Chapter 1, The contours and challenges of E-research

8/11/2019 Chapter 1, The contours and challenges of E-research

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CHAPTER1

THECONTOURSANDCHALLENGESOFERESEARCH

NicholasW.Jankowski

VirtualKnowledgeStudiofortheHumanitiesandSocialSciences

Cruquiusweg31

1019ATAmsterdam

TheNetherlands

Tel:+31

20

8500

270

Fax:+31208500271

[email protected]

December2008

Wordcount:12,409

Toappearin

Jankowski,N.W.(Ed.)(forthcoming,2009).EResearch:Transformations inScholarly

Practice.NewYork:Routledge.

Unpublishedmanuscript:

Pleasedo

not

cite

or

distribute

this

text

without

permission

from

the

author

eResearchvolume Chapter1:Jankowski
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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INTRODUCTION

Everysooftenmajorshiftsemergeinthewaysocietyisimagined.Historicalperiodshaveacquiredlabels,albeit

debatedanddisputed,thatreflectsuchshifts:Reformation,Enlightenment,IndustrialRevolution,InformationAge.

Thescholarlyenterprisehasbeenintegraltotheformulationoftheseshiftsandthatenterpriseitselfhasbeenthe

subjectoftransformation.Introductionoftheexperimentalmethodisassociatedwithsuchashift,asis

evolutionarytheory;theswitchfromNewtonianphysicstogeneralacceptanceofEinsteinstheoryofrelativityalso

reflectssuch

transformation.

During

the

past

few

years,

discussions

in

policy

and

academic

circles

suggest

yet

anothermoveisunderway,someclaimrevolutionaryinscope,impactingthefullbreadthofthescholarly

enterprise.Thislatestshiftisattributedtothewidespreadavailabilityandincorporationofhighspeedcomputers

andelectronicnetworks,particularlytheInternet,intotheresearchenterprise,makingverylargevolumesofdata

availablethatprovideopportunityforaddressingnewquestionsinnewways.Reflectiononthistransformationof

scholarship,particularlywithinthesocialsciencesandhumanities,istheconcernofthisbook.

Thesignalssuggestingsuchtransformationaremany:blueribboncommitteeshavebeenmandatedto

explorechangesandtorecommendpolicyinitiatives;nationalofficeshavebeenestablishedtofundresearchand

development;reports,proceedings,papers,andjournalarticlesareappearing,aswellasahandfulofedited

volumessuchasthisone.Thesesignalsspanthespectrumofscholarlydisciplinesandareevidentaroundthe

globe:inNorthAmerica,Europe,AsiaandAustralasia.Thesignalsare,understandably,strongerforsome

disciplinesandcountriesthanforothers.Still,theoverallstrengthoftheindicatorsissubstantialandreinforces

need

for

a

considered

examination

of

the

transformation.

Thisintroductorychaptersketchesthedevelopmentofthistransformationandbeginswithexamination

ofcompetingtermscurrentlyinvoguethataremeanttodescribethechange.Theissuesandchallengesassociated

withthesetransformationsconstitutethesubstanceofthecontributionstothisbookbutoneissue,scholarly

communication,isofoverridingimportanceandissketchedinthischapter.Next,theorganizationalstructureof

thebookiselaboratedwithshortintroductionstothechaptersineachsectionofthebook.Finally,afewremarks

onfurtherresearchdirectionsaremadeinaconcludingnote.

CONCEPTUALIZINGSCHOLARLYTRANSFORMATION

Asmallcoterieoftermsreflectscurrentchangesintheconductofscienceand,moregenerally,ofscholarship.The

mostprevalentoftheseare:escience,cyberinfrastructure,anderesearch.Thesetermshavehistorical

antecedentsand

competitors

for

prominence.

Beginning

with

the

past,

one

alternative

conceptualization

is

Big

SciencewhichinitiallydescribedweaponsrelatedresearchduringWorldWarII,particularlytheManhattan

Projectmandatedtoconstructanatomicbomb.BigSciencecontinuedthroughtheColdWarandreflected

governmentsponsoredresearchgenerallyorientedtowardsweaponsdevelopmentandnationalsecurity.1

Subsequently,nonmilitaryprojects,suchasthoseassociatedwithhighenergyphysicslaboratorieslikeCERNin

GenevaandinitiativestounravelDNAliketheHumanGenomeProject,tookonthecharacteristicsofBigScience.

Alloftheseprojectsrequireaneedforlargescaleinstrumentation,budgetsrunninginthebillions,andpersonnel

numberinginthethousands.Insomecases,aswithexperimentsinvolvingparticleacceleratorslikethoseatCERN,

distantcollaborationamongscientistsiscommonplace, oftencrossingnationalborders.Thetransformationof

scienceasreflectedinthesefeatureswasidentifiedrelativelyearlybyAlvinWeinberg(1961)inaSciencearticle

eulogizingthepassingofsmallscale,soloscholarship.2

Amorerecentconceptualizationiscyberscience,elaboratedbyMichaelNentwich(2003)whoprovidesa

comprehensive

overview

of

the

transformations

of

science

and

scholarship,

reflected

in

the

subtitle

of

the

volume:

1IllustrativeofBigScienceinstitutionsistheLawrenceLivermoreNationalLaboratorythatwasestablishedattheheightofthe

ColdWarforweaponsresearchandrunbytheUniversityofCaliforniafortheU.S.government.Thisfacilityhassincebeen

reorganizedasanationalsecuritylaboratoryresponsibleforensuringthatthenationsnuclearweaponsremainsafe,secure,

andreliable...(LLNL,2008).

2AnalternativeconceptualizationofBigScience,formulatedlaterbydeSollaPrice(1993),placesemphasisonthematurityof

thescientificfieldratherthanonthelargenessofitsinstrumentation,budgetandwealthofdata;seeBorgman(2007:28).



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ResearchintheAgeoftheInternet.Nentwichsdefinitionofcyberscienceisbroad:...allscholarlyandscientific

researchactivitiesinthevirtualspacegeneratedbythenetworkedcomputersandbyadvancedinformationand

communicationtechnologiesingeneral(Nentwich,2003:22).Tracingthegenealogyoftheterm,Nentwich(2003:

22,note41)suggeststhatitoriginatedinanarticlebyPaulWouters(1996)andsubsequentlysurfacedinvarious

papersandconferencepanels.3Useofthetermhassincebeenmainlylimitedtopublicationsandprojects

emergingfromNentwichsinstitutionalhome,theAustrianInstituteofTechnologyAssessment.Inaddition,it

appearsinthetitleofarecentstudybyChristineHine(2008),SystematicsasCyberscience.Otherwise,theterm

seemsto

have

faded

into

disuse.

Of

more

durability,

however,

has

been

the

fundamental

feature

present

in

both

Nentwichsstudy,asinWoutersinitialformulation:anallencompassingapproachthatacknowledgesthe

importanceofcomputersandelectronicnetworks,butthatisgroundedinabroadvisionofthescholarly

enterprise.Theinclusionofscholarlycommunicationandpublishingwithinthatapproachresonateswiththe

formulationofanotherconceptualization,eresearch,whichisoutlinedshortly.

ThetermescienceisbasicallyaEuropeanversionoftheAmericantermcyberinfrastructure.Rootedin

Britishinitiatives,JohnTaylor,thenDirectorGeneraloftheOfficeofScienceandTechnologyintheU.K.,iscredited

forcoiningitatthelaunchofamajorfundinginitiativein1999.Thefocusofesciencethen,asnow,wasonthe

naturalandbiologicalsciencesandwasdesignedtofacilitatetheprocessingofverylargevolumesofdatawiththe

aidofgridcomputernetworks.Euphoricstatementsabouttransformationofthescientificenterprisemarkedthe

launchandsubsequentpromotionofescience.4Shortlythereafter,in2001,theNationaleScienceCentre(NeSC)

wasestablished,whichhassincebecomethemaingovernmentalbodyforcoordinatingandallocatingfundingfor

e

science

projects

in

the

U.K.

One

of

the

pages

on

the

NeSC

Web

site

sketches

the

anticipated

trajectory

of

science:

Inthefuture,eSciencewillrefertothelargescalesciencethatwillincreasinglybecarriedoutthrough

distributedglobalcollaborationsenabledbytheInternet.Typically,afeatureofsuchcollaborativescientific

enterprisesisthattheywillrequireaccesstoverylargedatacollections,verylargescalecomputing

resourcesandhighperformancevisualizationbacktotheindividualuserscientists.(NeSC,n.d.)

Inthisdescription,aselsewhere,escienceiscloselyassociatedwithgridcomputernetworkarchitecturethat

enablestheglobalcollaborationconsideredbasictoescience.5Thesefeaturesareexpected,inturn,tospurn

developmentofnew,specializedInternetbasedtoolsforconductingresearch.

OneofthespinoffsoftheesciencedevelopmentintheU.K.involvedinitiationofagovernment

sponsoredofficetostimulateandcoordinateescienceinthesocialsciences(Jankowski&Caldas,2004).Calledthe

NationalCentreforeSocialScience(NCeSS)andlaunchedinDecember2004,itinvolvesadecentralizedstructure

ofnodesengaginguniversitiesacrosstheU.K.Mostoftheprojectsemphasizeincorporationofgridcomputer

architectureinto

the

infrastructure

of

social

science.

An

exception

to

this

accentuation

is

the

Oxford

University

nodeoftheNCeSS,whichtakesasocialshapingapproach(OeSSProject,n.d.).Althoughanexception,thisnodeis

embeddedintheComputingLaboratoryofOxfordUniversityand,inthatrespect,reflectstheoriginalcore

concernswithescienceoncomputationandcomputernetworks.

