Challenges for Inclusion in Software Engineering: The Case of the Emerging Papua New Guinean Society

TL;DR

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities faced by Papua New Guinea in developing an inclusive software engineering community, highlighting local barriers and strategies for global integration.

Contribution

It provides a qualitative analysis of PNG's software engineering landscape, identifying key challenges and proposing inclusive practices for local and global engagement.

Findings

Identified barriers to software industry growth in PNG

Opportunities for inclusive community development

Recommendations for local and global collaboration

Abstract

Software plays a central role in modern societies, with its high economic value and potential for advancing societal change. In this paper, we characterise challenges and opportunities for a country progressing towards entering the global software industry, focusing on Papua New Guinea (PNG). By hosting a Software Engineering workshop, we conducted a qualitative study by recording talks (n=3), employing a questionnaire (n=52), and administering an in-depth focus group session with local actors (n=5). Based on a thematic analysis, we identified challenges as barriers and opportunities for the PNG software engineering community. We also discuss the state of practices and how to make it inclusive for practitioners, researchers, and educators from both the local and global software engineering community.