserving the semantic connection between Wikis and software artifacts.

Format and Submissions

The workshop is part of the WikiSym’07 conference, which is collocated with OOPSLA’07, in Montreal, Canada.

It will take place on Sunday, October 21st, 13:30-17:00.

The first part of the workshop will consist of short presentations and demos (up to 15 minutes). The second part will be an open discussion with an opportunity for participants to offer "lightning talks" in the OOPSLA tradition.

To present a talk in the first part, you are invited to submit a simple presentation proposal in PDF format (1-2 pages), containing an abstract and the objectives of your presentation. We encourage everything from experience reports and position papers to tool demos and even "I have a dream" talks. If a paper or presentation is available, please attach it to your submission.

• Submissions should be sent to Paulo Merson (pfm@sei.cmu.edu).
• Submission deadline: 12th October
• Notification of acceptance: 15th October, but a quick feedback on early submissions will be promptly provided.

Workshop results and contributions will be published on the Wikis4SE wiki, at http://www.wikis4se.org.

Agenda

A tentative agenda is presented below:

• Invited talk by Ward Cunningham
• Short presentations and demos
• Posters time (coffee-break)
• Open discussion
• Group discussions and conclusions
• Closing

If you want to share your research work, experience, and ideas, or just learn more about wikis for software engineering, come join us at the workshop!

Invited Talk by Ward Cunningham

The invited talk will explore Wiki's intertwined history with Agile software development.

• Aspects of the young Agile that influenced Wiki
• How the Wiki community helped mature Agile
• Wiki as an Agile project management tool
• Wiki as a an application development platform
• WikiNature as an inspiration for future system design

Ward Cunningham is the Chief Technology Officer of AboutUs.org, a growth company hosting the communities formed by organizations and the people they touch. Ward co-founded the consultancy, Cunningham & Cunningham, Inc., has served as a Director of the Eclipse Foundation, an Architect in Microsoft's Patterns & Practices Group, the Director of R&D at Wyatt Software and as Principle Engineer in the Tektronix Computer Research Laboratory. Ward is well known for his contributions to the developing practice of object-oriented programming, the variation called Extreme Programming, and the communities supported by his WikiWikiWeb. Ward hosts the AgileManifesto.org. He is a founder of the Hillside Group and there created the Pattern Languages of Programs conferences which continue to be held all over the world.

More about Ward Cunningham can be found at Ward's personal pages and Ward's wiki pages.

Admission to the Workshop

Admission is free for WikiSym participants. However, for organizational purposes, we would like to know who is intending to participate. There are two ways to let us know. One is to make a submission, as mentioned above. Another way is to send us an email to organizers@wikis4se.org introducing you and your interest on the workshop.

NEW! If you want to participate, please add yourself in the participants list of the event at: http://wikis4se.org

Organizers

Ademar Aguiar – University of Porto, Portugal

Paulo Merson – Software Engineering Institute, USA

Uri Dekel – Carnegie Mellon University, USA