Guest Editors´ Introduction: Cooperative and Human Aspects of Software Engineering

Software is developed by people, used by people, and supports interaction among people. As such, human characteristics and cooperation are central to modern practical software construction. While human aspects were recognized as important over 30 years ago, recent changes in the software domain have made cooperative and human aspects of software engineering even more significant. This special issue of IEEE Software presents a sample of current research in this field illustrating the wide variety of approaches, software domains and activities in which human and cooperative aspects are being investigated.