Participative Web : oecd-pw-session2b

Research 2.0 - from scientists to citizens

Richard Akerman — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 17:15:00 GMT

Bill St. Arnaud from CANARIE gave a presentation about "Participative Science", quite an exciting idea of using the participative web to go from traditional closed science grid networks to providing citizens the ability to access and analyse datasets themselves.

Earlier in the day, in response to a question about "what is the participative web beyond social networking" we had heard from Cyrus Beagley about the NetFlix Prize, in which the DVD-by-mail service is offering up some of its data for analysis, with a US $1 million prize for the best DVD recommender algorithm.

In his presentation, Bill pointed to Intel® Mash Maker: Mashups for the Masses, as an example of how tools for working with online data are becoming easier to use and more widely available.

In "ICT for Science - experiencing the future Internet", Mario Campolargo of GÉANT talked about the empowerment of users, the need to think about the interface between formal e-science grids and more informal networks for citizen access ("citizen grids").

It is clear that the rapid pace of change is pushing those involved with science infrastructure to think about ways to interact with a broader public, to take advantage of the energy and creativity of the general population, promoting greater understanding of and participation in science. The rapid progress of these technologies has opened new horizons of research, making powerful research tools available. As Diana Rhoten from the US NSF Office of Cyberinfrastructure said in her presentation, "we are living in exponential times", which is enabling more computing power and data to be distributed more widely and used by more people than ever before.

computer science transforming scientific research - Andrew Herbert

Richard Akerman — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 15:43:00 GMT

Andrew Herbert is Managing Director of Microsoft Research, Cambridge

I would summarise the underlying theme of his presentation as the application of thinking, methodologies, and tools from the realm of computer science to other scientific fields.

Here are some fairly raw notes on his presentation:

The sciences are all increasingly relying on computer science to reduce the time to insight.

Computational science - simulation, data mining, pattern recognition and many other techniques.

How will we produce researchers who have the the right balance of scientific background and computer skills.

"Computer science ideas are creating new ways of doing traditional science"

networks are also being used to create virtual scientific organisations

if science is ongoing on the network, why do we need conferences and printed journals -
a revolutionary challenge to scientific publication

sensor networks enable real-world data to be used in simulations

using computers to automate scientific workflow... could we even automate some auspects of
generating scientific results

Where Is This Taking Us?

* ability to model drugs on personal gene machine [i.e. individual, unique people]
* monitor changes in personal gene machine

... personalised healthcare, customised for your body and genome

* sustainable bio-energy

Other Areas Being Explored from a CS perspective

* understanding the human brain
* confronting global epidemics
* understanding the origins, workings and ultimate demise of the universe

http://research.microsoft.com/towards2020science/

backgrounder: e-Science

Richard Akerman — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:45:00 GMT

e-Science, also called e-Research or cyberinfrastructure, will be the topic of Session 2, Stream B "Research 2.0: e-Science and new ways of interaction in the science community".

Originally the term encompassed mainly large science projects, using grid computing in order to provide a powerful technology platform for distributed science.

However, with the rise of the participative web, and more widely-available computing and more participants in science networks, including students and science libraries, the scope of discussion is expanding to cover many network-enabled science activities on the Internet. Part of the promise of e-Science is the idea of a unified science workflow system, that can connect instruments with computation, data with visualisation, and allow powerful analysis. One can imagine the capabilities of such an e-Science infrastructure extending beyond just researchers to decisionmakers and citizens as well.

Some nations have national programs in this area. While by no means an exhaustive list, these include

US National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure
UK e-Science Programme
Australian e-Research

One of the most active areas of investigation is related to the tremendous amounts of data that can be produced by new experiments or new simulations, and how to manage, distribute, and archive those data.

The efforts of various study groups have provided a number of very informative reports in different areas of e-Science. These include:

Canadian National Consultation on Access to Scientific Research Data (NCASRD) (aussi disponible en français)
Report of the American Council of Learned Societies Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences
NSF 07-28, Cyberinfrastructure Vision for 21st Century Discovery
An Australian e-Research Strategy and Implementation Framework
Association of Research Libraries (ARL) - ARL/NSF Workshop on Long-Term Stewardship of Digital Data Collections

There are also ongoing studies, including:

e-SciDR - Towards a European e-Infrastructure for e-Science Digital Repositories

Session 2, Stream B: Creativity and the Internet Economy: Business and Science

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 22:41:00 GMT

STREAM B -- Research 2.0: e-Science and new ways of interaction in the science community

11.10-12.30

TK: 12.10am
PA: 4.10pm
NY: 11.10am
LA: 8.10am

Walter Stewart (chair), Walter Stewart & Associates Inc.
Andrew Herbert, Managing Director, Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK
Bill St. Arnaud, Senior Director Advanced Networks, CANARIE Inc.
Mario Campolargo, Head of the Unit "GEANT & eInfrastructures", Information Society and Media Directorate-General, European Commission
Diana Rhoten, Program Director, Office of Cyberinfrastructure, National Science Foundation

Click here for a rundown of all blog posts covering this session.