Anotherconceptualization,cyberinfrastructureisprimarilyrootedininitiativesbasedintheUnitedStates

andwasinitiallypromotedinacommissionreportfundedbytheNationalScienceFoundation(NSF)in2003,

subsequentlyknownastheAtkinsReport(2003):RevolutionizingScienceandEngineeringThrough

Cyberinfrastructure.Thistitlereflectsthepromotionalandvisionarylanguagepresentthroughoutthedocument:

Anewagehasdawned,(p.31),Thetimeisripe,(p.12),aonceinagenerationopportunitytoleadthe

3ChristineHine(2008:2527)accentuatestheprescientnatureofWouterscontribution,reproducinginentiretythecallfor

papershepreparedfora1996conferencesessionoftheEuropeanAssociationforStudiesofScienceandTechnology.Themost

strikingfeature

of

this

call

is

the

wide

range

of

topics,

23

in

total,

suggested

as

suitable

contributions

for

the

proposed

session

oncyberscience.

4SomeoftheseearlyvisionarystatementsremainavailableontheWebsiteoftheBritishNationaleScienceCentre(NeSC),

includingTaylorsclaimthat"eSciencewillchangethedynamicofthewayscienceisundertaken"(quotedatNeSC,n.d.).

5Atechnicallyorientedliteratureongridcomputerarchitectureisavailable,butthebasicdescriptionofthisgridrelatesthe

developmenttoothersystemsofservices,liketheelectricalgridthatprovideselectricitytohomesandindustries.Foster(2003)

andBuyyaandVenugopal(2005)provideaccessibleintroductionsfornonspecialists.



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revolution(p.32).Basically,thetermcyberinfrastructurereferstoaninfrastructureofdistributedcomputer,

information,andcommunicationtechnologies.Thedevelopmentisseenasparalleltotheinfrastructuresalready

integraltomodernsocieties:roadsandrailwaysfortransportation;water,gas,andpowernetworksforbasic

servicesandresources.6InthewordsoftheAtkinsReport,Ifinfrastructureisrequiredforanindustrialeconomy,

thencyberinfrastructureisrequiredforaknowledgeeconomy(Atkins,2003:5).

Notunsurprisingly,thefirstwavesofcyberinfrastructureinitiativesweresituatedinthenaturaland

biologicalscienceswherelargevolumesofdataareinvolvedinresearchendeavorsrequiringhighspeedcomputer

processing:particle

physics,

astronomy,

meteorology,

and

DNA

research.

These

initiatives

typically

involve

collaborationwithstaffatsupercomputingresearchcenters.7ChristineBorgman,(2007:23),amongothers,argues

thattherehasalwaysbeenspacewithininitialconceptualizationsofcyberinfrastructurefortheentirebreadthof

scholarlyendeavor.AndinakeynoteNCeSSconferencepresentation,NoshirContractor(2007)suggeststhatthe

componentsofcyberinfrastructurecanbeseenasspanningthegambitofuniversityservices:fromhigh

performancecomputing,libraries,referralservices,throughtraining,outreachandmentoringservices.Littleisleft

outinthecoldfromsuchformulationsofcyberinfrastructure,buttheymisconstruewhereemphasishasbeen

historicallyandiscurrently:inthefieldsofscienceandengineeringthatareengagedinprocessinglargevolumes

ofdatawiththeaidofgridcomputernetworksandrelatedsoftware.

TheAtkinsReport,itshouldbestressed,isnotsomuchascientificpublication,butamanifestoand,as

such,islessconcernedwithconventionalscholarlyconcernssuchasqualification,criticismandevidence.The

reportcanbeeasilydismissedforlackingsuchfeatures,butHine(2003:2)remindsusthatsuchperfunctory

discarding

of

visionary

statements

misses

opportunity

for

a

potentially

valuable

scholarly

enquiry

into

how

these

statementsaretranslatedintoinitiativesand,possibly,howsomechangesinthescientificenterprisemaybe

impactedbytheideasandfundingrelatedtosuchvisions.Althoughperhapsprematuretoassessthedefinitive

contributionoftheAtkinsReport,itisfairtonotethattheconcernsexpressedinthedocumenthavefound

considerableinstitutionalanddisciplinaryresonance.TheNSFhasestablishedanOfficeofCyberinfrastructure,

suggestingaseriousformofinstitutionalization.Variousdisciplineshaveestablishedtheirowncommittees

producingreportsandinitiativestoinvestigatewaystoconsciouslytakeadvantageofboththefeaturesandthe

fundingbeingmadeavailableforcyberinfrastructureinitiatives.8

Theseinitiativeshavenotremainedrestrictedtothenaturalandbiologicalsciences.TheAmericanCouncil

ofLearnedSocieties(ACLS,2006),forexample,issuedareportoncyberinfrastructuresforthehumanitiesand

socialsciences.Othereffortstointegratethesocialsciencesarereflectedintheintroductionofsocialnetwork

analysisasatoolwithwhichtostudysciencecommunities(SNAC,2005)andinmanyoftheinitiativesintroducing

Internetresearchanddigitalstudiesintouniversitycurriculaandresearchprograms(see,e.g.,Nissenbaum&

Price,2004).

Elsewhere,adifferentapproachhasbeentakenwherethetermeresearchisseenasmorereflectiveof

theworkofbothsocialscientistsandscholarsinthehumanities,aterminologicaldevelopmentalsoobservedby

6Thismetaphorbeliesthecomplexityofthenotioninfrastructure,whichiscriticallyaddressedintheworkshopreport

UnderstandingInfrastructure:Dynamics,Tensions,andDesign(Edwards,Jackson,Bowker,&Knobel,2007).Oneoftheideas

Edwardsandhiscolleaguescriticizeisthatinfrastructuresomehowreflectsaplanned,orderlyandmechanicalact(Edwards

etal.,2007:i).

7ArelativelyrecentformulationofcyberinfrastructurefromtheUniversityofIndianasuggestsessentiallythesameingredients:

Cyberinfrastructureconsistsofcomputingsystems,datastoragesystems,advancedinstrumentsanddatarepositories,

visualizationenvironments,andpeople,alllinkedtogetherbysoftwareandhighperformancenetworkstoimproveresearch

productivity

and

enable

breakthroughs

not

otherwise

possible

(Indiana

University,

2007).

8OneoftheseinitiativesisCTWatch,CyberinfrastructureTechnologyWatch,whichstrivestoengagethescienceand

engineeringresearchcommunityinthenews,ideas,andinformationsurroundingtheemergenceofcyberinfrastructureasthe

essentialfoundationforadvancedscientificinquiry(CTWatchQuarterly,2005).AnotherinitiativeisCIOutreach,Empowering

PeopletouseCyberinstrastructureResources,andisconcernedwithsolicitingandsupportingtheeducation,training,and

outreachneedsofthescientificresearchprojectswithinthecyberinfrastructurecommunity,targetingunderrepresented

groupssuchaswomen,minoritiesandthedisabled;seehttp://www.cioutreach.org/index.php.

http://www.ci-outreach.org/index.phphttp://www.ci-outreach.org/index.phphttp://www.ci-outreach.org/index.phphttp://www.ci-outreach.org/index.php


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Borgman(2007:20).ThecontributionbyAnneBeaulieuandPaulWoutersinthisvolumesketchesthisapproach,

asdevelopedintheNetherlands,formallyinitiatedinOctober2006andcalledtheVirtualKnowledgeStudiofor

theHumanitiesandSocialSciences(VKS).Itcan,infact,beseenassuccessortoWoutersearliernotion

cyberscience,andasonemoreamenabletotheconceptualizationofscholarshipinthesocialsciencesand

humanities.Moreover,thetermeresearchacknowledgesformsofscholarshipthatdonotprimarilyemphasize

useofhighspeedcomputersforprocessinglargedatasets,butthatplaceweightonincorporationofawide

varietyofnewmediaandelectronicnetworksintheresearchprocess;seeChapter3.

Terminologyin

aterrain

as

dynamic

as

this

one

is

difficult

to

pin

down

with

precision.

Undoubtedly,

much

moreenergywillbeexpendedinthecomingyearsonrefiningtheideasunderlyingthevariousconceptualizations.

Forthepurposesofthisvolume,however,abroadpluralisticapproachismoresuitablethanonenarrowly

formulated.Suchanapproachisbetterabletoaccommodatethediversityofdisciplinesandapproachesunder

consideration,particularlygiveninterestinaperspectiveinclusionaryofboththesocialsciencesandhumanities.

ThefollowinglistcanbeconstruedastheseedsforaWeb2.0cloudoferesearchfeatures,andconcurrently

reflectstheconcernsaddressedbythecontributorstothisvolume.Takenasawhole,thesefeaturessuggestthat

eresearchisaformofscholarshipconductedinanetworkenvironmentutilizingInternetbasedtoolsand

involvingcollaborationamongscholarsseparatedbydistance,oftenonaglobalscale.Althoughtheweightand

priorityofthesefeaturesvariesbycontextanddiscipline,theyneverthelesssuggestareaswherescholarshipis

undergoingtransition:

Increasingcomputerizationoftheresearchprocess,ofteninvolvinghighspeed,largecapacitymachines

configuresin

anetworked

environment;

Relianceonnetworkbasedvirtualorganizationalstructuresforconductingresearchincreasingly

involvingdistantcollaborationamongresearchers,ofteninternationalinscope;

DevelopmentofInternetbasedtoolsfacilitatingmanyphasesoftheresearchprocessincluding

communication, researchmanagement,datacollectionandanalysis,andpublication;

Experimentationwithnewformsofdatavisualization,suchassocialnetworkandhyperlinkanalysis,and

multimediaanddynamicrepresentations;

Publication,distributionandpreservationofscholarshipviatheInternet,utilizingtraditionalandformal

avenues(e.g.,publishinghouses,digitallibraries)aswellasthoselessformalandlessinstitutionalized

(e.g.,socialnetworkingsites,personalwebsites).

