CALL FOR PAPERS
WORKSHOP ON EMPIRICAL STUDIES OF SOFTWARE MAINTENANCE (WESS99)

Friday 3 - Saturday 4, September1999
Keble College, Oxford, UK

Co-located with
  The International Conference on Software Maintenance (ICSM99)

Sponsored by
  IEEE Computer Society  (subject to confirmation)

in cooperation with
  Centre for Software Reliability
  Empirical Software Engineering Research Group (Bournemouth University)

THEME:  How to wade through the mire of evidence?

In recent years more attention has been given to empirical research, yet
the results seldom seem to have much impact upon the software development
community, nor upon maintenance practices in particular.  The aim of this
workshop is therefore twofold.  First to consider how researchers can best
present empirical evidence so as to support appraisal, interpretation and
meta-analysis.  Second, can practitioners interpret and respond to the
empirical evidence; to put it bluntly should they believe it?

Aim: To provide a small interactive workshop for practioners and
researchers interested in empirical aspects of software maintenance.
Attendence will by invitation.  Those interested in attending are
encouraged to submit a position paper (up to 5 pages in length) which will
be peer reviewed.

The four workshop sessions are organized to match the theme.
1. What do we know empirically about software maintenance?
2. How can we encourage practitioners to respond to empirical evidence? Can
all empirical results be trusted?
3. How should we present empirical research to (i) other researchers (ii)
other practitioners?
4. What can we learn from other empirically based disciplines (e.g.
epidemiology)?

The output from these workshop sessions will be a report on the state of
empirical knowledge regarding software maintenance, suggestions on the
presentation of empirical results and an agenda for future empirical
research.

We enthusiastically encourage submissions from practioners and researchers.
We are especially interested in the participation of those actively engaged
in maintaining software. To participate in WESS99, please submit, either or
both of:
* a position paper to Dr Marc Roper.  The position paper should describe
your experiences with, or position on, one of the four session themes
listed above.
* a brief description of your background and experience in software
maintenance, together with any comments regarding the workshop theme.

Please include your session preference, if you have one.

All paper submissions must be as electronic mail in PDF or postscript.
Please try to avoid rare or exotic encoding / compression techniques as the
Workshop organisers are busy people!

The position papers will be reviewed by members of our program committee.

KEY DATES:

3rd May, 1999: Deadline for position papers
16th June, 1999: Acceptance decision
16th July, 1999: Final versions due to place on Workshop web server
1-3 Sept, 1999: International Conference on Software Maintenance
3-4 Sept., 1999: Workshop on Empirical Studies of Software Maintenance (WESS99)

Submissions should be emailed to Dr Marc Roper ([log in to unmask])  at
the University of Strathclyde, UK by May 3, 1999

Further information may be found at the workshop web site:

http://dec.bmth.ac.uk/ESERG/WESS99Home.html

PROGRAMME COMMITTEE

Giuliano Antoniol, IRST (Trento), IT
Lionel Briand, Fraunhofer Institute, DE
Tracy Hall, South Bank, UK
Mark Harman, Goldsmiths College, UK
Rachel Harrison, University of Southampton, UK
Warren Harrison, Portland State, USA
Les Hatton, Oakwood Computing , UK
Dave Homan, Nortel, UK
Ross Jeffery, UNSW, AU
Chris Kemerer, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Barbara Kitchenham, University of Keele, UK
Mayuran Krishnan, University of Michigan, USA
Filippo Lanubile, University of Bari, IT
Manny Lehman, Imperial College, UK
Shari Pfleeger, Systems/Software, Inc., USA
Lesley Pickard, University of Keele, UK
Lutz Prechelt, University of Karlsruhe, DE
Marc Roper, University of Strathclyde, UK
Jarrett Rosenberg, Sun, USA
Norm Schneidewind, Naval Postgraduate School, USA
Martin Shepperd, Bournemouth University, UK
Forrest Shull, University of Maryland, USA
Sandra Slaughter, Carnegie Mellon University , USA
Shingo Takada, Nara michigan, JP
June Verner, Drexel University, USA
Richard Ward, BT [log in to unmask], UK
Claes Wohlin, University of Lund, SE

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Lionel Briand, Fraunhofer Institute, DE
Rachel Harrison, University of Southampton, UK
Chris Kemerer, University of Pittsburgh , USA
Marc Roper, University of Strathclyde, UK
Shari Pfleeger, Systems/Software, Inc., USA

GENERAL CHAIR

Martin Shepperd, Bournemouth University, UK




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