The changing face of digital science: new practices in scientific collaborations

Abstract

The confluence of two major trends in scientific research is leading to an upheaval in standard scientific practice. A new generation of scientists, working in large-scale collaborations, is repurposing social software for use in collaborative science. Existing social tools such as chat, IM, and FriendFind are being adopted and modified for use as group problem-solving facilities. At the same time, exponentially greater and more complex datasets are being generated at a rate that is challenging the limits of current hardware, software, and human cognitive capability. A concerted effort to develop new software tools to handle this data tsunami is redefining the collaboratory and represents a new frontier for computer supported cooperative work. We are hoping this workshop can build community among researchers studying and/or building software for scientific collaborations.