[InsertFigure1.1abouthere]

Figure1.1

illustrates

the

interrelatedness

of

these

features

of

eresearch,

situated

within

three

clusters

of

activitiesassociatedwithmanyformsofscholarship.9Thecontextoftheseclustersisthenetworkedenvironment

mentionedabove,typicallytheInternet,andmayinvolvehighspeedcomputerslinkedtogetherviagrid

construction.Inthefigurethisenvironmentissuggestedbytheunconnecteddashedlinesatthetopandbottom.

Thebrokenfeaturesofthelinessuggesttheporousnatureofthenetwork:noteveryoneandeverythingis

connectedtoandoperatingwithinanetworkedenvironmentallofthetime;researchactivitiesoccurbothwithin

andoutsidethisenvironment.Thenetworkinfrastructureisveryoften(asinemploymentofemail)takenfor

granted;inothercases,aswhengridcomputerarchitectureisused,involvementofspecialists(e.g.,computer

scientists)mayberequired;seeChapter16foranillustrationofsuchcrossdisciplinaryengagement.

TheclustersituatedintheupperleftofFigure1.1,ResearchOrganization,consistsofthevariousdivisions

andtasksassociatedwithmanaginganacademicresearchproject,ofteninvolvingaprincipleinvestigator,senior

9

Daniel

Atkins,

former

director

of

the

NSF

Office

of

Cyberinfrastructure,

has

constructed

alarge

number

of

figures

illustrating

thefeaturesofcyberinfrastructure,sometimesinrelationtotheothertermsnotedinthischapterescience,eresearch,e

infrastructure,cyberscience;see,e.g.,http://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/TeraGrid606.pdf.Seldom,however,isindicationprovidedin

thesefiguresoftherespectivecontexts,histories,components,andrelationsamongtheterms.Theserelationswerealsoleft

largelyunaddressedinarecentpresentationbyAtkinsduringthe2008OxfordeResearchConference

(http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/microsites/eresearch08/index.cfm),suggestingthatadditionalcomparativeanalysisisstillawaiting

attention.

http://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/TeraGrid6-06.pdfhttp://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/TeraGrid6-06.pdfhttp://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/TeraGrid6-06.pdfhttp://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/microsites/eresearch08/index.cfmhttp://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/microsites/eresearch08/index.cfmhttp://www.nsf.gov/od/oci/TeraGrid6-06.pdf


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academicparticipants,postdocsandPh.D.candidates,administrativeandtechnicalstaff.Inaneresearch

environmentavirtualorganizationisestablishedtocoordinatethetasksassociatedwiththesedivisions,

employingavarietyofcommunicativetoolsthatsupplementfacetofaceexchangeforconductingbusiness:email,

instantmessaging,videoconferencing,wikis.Perhapsthekeycomponentofsuchavirtualorganizationis

collaborationatadistanceamongprojectparticipants.Severalcontributionstothisbookexaminecollaboration,

notablyChapters7and8.SomeoftheactivitiesoftheResearchOrganizationmayrelatetoexternallyoriented

concernssuchasaccountabilityexercisesrequiredbyafundingbodyorforethicalissuesasformulatedbyan

InstitutionalReview

Board.

Ethical

concerns

in

an

eresearch

environment,

however,

are

different

from

those

more

conventionalstudiesandrequireparticularattention(see,e.g.,Ess&AoIREthicsWorkingGroup,2002;Jankowski

&VanSelm,2007).

Theclusterlocatedinthelowersectionofthefigure,ResearchProcess,reflectsthetasksmostoften

associatedwiththeresearchact:problemformulationwithacontextoftheoreticalrelevancy;constructionofa

researchdesignwithattentiontodatacollectionandanalysis;anddatapreservation.Intheeresearch

environmentInternetbasedtoolsareutilizedfor:instrumentdesignanddeployment(e.g.,Websurveytools,Web

siteannotationtools);dataanalysis,qualitativeandquantitative;anddatapreservation,oftentermedarchiving,

usuallyinaformsuitableforlongtermretentionandaccessbyotherresearchers.SeeespeciallyChapters9and

10ondatavisualizationandChapters11,12and13onarchivinganddatareuse.

ThethirdandfinalclusterofresearchactivitiesinthefigureistermedScholarlyCommunicationandhas

similaritieswiththeactivitiesoftenassociatedwithsciencecommunication (seee.g.,Garvey,Lin,Nelson,&

Tomita,

1972).

Like

constructions

of

science

communication,

scholarly

communication

in

an

e

research

environmentinvolvestwooverlappingformsofcommunication, bothdirectedatpartiesexternaltotheresearch

project:informalandformal.Informalscholarlycommunicationisreflectedinblogpostings,contributionsto

discussionlistsmaintainedbyindividuals,institutions,disciplines,andscholarlyassociations;andspecializedwikis.

Formalscholarlycommunication, oftenconsideredsynonymouswithacademicpublishing,mayinvolve

preparationanddistributionofconferencepapers,institutionalworkingpapers,journalarticles,chaptersinedited

booksandsingleauthoredmonographs.Alloftheseformsofexternal,formalscholarlypublicationcantranspirein

anetworkedenvironmentthroughthepostingofmanuscriptsonpersonalWebhomepages,toplacementonpre

printandpostprintarticlerepositories,throughpublicationofmanuscriptsinonlinejournalsandonthesitesof

Webbasedbookpublishers.Theseformsofscholarlypublishingareillustratedinmoredetailinthenextsection;

seealsoChapters14and15fordiscussionofaccessandintellectualproperty.

Atthebottomofthefigureareindicationsoftheeresearchtoolsrelatedtoeachoftheactivityclusters.

Thisindicationoftoolsisincomplete,asareotherfeaturesofthefigure.Forexample,thefiguresuggestsa

relationalform

between

the

three

clusters

of

research

activities

by

the

two

directional

arrows.

The

exact

nature

of

thatrelationatwhatpointsintimewithwhatintensityandregardingwhichspecificfacetsoftheclustersisnot

specified.Importantassuchconcernsare,theygobeyondthegeneralpurposeofthisfigurewithinthecontextof

thisanthology,whichistosuggestaplaceforthetopicsaddressedinthebookchapters.Inaddition,thefigureis

meanttosuggestaframeworkforthepreviouslyspecifiedcharacteristicsoferesearch:computerization,

networkedenvironment,virtualorganization,collaboration,tools,visualization,andissuesrelatedtopublication.

ThislastcharacteristicispartoftheclusterScholarlyCommunication. Althoughattendedtointhebook,

particularlyinChapter14,theclustermeritsfurtherelaboration,whichisprovidedinthefollowingsection.

SCHOLARLYCOMMUNICATION

Athreadrunningthrougheresearchanyformofresearch,forthatmatteriscommunication.Thisthreadhas

come

to

be

termed

the

communication

turn

in

some

circles

(Leydesdorff,

2002).

10

The

centrality

of

communicationisperhapssoselfevidentthatitistakenforgranted,consideredanunconsciousandnaturalgiven.

Scholarlycommunication,asubunitofthiscommunicationturn,isverybroadandcanbedelineateddifferently.11

10Thisturnleansonthepreviouslysuggestedturntolinguisticsinphilosophy(Rorty,1967/1992).Themetaphorhasalso

beenusedtosuggestaculturalturndescribingtheemergenceofculturalstudiesandaqualitativeturnreflectingincreased

interestininterpretativeresearch(Jensen,1991).

11Theamountofresearchconductedonscholarlycommunicationisdaunting.Oneofthemostcompletebibliographiesofthis

work(Bailey,2002)containssome230pagesandthousandsofentries.



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MicrosoftExternalResearch(2008),forexample,suggeststheScholarlyCommunicationLifeCycleconsistingof

fourcyclicphasesofknowledgeproduction:datacollectionandanalysis;authoring;publicationanddistribution;

andarchivingandpreservation.Insomeoftheseareas,likeauthoring,muchdevelopmenthasalreadytakenplace

andtheresultingtoolsarewellintegratedintoscholarlywork:wordprocessingsoftware,sometimesina

networkedenvironment(e.g.,GoogleDocs)andreferencingandannotationtools(e.g.,EndNote,Citeulike,and

Zotero).Inthischapter,however,scholarlycommunicationisviewedasthepresentationofresearchfindingstoan

audienceexternaltotheresearchproject,homedepartmentorinstitutionoftheresearcher,forthepurposeof

sharingand

contributing

to

knowledge.

As

noted

in

the

previous

section,

such

communication

may

be

informal

or

formalincharacter.Traditionally,emphasisrestedwith,andimportancewasattributedto,formalcommunication

asreflectedinjournalandbookpublications.Suchtraditionisstillprominentacrossthesocialsciencesand

humanities,butchangesareappearingwiththeemergenceoferesearch.

Changethereis,butdeterminationofintensity,duration,andextensivenessaredifficulttasks,andthese

aspectsarenottheobjectivesofthismodestintroduction.Instead,thepurposeistopresentarangeof

illustrationsrelatedtoongoingconcernsinscholarlycommunication. Usingthepreviouslysuggesteddivision,the

illustrationsareframedaccordingtoinformalandformaltypesofscholarlycommunication, adivisionadoptedin

otherstudies,particularlyinthefieldofsciencecommunication(e.g.,Garveyetal.,1972;Hurd,2000).