The participative web and high-powered research networks are having profound impacts on science and interactions within the science community. Advanced scientific applications in computing/networking have been well ahead of commercial applications and the introduction of participative tools is no exception. Given the critical importance that businesses place on using technology tools there are important lessons to be learned from scientific experience with very advanced network-based applications, building and using computational grids and exploring innovative uses of highly-networked computers.

Questions to be addressed include:

What innovation-relevant lessons can be learned from e-science (e.g. grid computing, bioinformatics)?
What are the impacts of the participative web and “open innovation” on scientific research and computation-intensive business applications?
How are new applications changing expert and public debate, including diverse and alternative views?

TK	PA	NY	LA
Tokyo	Paris	New York	Los Angeles

Mário Campolargo

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:25:00 GMT

Mário Campolargo is Head of Unit “GÉANT & e-Infrastructure” in DG INFSO - the Directorate General for Information Society and Media of the European Commission, having as primary responsibility the support to the deployment of pan-European world class e-Infrastructures for Science.

Mário Campolargo has been heavily involved in launching this pioneering concept of e Infrastructure in Europe, a responsibility pursued currently in the context of the Research Infrastructure (RI) part of the “Capacities” Programme of the Seventh Framework Programme. In this context Mário Campolargo has been responsible for an implementation strategy at EU level that includes the continuous enhancement of the high speed research network GÉANT, the deployment of pan-European Grid infrastructures to serve the needs of multiple research communities as well as the deployment of grids of supercomputers. The deployment of scientific data infrastructures and the implementation of a European strategy towards petaflop computing is one of his current challenges.

Mário Campolargo has previously been responsible, within the IST and ACTS EU R&D Programmes, for co-ordinating the work in areas such as Communication Management and Service Engineering. Before 1990, when he joined the European Commission, Mário Campolargo spent 12 years of his career in the R&D Centre of Portugal Telecom where he was Head of Division responsible for Software development.

Mário Campolargo has a Degree in Electrical Engineering by the University of Coimbra - Portugal, is Post graduated in Computing Science by the Imperial College - London, has a Post graduate Diploma in Management by the École de Commerce Solvay - Brussels and received a "Diplôme d'Etudes Européennes" by the Université Catholique de Louvain-La-Neuve - Belgium.

Andrew Herbert

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:06:00 GMT

Andrew Herbert is a distinguished engineer, a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and managing director of Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England. Initially joining Microsoft Research in 2001, as an assistant director, in March 2003 he succeeded the founding director, Roger Needham.

Herbert’s research interests include networks, operating systems, programming languages and distributed information sharing.

Before joining Microsoft Research in 2001, he was director of Advanced Technology at Citrix Systems Inc, where he was instrumental in steering the company toward internet thin-client technologies and initiating development of products for web-based application deployment and for the emerging application service provider market.

Herbert is a fellow of Wolfson College Cambridge, a member of St. John’s College Cambridge, and a liveryman of the City of London Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. In 1975 he graduated from the University of Leeds with a BSc in computational science and in 1978 with a PhD from Cambridge University in computer science.

Diana Rhoten

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:30:00 GMT

Diana Rhoten is a program director in the Office of Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC, where she is responsible for the areas of Virtual Organizations and Cyber-Learning & Workforce Development. In addition, Dr. Rhoten is the director of the Knowledge Institutions program at the Social Science Research Council in New York, NY. Dr. Rhoten's current work concerns the study of interdisciplinary and collaborative practices in science.

She is particularly interested in the implications that geographically distributed and scientifically diverse networks pose for traditional research questions and institutions—particularly in light of the many emerging technological capacities before us. Recent examples of her writing can be found in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Science, and Research Policy. She is also currently co-editing a book tentatively titled The Transformation of Public Research Universities with Dr. Craig Calhoun. In addition to publishing scholarly works on the topic, Dr. Rhoten works with various academic and non-academic organizations on the design, implementation, and assessment of new organizational forms of research and training. For her work in this area, Dr. Rhoten was selected as a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer (July 2005-June 2007), an award that honors individuals at the leading edge of science.

Dr. Rhoten’s earlier research in the international arena takes up comparative analyses of local interpretations and implementations of global social and educational policies in North and South America. Publications related to this earlier work can be found in journals such as the Journal of Education Policy and Comparative Education Review as well as in The New Accountability: High Schools and High-Stakes Testing and Las Reformas Educativas en la Década de 1990: Un Estudio Comparado de Argentina, Chile y Uruguay. Dr/ Rhoten has a Ph.D. in social sciences and educational policy and an M.A. in sociology from Stanford University, as well as an M.Ed. in international development education from Harvard University and an A.B. in international relations from Brown University.

