E-Research

Transformation in Scholarly Practice

Nicholas W. Jankowski, Nicholas W. Jankowski

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781135855062
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Investigación y metodología de las ciencias sociales

No less than a revolutionary transformation of the research enterprise is underway. This transformation extends beyond the natural sciences, where 'e-research' has become the modus operandi, and is penetrating the social sciences and humanities, sometimes with differences in accent and label. Many suggest that the very essence of scholarship in these areas is changing. The everyday procedures and practices of traditional forms of scholarship are affected by these and other features of e-research. This volume, which features renowned scholars from across the globe who are active in the social sciences and humanities, provides critical reflection on the overall emergence of e-research, particularly on its adoption and adaptation by the social sciences and humanities.

Part I
Introduction

1 The Contours and Challenges of e-Research

Nicholas W. Jankowski

INTRODUCTION

Every so often major shifts emerge in the way society is imagined. Historical periods have acquired labels, albeit debated and disputed, that reflect such shifts: Reformation, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, Information Age. The scholarly enterprise has been integral to the formulation of these shifts and that enterprise itself has been the subject of transformation. Introduction of the experimental method is associated with such a shift, as is evolutionary theory; the switch from Newtonian physics to general acceptance of Einstein’s theory of relativity also reflects such transformation. During the past few years, discussions in policy and academic circles suggest yet another move is underway, some claim revolutionary in scope, impacting the full breadth of the scholarly enterprise. This latest shift is attributed to the widespread availability and incorporation of high-speed computers and electronic networks, particularly the Internet, into the research enterprise, making very large volumes of data available that provide opportunity for addressing new questions in new ways. Reflection on this transformation of scholarship, particularly within the social sciences and humanities, is the concern of this book.

The signals suggesting such transformation are many: blue-ribbon committees have been mandated to explore changes and to recommend policy initiatives; national offices have been established to fund research and development; reports, proceedings, papers, and journal articles are appearing, as well as a handful of edited volumes such as this one. These signals span the spectrum of scholarly disciplines and are evident around the globe: in North America, Europe, Asia and Australasia. The signals are, understandably, stronger for some disciplines and countries than for others. Still, the overall strength of the indicators is substantial and reinforces need for a considered examination of the transformation.

This introductory chapter sketches the development of this transformation and begins with examination of competing terms currently in vogue that are meant to describe the change. The issues and challenges associated with these transformations constitute the substance of the contributions to this book but one issue, scholarly communication, is of overriding importance and is sketched in this chapter. Next, the organizational structure of the book is elaborated with short introductions to the chapters in each section of the book. Finally, a few remarks on further research directions are made in a concluding note.

CONCEPTUALIZING SCHOLARLY TRANSFORMATION

A small coterie of terms reflects current changes in the conduct of science and, more generally, of scholarship. The most prevalent of these are: ‘e-science’, ‘cyberinfrastructure’, and ‘e-research’. These terms have historical antecedents and competitors for prominence. Beginning with the past, one alternative conceptualization is ‘Big Science’ which initially described weapons-related research during World War II, particularly the Manhattan Project mandated to construct an atomic bomb. Big Science continued through the Cold War and reflected government-sponsored research generally oriented towards weapons development and national security.¹ Subsequently, non-military projects, such as those associated with high-energy physics laboratories like CERN in Geneva and initiatives to unravel DNA like the Human Genome Project, took on the characteristics of Big Science. All of these projects require a need for large-scale instrumentation, budgets running in the billions, and personnel numbering in the thousands. In some cases, as with experiments involving particle accelerators like those at CERN, distant collaboration among scientists is commonplace, often crossing national borders. The transformation of science as reflected in these features was identified relatively early by Alvin Weinberg (1961) in a Science article eulogizing the passing of small-scale, solo scholarship.²

A more recent conceptualization is cyberscience, elaborated by Michael Nentwich (2003) who provides a comprehensive overview of the transformations of science and scholarship, reflected in the subtitle of the volume: ‘Research in the Age of the Internet’. Nentwich’s definition of cyberscience is broad: “… all scholarly and scientific research activities in the virtual space generated by the networked computers and by advanced information and communication technologies in general” (Nentwich, 2003: 22). Tracing the genealogy of the term, Nentwich (2003: 22, note 41) suggests that it originated in an article by Paul Wouters (1996) and subsequently surfaced in various papers and conference panels.³ Use of the term has since been mainly limited to publications and projects emerging from Nentwich’s institutional home, the Austrian Institute of Technology Assessment. In addition, it appears in the title of a recent study by Christine Hine (2008), Systematics as Cyberscience. Otherwise, the term seems to have faded into disuse. Of more durability, however, has been the fundamental feature present in both Nentwich’s study, as in Wouters’ initial formulation: an all-encompassing approach that acknowledges the importance of computers and electronic networks, but that is grounded in a broad vision of the scholarly enterprise. The inclusion of scholarly communication and publishing within that approach resonates with the formulation of another conceptualization, e-research, which is outlined shortly.

The term e-science is basically a European version of the American term ‘cyberinfrastructure’. Rooted in British initiatives, John Taylor, then Director General of the Office of Science and Technology in the U.K., is credited for coining it at the launch of a major funding initiative in 1999. The focus of e-science then, as now, was on the natural and biological sciences and was designed to facilitate the processing of very large volumes of data with the aid of Grid computer networks. Euphoric statements about transformation of the scientific enterprise marked the launch and subsequent promotion of e-science.⁴ Shortly thereafter, in 2001, the National e-Science Centre (NeSC) was established, which has since become the main governmental body for coordinating and allocating funding for e-science projects in the U.K. One of the pages on the NeSC Web site sketches the anticipated trajectory of science:

In the future, e-Science will refer to the large scale science that will increasingly be carried out through distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet. Typically, a feature of such collaborative scientific enterprises is that they will require access to very large data collections, very large scale computing resources and high performance visualization back to the individual user scientists. (NeSC, n.d.)

In this description, as elsewhere, e-science is closely associated with Grid computer network architecture that enables the global collaboration considered basic to e-science.⁵ These features are expected, in turn, to spurn development of new, specialized Internet-based tools for conducting research.

One of the spin-offs of the e-science development in the U.K. involved initiation of a government-sponsored office to stimulate and coordinate e-science in the social sciences (Jankowski & Caldas, 2004). Called the National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) and launched in December 2004, it involves a decentralized structure of ‘nodes’ engaging universities across the U.K. Most of the projects emphasize incorporation of Grid computer architecture into the infrastructure of social science. An exception to this accentuation is the Oxford University node of the NCeSS, which takes a social-shaping approach (OeSS Project, n.d.). Although an exception, this node is embedded in the Computing Laboratory of Oxford University and, in that respect, reflects the original core concerns with e-science on computation and computer networks.

Another conceptualization, cyberinfrastructure is primarily rooted in initiatives based in the U.S. and was initially promoted in a commission report funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2003, subsequently known as the Atkins Report (2003): ‘Revolutionizing Science and Engineering Through Cyberinfrastructure’. This title reflects the promotional and visionary language present throughout the document: “A new age has dawned,” (p. 31), “The time is ripe,” (p. 12), “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead the revolution” (p. 32). Basically, the term cyberinfrastructure refers to an infrastructure of distributed computer, information, and communication technologies. The development is seen as parallel to the infrastructures already integral to modern societies: roads and railways for transportation; water, gas, and power networks for basic services and resources.⁶ In the words of the Atkins Report, “If infrastructure is required for an industrial economy, then…cyberinfrastructure is required for a knowledge economy” (Atkins, 2003: 5).

Not unsurprisingly, the first waves of cyberinfrastructure initiatives were situated in the natural and biological sciences where large volumes of data are involved in research endeavors requiring high-speed computer processing: particle physics, astronomy, meteorology, and DNA research. These initiatives typically involve collaboration with staff at supercomputing research centers.⁷ Christine Borgman, (2007: 23), among others, argues that there has always been space within initial conceptualizations of cyberinfrastructure for the entire breadth of scholarly endeavor. And in a keynote NCeSS conference presentation, Noshir Contractor (2007) suggests that the components of cyberinfrastructure can be seen as spanning the gambit of university services: from high-performance computing, libraries, referral services, through training, outreach and mentoring services. Little is left out in the cold from such formulations of cyberinfrastructure, but they misconstrue where emphasis has been historically and is currently: in the fields of science and engineering that are engaged in processing large volumes of data with the aid of Grid computer networks and related software.

The Atkins Report, it should be stressed, is not so much a scientific publication, but a manifesto and, as such, is less concerned with conventional scholarly concerns such as qualification, criticism and evidence. The report can be easily dismissed for lacking such features, but Hine (2003: 2) reminds us that such perfunctory discarding of visionary statements misses opportunity for a potentially valuable scholarly enquiry into how these statements are translated into initiatives and, possibly, how some changes in the scientific enterprise may be impacted by the ideas and funding related to such visions. Although perhaps premature to assess the definitive contribution of the Atkins Report, it is fair to note that the concerns expressed in the document have found considerable institutional and disciplinary resonance. The NSF has established an Office of Cyberinfrastructure, suggesting a serious form of institutionalization. Various disciplines have established their own committees producing reports and initiatives to investigate ways to consciously take advantage of both the features and the funding being made available for cyberinfrastructure initiatives.⁸

These initiatives have not remained restricted to the natural and biological sciences. The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS, 2006), for example, issued a report on cyberinfrastructures for the humanities and social sciences. Other efforts to integrate the social sciences are reflected in the introduction of social network analysis as a tool with which to study science communities (SNAC, 2005) and in many of the initiatives introducing Internet research and digital studies into university curricula and research programs (see, e.g., Nissenbaum & Price, 2004).

Elsewhere, a different approach has been taken where the term e-research is seen as more reflective of the work of both social scientists and scholars in the humanities, a terminological development also observed by Borgman (2007: 20). The contribution by Anne Beaulieu and Paul Wouters in this volume sketches this approach, as developed in the Netherlands, formally initiated in October 2006 and called the Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences (VKS). It can, in fact, be seen as successor to Wouters’ earlier notion cyberscience, and as one more amenable to the conceptualization of scholarship in the social sciences and humanities. Moreover, the term e-research acknowledges forms of scholarship that do not primarily emphasize use of high-speed computers for processing large datasets, but that place weight on incorporation of a wide variety of new media and electronic networks in the research process; see Chapter 3.

Terminology in a terrain as dynamic as this one is difficult to pin down with precision. Undoubtedly, much more energy will be expended in the coming years on refining the ideas underlying the various conceptualizations. For the purposes of this volume, however, a broad pluralistic approach is more suitable than one narrowly formulated. Such an approach is better able to accommodate the diversity of disciplines and approaches under consideration, particularly given interest in a perspective inclusionary of both the social sciences and humanities. The following list can be construed as the seeds for a Web 2.0 ‘cloud’ of e-research features, and concurrently reflects the concerns addressed by the contributors to this volume. Taken as a whole, these features suggest that e-research is a form of scholarship conducted in a network environment utilizing Internet-based tools and involving collaboration among scholars separated by distance, often on a global scale. Although the ‘weight’ and priority of these features varies by context and discipline, they nevertheless suggest areas where scholarship is undergoing transition:

• • Increasing computerization of the research process, often involving high-speed, large capacity machines configures in a networked environment;
• • Reliance on network-based virtual organizational structures for conducting research increasingly involving distant collaboration among researchers, often international in scope;
• • Development of Internet-based tools facilitating many phases of the research process including communication, research management, data collection and analysis, and publication;
• • Experimentation with new forms of da...