Informalscholarlycommunication

Dependingontheacademicenvironmentinquestion,useofinformalWebbasedcommunicationseemstobe

exploding:

wikis;

Web

sites

for

sharing

photos,

videos

and

slides;

blogs;

social

network

sites;

Web

meeting

tools

andplatformsallowingvariantsofinstantmessaging.Precursorsofcontemporarysocialmediaareemaillists,

newsgroupsandelectronicbulletinboardsystemsthatbecameprominentinthe1980s.Theseearlysystemshave

sincebeenrefinedandnowitiscommonplaceformanyscholarstosubscribe,andoccasionallycontribute,toa

rangeofdiscussionandmailinglistsfocusingonspecificdisciplinesandthemes.Blogsarealsoregularly

maintainedbyscholarsinparticularfields;researchcentersandlessformallyorganizedresearchgroupsoften

maintaingroupblogsdesignedtoperformasimilarfunction:provisionofavirtualoutletforsharinginformation

andreflectionsontopicsofinterest.12

Wikishavebecomestandardvenuesforprojectsandresearchgroups.Some

socialnetworkingsiteslikeFacebookoffergrouppagesandorganizationssuchastheAssociationofInternet

Researchersmaintainaspaceonthissite;otherslikeLinkedInaredesignedtocultivateprofessionalnetworks,and

SlideShareisillustrativeofavenuewherePowerpointpresentations,optionallyincludinganaudiooverlay,canbe

storedandshared;YouTubeistherepositoryforsomeacademicswishingtosharevideosoftheirown

presentations,occasionallyachievingthousandsofviewings.13

Perhapsthepinnacleofsuchinformalscholarly

communicationvenues

is

the

rapid

growth

of

research

and

educational

institutions

with

apresence

in

Second

Life,

placessupportinginstructionandresearchprojects(e.g.,Shepherd,2007).14

Althoughthereisclearlymuchdevelopmentintheareaofinformalscholarlycommunication, littleis

knownbeyondanecdotalinformation;quitebasically,itisnotknownwhichscholarsinwhichdisciplinesusewhich

socialmediaforwhatpurposes,withwhatassessment.Withoutsuchinformation,theremaybeatendencyto

extrapolatefromunrepresentativepersonalknowledgeandassumemoreinterestandusethanareactually

present.

12ForanillustrationofaninstitutionalblogseetheonemaintainedattheOxfordInternetInstitutesite:

http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/.Inasimilarfashion,theAssociationofLiteraryScholarsandCriticssponsorsagroupblogcalledThe

Valve:http://www.thevalve.org/go.

13Someinstitutions,suchastheBerkmanCenterforInternet&Society(http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive),havetheir

ownYouTubechannelsatwhichpresentationshostedbytheinstitutionsarearchived.Individualscholarssimilarlymakeuseof

YouTubetodocumentpresentations;see,e.g.,thepresentationbyMichaelWesch,UniversityofKansas,attheLibraryof

Congress,23June2008,AnanthropologicalintroductiontoYouTube:http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO

lZ4_hU&feature=related.

14ThenumberofuniversitylevelinstitutionsthathavetakenupshopinSecondLifeisnotknownpreciselyandisdifficultto

determine;seehttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/currentlistofuniversitiesinsecond.html.Areportreleased

inMay2008suggeststhreequartersofallU.K.institutionsforhighereducationarerepresentedSecondLife(Kirriemuir,2008).

http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/http://www.thevalve.org/gohttp://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactivehttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU&feature=relatedhttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU&feature=relatedhttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU&feature=relatedhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://secondliferesearch.blogspot.com/2007/07/current-list-of-universities-in-second.htmlhttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU&feature=relatedhttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU&feature=relatedhttp://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactivehttp://www.thevalve.org/gohttp://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/


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8

Oneofthefewstudiesdesignedtosystematicallyexploreinformalscholarlycommunicationis,atthe

timeofthiswriting,ongoing,withaninterimreportreleasedinAugust2008.Thisreportsuggestsmuchless

interestanduseofsocialmediaforscholarshipthanimpliedbythelargenumberofmediainitiativesnotedabove

(Harley,EarlNovell,Acord,Lawrence,&King,2008).Thestudyisbasedonexploratoryinterviewswithfacultyat

differentstagesofcareerdevelopment,mainlylocatedattheUniversityofCaliforniaBerkeleyanddistributed

acrosssevendisciplines:archaeology,astrophysics,biology,economics,history,music,andpoliticalscience.

Perhapstheoverallandverytentativeobservationbytheauthorsofthisreportisareservedanddiscipline

differentiatedview:

the

general

enthusiasm

for

new

media

should

not

be

conflated

with

the

hard

reality

of

tenure

andpromotionrequirementsinhighlycompetitiveprofessionalenvironmentsHarleyetal.,2008:1).

Althoughunderstandablycautiousindrawingconclusionsatsuchanearlystageintheproject,Harleyand

colleagues(2008:6)stresstheimportanceofdisciplinarycultureandtradition,andthatthesefactorsmay

overridetheperceivedopportunitiesaffordedbynewtechnologies,includingthosefallingintotheWeb2.0

category.Infact,innovativescholarshipmaynotnecessarilyrelatetotheuseofcuttingedgetechnologies:More

thanafewscholarshavesuggestedthattechnologyusedindiscriminatelyandforitsownsakecanlimitthescope

ofquestionsaskedandthereforeleadtodetrimentaleffectsonthequalityofscholarship(Harleyetal.,2008:6).

Someofthedisciplinarydifferencesnotedinthereportsuggestthatastrophysicists,politicalscientists,and

economistsaremorepredisposedtosharingscholarshipthroughpreprintrepositoriesandpersonalWebsites

thanarescholarsinbiology,historyandarchaeology.Nevertheless,thereisuniversalenthusiasticembrace

(Harleyetal.,2008:12)ofInternetbasedscholarlymaterialssuchaselectronicjournals,ebooks,datasets,and

governmental

archives.

Onefactorthatmayinfluencefutureuseofsocialmediaininformalscholarlycommunicationnot

specificallyaddressedinthisreportistheincreasingutilizationofthesemediaintheuniversityclassroom.Web

sites,wikis,andblogsarebecomingprominent,andinitiativesarebeingundertakentoincorporatestudent

familiarityandacceptanceofsocialnetworksitesinclassroomactivities(see,e.g.,Salaway&Caruso,2008).15

Considerableandsubstantivechange,inotherwords,maybeforthcominginthearenaofinformalscholarly

communicationastheeducationsettingadoptssocialmedia(Maron&Smith,2008).16

Formalscholarlycommunication

Formalscholarlycommunication, sometimestermedtraditionalacademicpublishing,isundergoingintensedebate

amongthecoregroupsinvolvedauthors,editors,publishers,librariansandmuchofthisdebaterelatestothe

convergenceoffourfactors:

Escalatingcostsofperiodicals,particularlyinthefieldsofscience,technologyandmedicine;

Decreasinguniversity

resources

for

library

acquisitions

and

for

publication

of

scholarly

monographs

by

universitypresses;

Mountingrevoltbycoalitionsofresearchlibrarians,journaleditors,boardmembers,andauthors

againstthepricingpracticesofcommercialpublishers;

Expandingopportunitiesforpublishingthroughdigitalization,especiallythroughtoolsforauthoring,

processing,anddistributingscholarshipviatheInternet.

Thefusionofthesefactorshasresultedinanexplosionofinitiativesonalmostallfrontsofformalscholarly

communication.Theamountandrateofchangeisgreatandongoing,makingreflectiondifficultandprediction

impossible.Thissectionprovides,then,ameresnapshotofinnovationsforjournalandbookpublishing.

Regardingthefirstthreepoints,variousobservershavechartedtheescalatingcostsofperiodicals.

Townsend(2003)calculatesthatscience,technologyandmedicine(STM)journalsincreasedby600%intheperiod

15A

recent

thread

on

the

AoIR

discussion

list

(November

2008)

considered

ways

to

use

Wikipedia

for

classroom

assignments.

Bloggingasapedagogicaltoolhasbeendiscussedextensively(e.g.,

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/).Platformsforeducationaluseofblogswere

experimentedwithasearlyas2003(http://incsub.org/2005/edublogsarego);twoyearslaterEdublogs(http://edublogs.org/)

wasestablishedandin2008thisplatformhostednearly250,000educationallyorientedblogs.

16OneexampleofsuchadoptionistheplacebeinggiventoYouTubeintheclassroom;seetheGeorgeLucasEducational

FoundationgroupblogEdutopicforaseriesofpostings:http://www.edutopia.org/search/node/youtube.Seealsoinitiativesby

MichaelWeschinusingYouTubeandothernewmediainculturalanthropologycoursesatKansasStateUniversity:

http://www.ksu.edu/sasw/anthro/wesch.htm.

http://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/http://incsub.org/2005/edublogs-are-gohttp://incsub.org/2005/edublogs-are-gohttp://incsub.org/2005/edublogs-are-gohttp://incsub.org/2005/edublogs-are-gohttp://incsub.org/2005/edublogs-are-gohttp://edublogs.org/http://www.edutopia.org/search/node/youtubehttp://www.ksu.edu/sasw/anthro/wesch.htmhttp://www.ksu.edu/sasw/anthro/wesch.htmhttp://www.edutopia.org/search/node/youtubehttp://edublogs.org/http://incsub.org/2005/edublogs-are-gohttp://www.det.wa.edu.au/education/cmis/eval/curriculum/ict/weblogs/


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9

19822002.Simultaneously,fundsforacquisitionbyresearchlibrariesdecreasedalongwiththenumberof

subscriptions.17

Buckholtz(2001)compilesstoriesofacademicsthathavetakenapublicstandagainstthe

escalatingpricesofjournalsthatessentiallyconfineaccesstothosescholarsaffiliatedwithwellendowedresearch

institutions;theseacademicshaverefusedtowrite,editorotherwiseservesuchtitles.18

Insomecaseslikean

Elseviertitleoncomputerprogramming,entireeditorialboardshaveresignedinprotesttorisingcosts.Inthis

case,someoftheeditorsestablishedanewtitlewithOxfordUniversityPress,reducingthesubscriptionprice

substantially.19

Regardingthe

fourth

point,

digitalization,

since

the

early

days

of

electronic

publishing

in

the

late

1980s

therehasbeenagenerallyoptimisticproclamationastohowthepublishingindustrywouldbeaffected.John

Thompson(2005)devotesaseriesofchaptersinhisdefinitiveworkBooksintheDigitalAgetocriticallyexamining

thisdigitalrevolution.Manyexperimentshavebeeninitiatedacrossthepasttwodecadeswithformsof

electronicpublishing,anumberofwhicharedetailedbyThompson.Here,onlyasmallselectionofrecentreports

andinnovationsarenoted.

Tobegin,thepotentialofthisdigitalrevolutionisdescribedintheIthakaReportUniversityPublishingin

aDigitalAge,usinganupbeatstylestrikinglysimilartothatusedtodescribeescienceandcyberinfrastructure:

Webelievethenextstagewillbeinthecreationofnewformatsmadepossiblebydigitaltechnologies,

ultimatelyallowingscholarstoworkindeeplyintegratedelectronicresearchandpublishingenvironments

thatwillenablerealtimedissemination,collaboration,dynamicallyupdatedcontent,andusageofnew

media.(Brown,Griffiths,&Rascoff,2007:4)

In

fairness

to

the

authors,

the

remainder

of

the

report

describes

the

considerable

challenges

facing

university

publishinghouseswithinsuchanenvironment,particularlytheneedtoaddressthecentralmandateofthese

housescontributingtothepublicavailabilityofscholarshipinafinanciallyconstrainedsetting.

Oneofthedevelopmentsrelatedtodigitalizationisthemultitudeofinitiativestocreatedigitalizedcopies

oftheholdingsofnationalandresearchlibrariesworldwide.Mostmajornationallibrarieshavesuchprojectsor

havejoinedallianceswiththirdparties,notablyGoogle.TheGoogleinitiative,initiallyproposedin2006,hasbeen

bothroundlylaudedandequallycriticized.Thepraisebasicallyrelatestomakingknowledgeaccessiblebeyondthe

holdingsofindividuallibraries;inthewordsofonereflectioncomposedimmediatelyafterlegalagreementwas

reachedon28October2008,thisagreementislikelytochangeforeverthewaythatwefindandbrowsefor

books,particularlyoutofprintbooks(VonLohmann,2008).Thereservationsrelatetoprotectionofintellectual

property,commercialinterests,andbiastowardsscholarshippublishedinEnglishfromAmericaninstitutions.20

17Presentation of such figures is frequently found on the Web sites of associations of libraries and librarians; see the

Stanford University library site on scholarly communication for a recent overview, including a graph illustrating rising

costs across time: http://wwwsul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/. A large number of universities maintain sections of theirweb sites describing these and other aspects of scholarly communication (e.g., copyright, repositories, policies from

funding bodies regarding access to publications). About a dozen such sites are listed at the UC Berkeley Library site:

.berkeley.edu/scholarlycommunication/beyond_berkeley.htmlhttp://www.lib .

18Such tales are multiplying across disciplines, albeit most notably in the natural sciences. See Birman (2000) for an

account of similar concern in mathematics. For an example outside the sciences, see danah boyd blog entry (6 Februaryoycott of lockeddown academic journals related to communication and Internet studies:

t

2008) announcing a personal b

h tp://www.zephoria.org/thoughts/archives/2008/02/06/openaccess_is_t.html.

19Some commercial publishers have reacted defensively to these developments, notably Elsevier (2004). Thompson

(2005: 100101) suggests that Elseviers pricing of periodicals is in line with industrywide increases. Other commercial

ublishers have sought alliance with initiatives favorable to open access, like HighWire Press; see

/highwire.stanford.edu/

p

http:/ .

20JeanNelJeanneney(2007),presidentoftheBibliothquenationaledeFrance,haspennedperhapsthemostcompelling

foreigndissentingopiniontothealliancewithGooglebyresearchlibraries,entitledGoogleandthemythofuniversal

knowledge.AnumberofresearchlibrariesintheUnitedStatesinitiatedacollectivelawsuitagainstGooglein2005,whichwas

resolvedinOctober2008andinvolvesamongotherthings,paymentof45millionU.S.dollarstocopyrightholdersof

documentsscannedandditigalized.Overall,initialreactionswereverypositiveaboutthissettlement;onecontributortothe

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/http://www-sul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/http://www-sul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/http://www-sul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/scholarlycommunication/beyond_berkeley.htmlhttp://www-sul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/scholarlycommunication/beyond_berkeley.htmlhttp://www.lib.berkeley.edu/scholarlycommunication/beyond_berkeley.htmlhttp://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://highwire.stanford.edu/http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/scholarlycommunication/beyond_berkeley.htmlhttp://www-sul.stanford.edu/scholarly_com/


10/20

10

Digitalizationofbooksisnotonlyanactivityinvolvinglibrariesandtheircollections,butalsopublishers

andtheirinterestinsecuringasustainablemarketforacademicorientedpublications.Thescholarlymonograph

hasbeenanendangeredspeciesintheworldofpublishingfordecadesanduniversitypresseshavetriedalarge

varietyofrescueoperations,noneparticularlysuccessful(see,e.g.,Thompson,2005;Townsend,2007).Someof

themorerecentrescueeffortsincludeofferingforfreedigitalversionsofmonographs,gamblingthatsuchgive

awaysmaystimulatepurchaseoftheprintedversionbylibraries.21

Commercialpublishershaveexperimentedina

morelimitedmannerwiththissamestrategy,ashavegovernmentbodies(e.g.,TheNationalAcademiesPress,

http://www.nap.edu/).

Journals

Althoughmuchintheworldofjournalpublishinghaschangedsince1665whenHenryOldenburglaunched

PhilosophicalTransactions,thefirstscholarlyperiodical,thefourfunctionsofjournalshaveremainedcentral:

registration,dissemination,peerreview,andarchivalrecord(Armbruster,1989).Whathaschanged,sometimes

radically,ishowjournalpublishingattendstothesefunctions,particularlysincedigitalizationandtheInternet.To

begin,scholarlyjournalshavebeenproliferatingatanastoundingrate.Suchmultiplicationoftitleshasbeenthe

orderofthedayforseveraldecades,coupledtoaprofitablecommercialstrategy(Townsend,2003).Digitalization

andtheInternethaveacceleratedthisalreadyestablishedtrend.Othercontributionstochangeregardingthe

functionsarelessvisible,butequallysignificant,suchassoftwareinstallationautomatingbackofficeprocedures

forprocessingmanuscripts,contributingtomoreefficientprocessing.Onlinemanuscriptmanagementhasbecome

standard

practice

among

most

titles.

Two

other

developments,

still

on

going

and

highly

relevant

to

e

research,

are

peerreviewprocedures,andonlineaccesstoandrepositoriesforarticles.

Peerreview

Formalscholarlycommunication, atthemostfundamentalandgenerallevel,isaboutcontributingnewknowledge

andsubjectingcontributionstopeerreviewandpublicdebate.Variousmechanismshavebeenestablishedto

assessthequalityofcontributions,ofwhichpeerreviewisthemostprevalent.Peerreviewtakesmanyforms,

fromthekindofcollegialreactionsprovidedduringadepartmentalstaffmeetingaboutadraftmanuscriptto

formalizeddoubleblindreviewingproceduresofsubmissionstopublishersandfundingagencies.

Withregardtoacademicjournals,peerreviewinvolvesagreementbyauthorstoallowtheirworktobe

assessedbyotherscholarspriortopublication.Whentheprocedureworkswell,extendedsubstantivecommentis

receivedfromtwoormoreanonymousexperts.Thesereviewsareconsideredbyajournaleditorwhocomestoa

decisionregardingpublication,sometimesafterseveralroundsofreviewandmanuscriptrevision.Althoughthis

processhas

been

made

more

efficient

and

rapid

since

widespread

use

of

email

and

software

for

journal

management,thereviewprocesscanstilltakeseveralmonthstocomplete,whichisoneoftheenduringcriticism

authorshaveofpeerreview.22

Othercriticismsofpeerreviewhavebeenvoiced(e.g.,Godlee&Jefferson,1999)andpoignantly

summarized:

Itisunreliable,unfairandfailstovalidateorauthenticate;itisunstandardizedandopentobias;blinded

peerreviewinvitesmalice,eitherfromadhominemattacksontheauthororbyfacilitatingplagiarism;it

stiflesinnovation;itlendsspuriousauthoritytoreviewers;reviewersknowledgeableenoughtoreviewa

BalkinizationblogtermeditawinwinwinwinsituationforGoogle,copyholders,librariesandthepublic(Netanel,2008).For

anoverview,commissionedbytheAssociationofResearchLibrariesandtheAmericanLibraryAssociation,seeBand(2008).

21In2007theUniversityofMichiganPressestablisheddigitalculturebooksasanexperimentalpublishingstrategyandhas

madetitlesavailableinbothforfreeelectronicandconventionalforsaleprintversions(see,e.g.,Turow&Tsui,2008).MIT

PressalsoofferssometitlesfreeonitsWebsite(e.g.,Willinski,2005)aspartofitsOpenAccessprogram.Thisprogramwas

precededbythefirstinitiativeofthissortwhen,in1994,MITPressdecidedtoreleaseCityofBitsinthisdualfashionatsome

measureoffinancialsuccess,accordingtoThompson(2005:330331).22

Althoughsuchcriticismisunderstandable,journaleditorsareexperiencingincreasingdifficultyinsecuringqualityreviewsof

submissions,requiringissuanceofmultiplerequestsforassessmentsandresultingindelayedreportstoauthors.Thisisoneof

themanyissuesaddressedbyarangeofjournaleditorsatapublishingworkshopheldatthe2008annualconferenceofthe

Association of Internet Researchers (IR 9.0, Copenhagen, 15-18 Oct., http://conferences.aoir.org/).

http://www.nap.edu/http://conferences.aoir.org/http://conferences.aoir.org/http://www.nap.edu/


11/20

11

studyareoftencompetitors,andthereforehaveaconflictofinterest;anditcausesunnecessarydelaysin

publication.(Huston,2001)

Despitesuchcritique,peerreviewofjournalarticlesisalmostuniversallyacceptedasthenecessaryprocedurefor

scholarlyworktobeadmittedtotheformalrecordofscientificallybasedknowledge.Doubleblindpeerreviewis

considered,infact,thegoldstandardforqualityjournalpublishingacrossthespectrumofscholarship.Inan

internationalstudyofpeerreview,commissionedbythePublishingResearchConsortium(Ware&Monkman,

2008),academicsstronglysupporttheprinciplesofpeerreview.Basedonresponsesfrom3101journalauthors,

reviewers,and

editors,

the

study

reflects

the

opinions

of

scholars

in

the

sciences,

humanities,

and

social

sciences.