Bill St. Arnaud

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:17:00 GMT

Bill St. Arnaud is Senior Director Advanced Networks for CANARIE Inc., Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization. At CANARIE Bill St. Arnaud has been responsible for the coordination and implementation of Canada's next generation optical Internet initiative called CA*net 4. He has been the principal architect of the User Controlled LightPath concept of applying Service Oriented Architecture to network elements to allow users to create their own Internet network topologies and architectures fully integrated with their specific application and instrument needs.

Previously Bill St. Arnaud was the President and founder of a network and software engineering firm called TSA ProForma Inc. TSA was a LAN/WAN software company that developed wide area network client/server systems for use primarily in the financial and information business fields in the Far East and the United States.

Bill St. Arnaud is member of various committees and boards including the Board of Trustees for ISOC, NomComm committee for ICANN, the UKlight Steering Committee, the GLORIAD policy committee, Neptune Canada Oversight Committee, Globecomm Fellow and the GLIF policy committee amongst others. In 2002 he was featured by TIME Magazine Canada as the engineer who is wiring together advanced Canadian science. In 2005 he also won the World Technology Summit award for Communications.

Bill St. Arnaud is a frequent guest speaker at numerous conferences on the Internet and optical networking. He is a graduate of Carleton University School of Engineering.

Walter Stewart

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 18:08:00 GMT

Walter Stewart is an independent consultant in technology, organization, and strategic planning. His clients include CANARIE, Canada’s broadband network for research and the Toronto Region Research Alliance as well as private, public, and not-for-profit organizations.

Walter is active in the work of the Open Grid Forum and was active in its predecessor organization, Global Grid Forum. Walter spent 8 years at SGI in various international marketing roles. Walter’s work with high-technology followed 21 years as a post-secondary educator across Canada.

Snapshot: What is the conference rundown?

Kieren Mccarthy — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 17:03:00 GMT

This is cut-down version of the full agenda. You can download the full agenda as a pdf here, or use the links below to learn more about each sessions and those taking part in it.

The conference runs from 9am to 6pm. It is based in Ottawa, Canada, so in terms of time that is Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) which is currently GMT -4 hours. See here for a time rundown according to different cities of the world.

The conference comprises five main sessions - three split into two different stream - running for 80 minutes each and with a five-minute conclusion at the end:

Participative Web conference agenda
Time	Event	People
9.00-9.20 TK: 10pm PA: 3pm NY: 9am LA: 6am	OPENING	Michael Binder Suzanne Huttner John Oxley (Facilitator)
9.20-10.50	The Future of the Participative Web	John Lettice (Chair) Jonathan Taplin Cyrus Beagley Ginsu Yoon Michael Gill
10.50-11.10	Coffee break
11.10-12.30	Creativity and the Internet Economy	Stream A	Stream B
TK: 12.10am PA: 4.10pm NY: 11.10am LA: 8.10am	Stream A: Business 2.0 and innovation Stream B: Research 2.0 - eScience and new ways of interaction	David Crane (chair) Bob Young Anthony Williams Paul Misener Daniel Bretonès Shenja van der Graaf	Walter Stewart (chair) Andrew Herbert Bill St. Arnaud Mario Campolargo Diana Rhoten
12.30-13.45	Lunch	Robert Sutor
13.45-15.05	Creativity and the Internet Economy	Stream A	Stream B
TK: 2.45am PA: 7.45pm NY: 1.45pm LA: 10.45am	Stream A: User-created content: What are the impacts? Stream B: Government 2.0 - Engaging citizens	Michael Leblanc (Chair) Jungwook Lim Andres Monroy-Hernandez Jennifer Corriero Manon Ress	Ellen Miller (Chair) Don Lenihan Alejandro Hernandez Pulido Wolfgang Blau Quitterie Delmas
15.05-16.25	Confidence and Competition in the Internet Economy	Stream A	Stream B
TK: 4.05am PA: 9.05pm NY: 3.05pm LA: 12.05pm	Stream A: Creation, access and competition Stream B: Confidence, privacy and security	William New (Chair) Kiyoshi Mori Urs Gasser Anne Bucher Martin Senftleben	Hugh Stevenson (Chair) Gary Davis Chris Kelly Jennifer Mardosz John Lawford
16.25-16.45	Coffee break
16.45-17.55 TK: 5.45am PA: 10.45pm NY: 4.45pm LA: 1.45pm	Policy Roundtable: Opportunities and Challenges for Policy	Michael Geist (Chair) Sangwon Ko Marc Rotenberg Daniela Battisti Joseph Alhadeff Keith Besgrove Neil Anderson
17.55-18.00	CONCLUSIONS and Priority-Setting for the OECD	Richard Simpson

TK	PA	NY	LA
Tokyo	Paris	New York	Los Angeles

Other snapshots: