SEKE'02 Conference Report

by Filomena Ferrucci

The fourteenth International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE'02 conference), sponsored by ERCIM, was held in Sant'Angelo d'Ischia, Italy, from 15 to 19 July 2002. Ten years after the 1992 conference, which was held in Capri, the enchanted location offered by the isle of Ischia has been chosen to allow participants to enjoy a unique scenario for scientific discussion.

The general chairs of this edition were Genny Tortora and Shi-Kuo Chang, while the program chairs were Filomena Ferrucci and Giuliana Vitiello. The international program committee of the conference comprised 55 representatives from 15 countries. The conference was organised by the Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica of the University of Salerno in co-operation with ACM/SIGSOFT.

The SEKE conference is a premier forum for academic and industrial researchers and practitioners in the fields of software and knowledge engineering. Continuing its long-term tradition, the aim of the conference is to provide a fruitful forum of discussion about present and future issues for researchers and practitioners of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering.

The main conference topics are exemplified by the talks given by the invited speakers: Lionel C. Briand illustrated why and how the two worlds of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engi-neering can both gain by better communication, Witold Pedrycz discussed the synergies emerging between Software Engineering and Computational Intelligence, Xindong Wu's survey covered the Data Mining techniques that can be used to distill knowledge from data, and Paul Dantzig described recent evolutions in the architecture and design of high volume websites.

A surprising number of researchers answered to the Call for Papers. 171 papers were submitted from all over the world touching different topics of the Conference. A peer review process was applied, each paper being reviewed by three independent and qualified referees. As a result, the technical program was organised in 26 sessions and included 71 full papers, 19 short papers, and 6 posters. There were sessions concerned preeminently with the field of software engineering. The corresponding papers touched classic software engineering issues, from requirements engineering to validation/verification, but also newer, emerging topics that saw a large number of contributions.

Indeed, many authors proposed solutions to some of the new challenges posed by hypermedia and the World Wide Web while others addressed applications in fields such as education/training or computer-supported cooperative work. The papers in the session on artificial intelligence approaches to software engineering dealt with several issues, from problem understanding by knowledge modeling through the use of case-based reasoning for domain analysis, to support systems for the generation of integration tests. There were sessions which provided contributions on knowledge engineering tools and techniques, on knowledge representation and retrieval, and on soft computing. Most of the applied studies were featured in two sessions, one on system applications and experience, the other on industrial applications. These studies reported on the application of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering techniques, tools and processes to a specific domain or a significant software project.

Along with the regular sessions, the program of this edition included two thematic workshops. Both workshops addressed topics of current and relevant interest - one, chaired by Athula Ginige, on Web Engineering; the other, conducted by Günther Ruhe, on Software Engineering Decision Support. Moreover, a half-day tutorial was delivered by Colin Atkinson. This seminar presented a model-driven (UML-based) approach to component engineering. The conference also hosted a European session where representatives of the EU illustrated the guidelines for the preparation of projects for the 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission.

The conference attracted over 160 participants from 23 countries and all continents. There were many students and young researchers among the participants. A relaxed and friendly atmosphere fostered additional 'off the record' informal discussions among the participants, and the social program included a Pizza Welcome Reception, a sightseeing boat trip and gala dinner, and a trip to Capri.

The proceedings of SEKE'02 were published by ACM Press and contain papers from the invited and contributed talks. A special issue of the International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (IJSEKE) will be dedicated to a selection of the best papers from the Conference. The purpose of the special issue, to be printed in 2003, is to offer to the authors of such papers an opportunity to present a more detailed description of their work. Guest editors of this IJSEKE special issue are Filomena Ferrucci and Giuliana Vitiello.

Please contact:
Filomena Ferrucci,
Università di Salerno, Italy
Tel: +39 089 965 273
E-mail: fferrucci@unisa.it