23

Experimentsaboundtoimproveoreventodispensewithconventionaldoubleblindpeerreview.Afew

exceptionallyinnovativetitles,liketheBritishMedicalJournal(BMJ),havealonghistorywithopenaccessand

openpeerreviewprocedures.24

Onerecentexperiment,resultinginadifferentassessmentofopenpeerreview,

wasconductedbyNaturein2006.Theeditorswereinterestedwhetheravenueforopen,signedcommentmight

contributetomanuscriptimprovement;readerswerepolledandthereseemedtobemuchinterestinthisformof

review.Duringthefourmonthperiodofthetrial,authorsofsubmissions,nearly1400,wereaskedwhetherthey

wishedtohavetheirworkplacedontheserverestablishedfortheexperiment;asmallfraction(5%,71papers)

agreedtotakepart.Ofthesepapersabouthalfreceivedcomments;themajorityweretechnicalinnature.The

largestnumberofcommentsreceivedbyanyonepaperwasten.Bytheendofthetrialperiod,onlyasmall

number

of

authors

had

decided

to

take

part

and

an

even

smaller

group

had

received

comments

of

a

substantive

nature.Intheserespectsthedegreeofparticipationresemblesthatofdiscussionlists:ahandfulofparticipants

withinapopulationofthousands(Schneider,1997;Hagemann,2002).Incontrast,assuggestedbytheBMJ

experience,othertitlesinvolvingotherscholarsoperatinginotherdisciplinaryculturesmaycometodifferent

assessmentsofopenpeerreview.

Someopportunitiesforonlinecommentaryfallshortoftheintentionsofjournalarticlepeerreview,but

neverthelessmeritmentionherebecausetheycontributetocollectivedebateofmanuscripts,albeitlessformal.

ScientificAmerican,forexample,placedaninitialversionofanarticleindevelopmentonitsWebsiteandinvited

commentaryfromreaders(Waldrop,2008).Duringthecourseoffiveweeks,some130commentswereposted,a

largenumberofwhichwereextendedandsubstantive.TheinitiativeMediaCommonsdoesessentiallythesame,

usingsoftwarethatpermitsparagraphbyparagraphcommentary.25

Onlineaccess&repositories

Anotherprominent

area

of

change

in

journal

publishing

is

the

relatively

rapid

development

and

embracementofanonlineenvironmentbyscholarsandpublishers.Mostmajorjournalpublishersnowoffer

23Althoughthissurveyisperhapsthebestthereisregardingassessmentofpeerreviewbyscholars,thefindingsarebasedon

areturnrateoflessthan7.7%ofthemorethan40,000personsapproached.Itwouldbeprudenttonotethatspecific

disciplinaryfindingsareonlyindicationsratherthanstatisticallyrepresentativereflections.Still,whenaggregated,the

respondentsoverwhelmingfeelpeerreviewisnecessary(93%),improvespublishedpapers(90%),providesasystemofcontrol

(83%),anddoubleblindreviewispreferred(56%)asthemosteffectiveassessmentprocedure(Ware,2008:4).

24OnOctober28,2008,BMJbecameanofficialopenaccessjournal,afteradecadelongperiodwithopenaccesstoresearch

articlesandashortlivedreversaltorestrictedaccess;fordetailsseeOpenAccessNews:

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmjconvertstogratisoa.html.

25TheeditorsofMediaCommonsdescribethisinitiative,launchedin2007,asanallelectronicscholarlypublishingnetwork

ratherthanasaconventionaljournalthat"willnotsimplyshiftthelocusofpublishingfromprinttoscreen,butwillactually

transformwhatitmeansto'publish,'allowingtheauthor,thepublisher,andthereaderalltomaketheprocessofsuch

discoursejustasvisibleasitsproduct."

Seefurther:http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/.Variousblogpostsby

KathleenFitzpatrick,instrumentalinlaunchingthisinitiative,dealwiththebasicprinciplesinvolved;seeespeciallyOnthe

FutureofAcademicPublishing,PeerReviewandTenureRequirements,6January2006:

http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/on_the_future_of_academic_publishing_peer_review_and_tenure_requirements_or

.

http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.htmlhttp://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/http://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/on_the_future_of_academic_publishing_peer_review_and_tenure_requirements_orhttp://www.thevalve.org/go/valve/article/on_the_future_of_academic_publishing_peer_review_and_tenure_requirements_orhttp://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/2008/10/bmj-converts-to-gratis-oa.html


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12

institutionalsubscribersavarietyofpackagesthatmayincludeasetoftitlesmadeavailableinprintandalso

accessiblefromaWebsitemaintainedbythepublisher.OtherWebbasedinitiativesinthisareaaretakenby

scholarlyassociationsandspecialinterestgroups.Theseinitiatives,however,arelittlemorethanmirrorimagesof

printjournals;veryfewtitlesareexploringmultimediapublishingformatswithinclusionofdynamicvisualizations

andaccesstodatasets.26

Themostsignificantissuerelatedtoonlinejournalpublishingisthekindanddegreeofopenaccess

providedtojournaltitlesandarticles.Commercialpublishershavebeenreticenttotakealeadinthisarea;asa

consequence,the

primary

initiatives

have

been

developed

by

scholarly

associations,

sometimes

in

collaboration

withuniversities.ThePublicLibraryofScience(PLoS)journalsaretheprototypeofthiskindofpublishing.At

presenttherearesevenPLoSjournalsinthebiology,medicine,andgenetics(seehttp://www.plos.org/).Oneof

thereservationsvoicedregardingsomeopenaccessjournalsisthatafeeischargedforpublication.ThePLoS

journals,forexample,requestsuchafee,althoughpaymentisnotrequired.Afewcommercialpublishershave

adaptedtheauthorfeemodelandofferfreeandimmediateaccesstoanauthorsarticleprovidingtheauthorpays

forsuch.Someauthorspublishingundertheauspicesoffundedprojectscanarrangeforpayment,butmanyother

scholarsdonothavesuchfinancialfreedom.In2008theUniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley,followinginitiativesat

otherinstitutions,announcedtheBerkeleyResearchImpactInitiative(BRII)thatisdesignedtohelpsupportopen

accesstoscholarshipbyestablishingafundtoassistscholarsinpayinganynecessaryfees(BRII,2008).

Perhapsthegreatestincentiveencouragingaccesstoscholarshiphasoccurredoutsidethedomainof

publishing:fundingagencies,universitiesandassociationsofscholarshavecontributedtodevelopmentofdigital

repositories

for

scholarship.

Scholarly

associations

frequently

maintain

repositories

of

papers

accepted

for

presentationatconferences,butsubmissionofmaterialisoftenvoluntaryandauthorsaresometimesconcerned

thatavailability,eveninthosecaseswheretheserepositoriesarerestrictedtomembersoftheassociations,may

beconstruedasaformofpublicationandprohibitsubsequentsubmissiontoacademicjournals.Someofthe

naturalscienceshaveestablishedrepositoriesforpapers,includingtextsnotyetacceptedforjournalpublication.

Thepioneeringinitiativeofthiskind,arXive,waslaunchedadecadeagoandhasarchivedmorethanahalfmillion

documentsinthefieldsofphysics,computerscience,quantitativebiology,andstatistics;seehttp://arxiv.org/.

Dependingontheprocedures,preprintrepositoriesmayresemblevariantsofselfpublishingwithnoexternal

qualitycontrol,butforsomedisciplinesimmediatepublicreleaseofanideaismoreimportantthanthepatience

requiredforpeerreviewcertification.

Somefundingagencies,suchastheNationalInstituteofHealth(NIH)intheUnitedStates,requirethat

publications,andinsomecasesdata,bedepositedinpublicallyavailablerepositories.Universitiesarealso

establishinginstitutionallybasedrepositoriesofpaperspublishedoracceptedforpublication;participationis

sometimesmandatory,

particularly

when

institutions

are

concerned

about

research

assessment

exercises

as

in

someEuropeancountries(Borgman,2007:195).Thenumberofrepositoriesacrossdisciplines,countries,and

institutionsismultiplyingrapidly;theDirectoryofOpenAccessRepositories,OpenDOAR,notesmorethan1200at

thetimeofthiswriting;seehttp://www.opendoar.org/.

ORGANIZATIONOFBOOK

Aspreviouslymentioned,thechaptersinthisvolumeprovideapanoramicportrayalofissuesrelatedtoe

research.Althoughseveralorganizationalstructuresforthecollectioncouldbesuitablyemployed,preferenceis

givenheretosevenclustersofconcernsreflectedinFigure1.1:conceptualizationoferesearch,policy

developments,collaborationamongresearchers,visualizationoffindings,datapreservationandreuse,accessand

intellectualproperty,andcasestudiesofprojectsillustratingfeaturesoferesearch.Manyofthechaptersaddress

several

of

these

concerns

and

almost

all

are

concerned

with

conceptualizing

e

research,

but

there

is

accentuation

asreflectedinthesecategories.Thefinalcategory,casestudies,istheexceptionandherepresentationsaremade

offulleresearchprojects.

