Abstract

Software development can take place independently of time and space. No matter where in the world you are located, if you have the technical skills and expertise you are able to design, built, share, and monetarize software applications using our global digital Internet platforms. Current Internet-based tools and technologies allow everybody to participate in the digital global economy. Often these sentences are taken for granted, when we talk about global software development and when we design new tools supporting software development. We don’t question whether they are correct or whether the assumptions upon which they stand appropriately capture the lived reality of the “generic” global software developer. In this keynote, I will examine the fundamentals and taken-for-granted assumptions about available infrastructures and agile work practices which makes global software development possible. I will do so by exploring how global software development is experienced differently depending on where in the world the global software developers are physically located with their bodies. Drawing upon longitudinal research exploring global agile development in India and longitudinal research exploring tech start-up companies in occupied Palestine - I will in this keynote discuss and reflect upon the core challenges and draw up a change agenda promoting equity when software development takes place in a globalized world.

Bio

Pernille Bjørn is Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Copenhagen, Denmark (DIKU) and Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering (HCDE) at University of Washington, USA. Her CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) research explores the basic nature of cooperative work with the aim of designing collaborative technologies within different domains such as Global software development (India & Philippines); Tech Start-up (Palestinian), and Healthcare (Canada & Denmark). Recently her research includes Open Design, Inclusive technologies, and Makerspace methodologies (FemTech.dk), and currently, she designs artifacts which demonstrate the hidden stories of women pioneers in the game industry which took place in the 70/80-ties (AtariWomen.org). Her work is published at peer-reviewed conferences (e.g. CHI, CSCW, ECSCW, GROUP) and in high-ranking journals including Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Human-Computer Interaction, ACM Transaction for Computer-Human Interaction, International Journal of Management, Information System Journal, Action Research Journal, Science & Technology Studies & ACM Transaction on Social Computing. Prior affiliations include IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark; University of California, Irvine, USA; Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, India; and Simon Fraser University, Canada. Pernille Bjørn is paper co-chair for CHI2020.