Increasingly, scientists and software developers must collaborate to solve research problems that can only be tackled with complex computation. In this project we explore how to directly support this partnership through the cyberinfrastructure. There are challenges: scientists and developers each have their own technical languages; they use hard-to-capture computational artifacts such as data and program; they have differing notions of the value of tool reuse; and collaboration is often triggered by crisis rather than opportunity. The cyberinfrastructure can radically improve interdisciplinary collaboration, limiting the need for individuals to invest in extensive cross-training and curbing ad-hoc, error-prone solutions. In this project we are synthesizing and evaluating a demonstration cyberinfrastructure endowed with a core set of collaborative supports designed to engender impromptu, highly productive exchanges that result in well-informed, high-quality, reusable computational tools.
Intellectual Merit. A particularly promising approach for supporting collaboration between scientists and software developers is "participatory programming," a variant of participatory design in which developers iteratively refine their solutions with direct input from scientists. We are exploring a new form of embedded participatory programming that moves the participatory experience directly into the cyberinfrastructure. This approach involves the ability to manipulate domain-specific computational artifacts, tight integration with existing research and communications tools, and the reliable persistence of both finished and intermediate artifacts.
To test and refine our approach, we are simulating scientific explorations in the field of bioscience that are supported by a demonstration cyberinfrastructure featuring embedded participatory programming. We are employing a hothouse approach that compresses typical time scales for emergent collaboration by simulating critical periods in a scientific exploration over the course of a few weeks. To focus our energies on issues of collaboration instead of high-fidelity tool building, simulation participants are graduate students and advanced high school students studying biology and computer science.
Broader Impacts. The expected impact of this proposed work is the demonstration of a compelling vision of the collaborative culture needed to unlock the full potential of the cyberinfrastructure. We anticipate that our work will yield validated design principles for collaboration supports that will inform the appropriate development of the cyberinfrastructure and the suitable training of scientists and developers who will use it. The University of Colorado Science Discovery program (a network of 32,000 students and 1,600 teachers statewide) and the Shodor Foundation plan to adopt the curriculum and tools from our simulated scientific explorations for future summer programs and teacher professional development.
