Mind the Gap: Can and Should Software Engineering Data Sharing Become a Path of Less Resistance?

Abstract

The facility to process data is, arguably, the defining capability underpinning the transformative power of software: the relationships of each to the other are deep and extensive. This is reflected in the degree to which both software engineering practitioners and researchers rely upon data to direct their endeavours. Ironically however, while both the industrial and research communities are dependent upon data these dependencies present a dichotomy. Practitioners can suffer an abundance of data, much of it dark, which they struggle to interpret and apply beneficially. Isolated by gaps between industry and academia researchers often find themselves lacking data, watching as their industrial counterparts pursue a different and distinct course of action. Integrating evidence with experience gained in practice and through engagement with research this talk offers an industrial perspective on whether this situation can be improved upon; and what the benefits of achieving this outcome, particularly for practitioners, might be.