Research

CURRENT FUNDED RESEARCH: 

I am a principal investigator (PI) on ‘Delegating Organizational Work to Virtual Organization Technologies‘ from the Virtual Organizations as Sociotechnical Systems (VOSS) program.

I am a co-PI on ‘Monitoring, Modeling and Memory: Dynamics of Data and Knowledge in Scientific Cyberinfrastructure‘ from the Human and Social Dynamics (HSD) program.

Participants and institutions on these projects include: Christine Borgman (UCLA); Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star (Santa Clara University); Paul N. Edwards, Steven J. Jackson and Thomas Finholt (University of Michigan).

LINKS:

About the Dissertation

Comparative Studies

Primary Research Themes

Below I outline six themes of my research. Together they serve as organizing principles as I prepare a book manuscript on computerization movements and universal information infrastructure:

1- Technical Work as a Social and Organizational Activity: ‘Interoperability’ is usually understood as a technical capacity. My research has shown that this is an impoverished view. Instead, interoperability should be understood as a continuation of the central themes of library, archival and information science: sustainability, access, preservation, automation, and accountability . Each of these themes must be addressed as simultaneously technological, social and organizational. For example, my work on ontologies tracks the emergence persistent routines to support technical development and methods for community outreach.

2- Strategies for the Long-Term: Infrastructure evokes images of a sustainable, reliable and ubiquitous environment for supporting work. However, within cyberinfrastructure circles there is little understanding of how to create and sustain such environments in the long-term. For example, funding institutions have yet to make commitments that match the spans of time we associate with infrastructure. The ‘science of the long-term’ remains nascent and emergent field. In order to build sustainable scientific infrastructure we must be able to plan for the long term shifts, such as continuous shifts in technology, institutional support or practical research methods.

3- The Role of the State in Science: Infrastructure is expensive in terms of time, necessary expertise and financial investment. This presents new challenges for the institutions of science. For example, a tension has emerged between infrastructure and research. The NSF primary mandate is to fund new science, however in recent years it has dedicated increasing portions of its budget to the creation of facilities supporting scientific work. Furthermore, from a historical perspective infrastructure building represents a significant shift in the role of scientific institutions such as the NSF that have usually taken a ‘hands off’ approach to the projects they fund. These changes are significant and merit scholarly attention.

4- Transformations in Knowledge Work: The introduction of novel information technologies is spawning transformations in the everyday practice of science. As new forms of representation (data visualization, geographic information systems, knowledge mediation) are introduced ‘what counts as scientific work’ will also be changed. Does creating metadata ‘count’ towards a professor’s tenure in geoscience? Is a meteorological visualization tool a ‘contribution’ to atmospheric science?

5- The Emergence of New Organizational Forms: Cyberinfrastructure is an emergent organizational form. Such projects seek to bring together under a single umbrella the development of computational resources, community building and cutting edge scientific research. What kind of organization can support these diverse forms of activity? What are the consequences of large-scale infrastructure development for the practicing scientist and the production of knowledge?

6- The Role of Social Science in Infrastructure Design: Recent large-scale infrastructure initiatives have opened many new opportunities for the direct participation of social scientists in design. These opportunities pose new challenges for social science: what are our available methods for participation? How to manage tensions between research and participatory intervention? What are the ethical and political considerations for ‘action research’ as social science becomes enmeshed with design and implementation? My research in GEON, the CIP and the NCSA community engagement project extend beyond the research-observation goals of traditional social science and has afforded me the opportunity to substantially participate in information infrastructure development. The active and effective participation of social science in systems design and deployment is a methodological commitment of my current and future research.