Conceptualization

26Incontrast,Vectors,JournalofCultureandTechnologyinaDynamicVernacular,placesemphasisonpublicationof

multimediacontributions;theInternationalJournalofCommunication(IJOC)notessuchpublishingpossibilitiesinitsmission

statement.Vectorsisdesignoriented,IJOCreflectsarelativelyconventionalapproachtoscholarship.See

http://www.vectorsjournal.org/;http://ijoc.org/.

http://www.plos.org/http://arxiv.org/http://arxiv.org/http://www.opendoar.org/http://www.opendoar.org/http://www.vectorsjournal.org/http://ijoc.org/http://ijoc.org/http://www.vectorsjournal.org/http://www.opendoar.org/http://arxiv.org/http://www.plos.org/


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Twochaptersconcentrateonissuesdirectlyrelatedtotheconceptualizationoferesearch.InChapter2,Ralph

SchroederandJenniferFryconstructamapofsocialscienceapproachesanderesearch.Thismapprovidesan

overviewofdifferentdisciplinesinvolvedinescienceresearch,specificallythosedisciplinescloselyaffiliatedwith

escience.Theauthorsdiscusstherelationsidentifiedandillustratethemthroughattentiontoarangeofprojects

intheU.K.Theoverviewsuggeststheconsiderablediversityindisciplinaryapproachestoeresearch,andthis

insightcanbevaluableinunderstandingitscoconstructedcharacter,involvingboththetechnologiesandthe

specifictransformationsofthesebyscholarsinadiversityofdisciplines.OneoftheconcludingconcernsSchroeder

andFry

raise

is

the

degree

to

which

eresearch

will

contribute

to

alonger

term

understanding

within

the

sociology

ofscience.

InChapter3,AnneBeaulieuandPaulWoutersapproachtheconceptualizationoferesearchfroma

perspectiveemphasizingintervention,andtheytakeastheirstartingpointtheVirtualKnowledgeStudioforthe

HumanitiesandSocialSciences(VKS)intheNetherlands.Theauthorsdiscussthetensionsinvolvedincombining

reflexiveanalysiswiththepracticaldesignofscholarlypractices.ThesedualobjectivesentailthattheVKSisbotha

researchprogramandaninfrastructuralfacilityforscholars,acombinationthatcanbeproblematic:designand

analysisaredifferenttypesofscientificandscholarlywork,withdifferenttemporalhorizonsanddifferent

coalitionsofinterests.HowthisdualityplaysoutandhowtheInternetcanbeusedasanarenaforresearchisthe

challengeaddressed.

Development

The

next

section,

development,

consists

of

three

chapters,

each

addressing

aspects

of

policy

and

its

implementationasrelatedtotheemergenceofescienceanderesearchindifferentgeographicregions.Chapter

4,preparedbyPeterHalfpenny,RobProcter,YuweiLinandAlexVoss,focusesondevelopmentsintheU.K.related

towhathascometobeknownasesocialscience.Theauthorsreflectonthedevelopmentoftheresearch

programoftheNationalCentreforeSocialScience(NCeSS)anddelineateitsachievementsandthechallenges

faced.Attentionfocusesonengagementandinteractionwithusers,facilitatingcommunicationbetweensocial

scientistsandcomputerscientists,outreachtowardsthewidersocialscienceresearchcommunity,and

collaborationwiththeesciencecommunityataninternationallevel.Toprovideanaccountofthecurrentstateof

esocialscienceintheU.K.,awiderangeofsourcesisreviewed,tracingtheoriginanddevelopmentoftheCentre.

Intheprocess,theauthorsmaptheBritishesocialsciencecommunity,identifyingitsstakeholders,thestateof

thearttechnologies,howthesetechnologiesaredeployed,andthestrategiesemergingthatfacilitateuptake.

Chapter5focusesoneresearchasareflectionofthescholarlycommunityinthehumanitiesinAustralia.

Thechapterauthors,PaulGenoni,HelenMerrick,andMicheleWillson,describeeresearchpracticesinthe

humanities,based

on

asurvey

exploring

how

scholars

use

the

Internet

for

teaching

and

research

purposes.

Of

particularinterestaretheinformal,behindthescenes,communicativeandcollaborativepracticesthatinstigate,

manage,andproduceeresearchoutcomes.Theauthorsexaminecommunicationprocessesfacilitatedby

computermediatedcommunication, drawinguponspecificcasestudiesofnewandexistingeresearchgroupsand

distributedcollaborativeprojects.Oneoftheirconclusionsnotestheimportanceofinstitutional,socialand

economicfactorsintheadoptionanduseoferesearchtechnologies.

Chapter6,preparedbyCarolSoonandHanWooPark,explorestheemergenceofesocialsciencepolicy

inSouthKoreaandSingapore.ThischaptercontributestoreaddressingaWesternbiasbyfocusingprimarilyon

issuesrelatedtoscholarlypracticeineresearchwithinthecontextoftwoAsiancountries.Thehighlevelof

InternetandbroadbandpenetrationinSingaporeisaresultofthatgovernmentsinitiativestocreateane

inclusivesocietywithinthenationstate.InthecaseofSouthKorea,thecountryiscurrentlyanimportantnodein

advancedresearchnetworks.OneofthechallengestoesciencedevelopmentintheseAsiancountriesistheneed

for

a

change

among

social

scientists

and

humanities

scholars

regarding

the

value

of

e

research.

An

increase

in

educationandtrainingprogramsmay,accordingtotheauthors,positivelycontributetofurtherdevelopment.

Collaboration

Thethirdsectionisconcernedwithcollaborationamongresearchers,oftenatadistance,andincludestwo

chapters.Chapter7,preparedbyPetraSonderegger,addressestheplanningandmanagementofglobally

distributedresearchteams.Itisuncleartowhatextentthediscoveryandinterpretationofnewresearchproblems

necessitatethecopresenceofresearchers.And,asprojectsbecomemorecomplexandaredistributedover

greaterdistances,inpersonmeetingsareoftennotfeasibleorpractical.Whilenewcommunicationtechnologies



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14

allowmorefrequentcommunications betweendistantcollaborators,theyalsoreducetherichnessofthat

communication;facialexpressions,bodylanguage,andtoneofvoicemaybelost.However,successful

collaborationreliestoalargeextentonintenseinteractiontocreateasharedlanguage,acommonunderstanding

ofproblems,andthetrustrequiredformembersofagrouptosuggestoriginalanduntriedsolutions.Sonderegger,

drawingonanethnographicstudyconductedinBangalore,India,exploreshowcorporationsandresearchersdeal

withthechallengeofcollaboratingacrossgeographicdistanceandorganizationalboundariesusingtechnology

mediatedcommunication.

InChapter

8,

Eric

Meyer

discusses

issues

that

arise

when

small

scientific

projects

become

part

of

larger

scientificcollaborations,seenfromasocialinformaticsperspective.Datafromtwodistinctareasofscholarshipare

presented:astudyofhumpbackwhaleresearchinvolvingfederatingdatarelatedtothepopulationand

movementsofthesemammalsinthePacificOceanandastudyofcollaborationamongscholarsinthefieldof

psychiatricgeneticscontributingtoalarge,shareddatarepository.Whilethesetwocasesrepresentverydifferent

scientificdomains,theyshareanumberofcharacteristicsincludingdecentralizeddecisionmaking,limiteddata

managementexpertise,andlongtermcollectionsofdataallofwhichhavecontributedtodifficultiesinmoving

intoanescienceenvironment.OneoftheissuesMeyerraisesisthetensionbetweenflexibilityandinnovationin

scientificpractice,counterbalancedbyneedforcompatibledatastandardsinlargescaledatainfrastructures.

Visualization

Chapter9,authoredbyMikeThelwall,drawsuponexperiencesinthefieldofWebometricstodescribethe

problems

and

techniques

involved

when

collecting

and

visualizing

data

about

the

Internet.

Social

science

research,

drawinguponrawdatafromsearchengines,isintheunprecedentedpositionofbeinggrantedfreeaccesstoa

hugeheterogeneouscorpusofinformation,butrequiringtechnicalcomputingknowledgetounderstandthedata

andextractitefficiently.Thelwallprovidesexamplesofvisualizationsusedinavarietyofdisciplinesinthesocial

sciencesandhumanities,andexaminessomeofthesoftwareavailableforpreparationofsuchillustrations.Three

detailedcasesofvisualizationsarepresented:thevisualizationofWikipediaedits,chartedintheHistoryFlow

projectofIBM;adynamicdisplayofgroupinteractionsthatispartoftheresearchprojectEvolino;andatreemap

ofUsenetpostingsgeneratedwithintheMicrosoftNetscanproject.Thelwallconcludeswithsuggestionsfor

furtherexploration,thefirstofwhichinvolvesdocumentationoftheemergenceofvisualizationsacrossdisciplines

andacrosstime.

Chapter10,byHowardWelser,ThomasLento,MarcSmith,EricGleave,andItiaHimelboim,presents

initiativestoenhancedatavisualizationdevelopedatMicrosoftResearch.Researchersandtechnologists

increasinglyapplyinformationvisualizationtechniquestothedatageneratedbysocialmediaontheInternetinan

effortto

gain

insights

that

may

have

been

far

more

difficult

to

grasp

with

qualitative

methods

alone.

In

recent

work,theauthorshaveexploredforrepresentationsofdatastructures,suchashierarchiesandnetwork

structures.Theauthorspresentexamplesofvisualizationsthathighlighttherangeofbehaviourperformedin

computationalsocialmedia.TheyillustrateworkaroundUsenet,oneoftheoldestinstitutionsandinfrastructures

ofsocialinteractionontheinternet,anddescribethescales,structuresandmapscreatedandcontainingelements

fromthesespaces,someofwhichmayberelevanttomorerecentdevelopmentswithsocialmedia.

Datapreservation&reuse

Chapter11,preparedbyStevenSchneider,KirstenFoot,andPaulWouters,isconcernedwithoneoftheenigmas

oferesearch:preservingWebsitesinamannerallowingscientificstudy.AstheWebhasbecomeanobjectof

research,Webarchivinghasemergedasaformofinquiryenablingdevelopmentalandretrospectiveanalysesof

manykindsofonlinephenomena.Webarchivinghasbecomeacomponentoferesearchpracticedbyscholars

concerned

with

phenomena

mediated

via

digital,

networked

technologies.

The

authors

analyze

current

and

potentialusesofWebarchivingandthechallengesthisimposesonresearchpractice.Theanalysesfacilitatedby

Webarchivingutilizebothquantitativeandqualitativemethodsemployedonalargescale,overtime,andby

distributedresearchteams.Thechapterconcludesbyidentifyingthechallengessocialresearchersencounterin

archivingWebbasedmaterial.

Chapter12,byAnnZimmerman,NathanBos,JudyOlson,andGaryOlson,providesapanoramaofthe

problemsencounteredinsharingdata.Theneedtosharedataandtoexchangeknowledgeaboutdataisaprimary

driverbehindmanyvisionsofescience.Yet,effortstosharedatafaceconsiderablesocial,organizational,legal,

scientific,andtechnicalchallenges.Thischapterreportsfindingsfromananalysisofthedatasharingapproaches



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15

usedbylargecollaborationsinseveralscientificdisciplines.Thefindingsarebasedonafiveyearstudyof

distributedcollaborationsacrossmanydomains.Theresultssuggestthatdifferenttypesofdatasharingsolutions

placedifferentdemandsonthosewhoproducedata,andonthosewhoareresponsibleforcollecting,managing

andmakingdataavailableforusebyothers.

InChapter13SamuelleCarlsonandBenAndersonpresentfourcasestudies:SkyProject,SurveyProject,

CurationProject,andAnthroProject.Theseprojectsprovidetheempiricalbasisthroughwhichtheauthorsconsider

theextentdatacanbeextractedfromitsoriginalcontextandmadeavailableforotherresearchersoperatingin

othercontexts.

Considerable

difference

was

found

regarding

data

sharing

among

these

four

projects,

generally

followingthedisciplinarylinesoftheprojects:theastronomersassociatedwithSkyProject,forexample,differed

radicallyfromtheanthropologistsofAnthroProjectregardingthesuitabilityofprovidingaccesstodatabeyondthe

originalteamofresearchersandregardingthepossibilityofpreservingthedataoutsidetheinitialresearch

context.Thesefourcasestudiescontributetoanongoingdiscussionofthepotentialbenefitsanddrawbacksof

embeddinge(social)scienceineverydaypracticeandtheincentivesrequiredtodoso.Theysuggestthatthe

futureofesocialsciencedependsheavilyontheexistingpracticesofdisciplinesandonwhetherdataareborn

digital.

Access&intellectualproperty

RobertLucasandJohnWillinsky,theauthorsofChapter14,considertheideaofopenaccessasrelatedtoe

research.Theypresentanethicalandepistemologicalargumentforopenaccesstoscholarlypublicationsand

review

recent

developments

in

access

to

data

and

published

work.

They

propose

that,

in

addition

to

strengthening

scholarlypractice,openaccessenablesscientificfindingstobetterinformpublicdebateandpromotetheidealof

freeinquiryinthebroaderculture.Thefieldofmedicineispresentedasanexampleofhowgreaterpublicaccess

toresearchhascontributedtothedemocraticqualityofpeople'slives,anditissuggestedthatthissocietalbenefit

canbeextendedacrossthespectrumofscholarship.

Chapter15,byDanBurk,isconcernedwithintellectualpropertyinthearenaofescience.Intellectual

propertyregimesaregenerallyproblematicinthepracticeofscience:scientificresearchtypicallyassumes

practicesofopennessthatmaybehamperedorobstructedbyintellectualpropertyrights.Muchattentionhas

beenpaidtodocumentingandanalyzingtheimpactofpatentsonresearchinthebiomedicalarea,andthehistory

ofrecentmajorscientificinitiatives,suchastheHumanGenomeProject,havebeenpunctuatedbyclashesover

theproprietyandprovisionofpatentrightsintheaccumulateddata.Thesedevelopmentsareexaminedinthis

chapterandarerelatedtoinnovativeproposalssuchastheopensourcecopyleftmodel.Thismodelmaybea

valuablemechanismforpreservingsimilarvaluesinescience.Burkarguesforawarenessnotonlyofthetechnical

structure,but

also

of

the

social

and

communicative

structures

of

escience

in

order

to

adapt

licensing

solutions

to

scholarlypractice.

Casestudies

Thefinalsectionofthebookpresentstwocasestudiesthatincludeabroadrangeofthefeaturesoferesearch,

whichcouldnoteasilybeincludedinoneoftheearliersections.Chapter16,preparedbyBridgetteWesselsand

MaxCraglia,discussesacoconstructionprojectinvolvingsocialscientistsandcomputerscientists.Participantsin

theprojectexploretheopportunitiesofferedbygridcomputerarchitectureinaddressingtherelationshipbetween

socioeconomiccharacteristics,neighborhoods,andcrimearelationshipattheforefrontofcriminologyfor

decades.Theauthorsconsiderthesignificanceofchangeinrelationtothecharacteristicsofthesocialsciencesand

thewaysscholarsmaywishtoshapethepracticeofesocialscience.

Chapter17,byCliffordTatumandMicheleLaFrance,exploresthecollaborativeprocessesusedinthe

development

of

Wikipedia

content.

Through

examining

the

construction

of

Wikipedia

articles

via

the

lens

of

establishedknowledgeconstructs,theauthorsaimtogaininsightintopracticesofcollaborativeescience.

Specifically,TatumandLaFranceexaminetheconsensusmodelofknowledgeproductionandconflictresolutionof

Wikipediaarticles.UsingatheoreticalframeworkdevelopedbyLatourandWoolgar(1979),threecomponents

emergeasvaluableintheanalysisofthearticles:construction,agonisticfield,andreification.Thesecomponents

areelaboratedandtheauthorsspeculateontransformationsofscholarlycommunicationillustratedbyWikipedia

andotherformsofWebbasedsocialmedia.

CONCLUDINGNOTE



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16

Endingwherethischapterbegan,thereseemstobemuchchangeafootacrossthesocialsciencesandhumanities,

buthowmuch,whereexactly,andhowlastingthesechangesmaybeareunknowns.Thecontributionstothis

booksetouttoclarifymuchofthisuncertaintyinthedisciplinesandtopicsaddressed.Theauthorsalsobeginto

identifyareasforfurtherempiricalwork,designedtounderstandthetransformationsrelatedtoeresearch

seeminglyunderway.Thisisnottheplacetorepeatthesuggestionsforfurtherinvestigationtheauthorsprovide,

butitisopportunitytomentionafewoverarchingissues.

First,two

kinds

of

chronicling

seem

to

be

required

to

understand

possible

transformations

in

scholarship.

Inthefirstplace,thekindofindepthqualitativestudyChristineHine(2008)providesforasinglediscipline,the

divisionofbiologycalledsystematics,isneededformanyotherdisciplines.Theinsightfulrichnessprovidedbysuch

ethnographiesishardtosurpassandherworkfollowsinatraditionemphasizingthiskindofinvestigation(e.g.,

Latour&Woolgar,1979).Atthesametimeandinalmostthesamebreadth,broadsurveysarerequiredthat

monitoradoption,adaption,andassessmentofspecificcomponentsoferesearch.Theempiricalworkofthe

groupattheU.C.BerkeleyCenterforStudiesinHigherEducation(Harleyetal.,2008)isillustrativeofsuchcross

disciplinary,focusedinvestigation.Ofcourse,suchsurveysshouldbeextendedbeyondeliteuniversitiesinthe

UnitedStates,andincluderesearchinstitutionssituatedinothergeographicregions.

Second,muchinsightistobegainedfromexploringthenonadoptersandlaggardsanobservation

frequentlymadeabouttheintroductionofnewmediamoregenerally(e.g.,Wyatt,2008:9).Understandingwhy

membersofsomedisciplinesrejectdistantcollaboration,datasharing,andcurrentlyfashionableWeb2.0tools

may

help

realize

the

limitations

of

the

revolution

in

science

frequently

prophesized.

Third,andlast,itisimportanttoemphasizethecontextualizationofchangereflectedinscholarlycultures,

disciplines,andassociationsassituatedinbroadersocial,economic,andpoliticalfactorsatworkincraftingthe

courseofscienceand,moregenerally,ofscholarship.Ofcourse,globalizationisaprominentfactorin

developments,butsoarelessinternationalvisionsofnationstatesandtheirgovernmentaladministrationswith

agendasdesignedtoachievethecompetitiveandeconomicbenefitsattributedtoescience,cyberinfrastructure,

anderesearch.

ChristineBorgman(2007:xix)concludestheprefacetoScholarshipintheDigitalAgewithanenticing

invitation:Lettheconversationbegin.Sheandothershave,indeed,contributedmuchtothatconversation.The

chaptersinthisbookmaybeconsideredadditionstosuchdiscourse,butalsotoagrowingarrayofstudies

spanningthesocialsciencesandhumanitiesregardingtheemergenceoferesearchandtheongoing

transformationsofscholarlypractice.RephrasingBorgman,lettheexplorationcontinue.

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Chapter 1, The contours and challenges of E-research

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