Talking 'bout a revolution: Framing e-Research as a computerization movement

Conference item

In this paper we discuss how e-Research initiatives may be framed as a computerization movement (CM) using Kling & Iacono's (2001) conceptual framework. Applying their framework to our case study data has enabled us to explore an alternative analysis of the e-Research vision, which links the uptake and use of Grid technology with a preferred mode of conducting scientific research. We explore the origins of this vision first by tracing the historical trajectory of advances in scientific computing which led to Grid technology. Next, we discuss how the e-Research vision has been communicated through public discourses that present core ideas about the ways in which Grid infrastructure would transform research. Finally, we discuss how the implementation this vision may reconfigure both domain practices and developer-user access to infrastructure. As close participants in the UK e-Research community we are less certain whether it is clear that e-Research currently constitutes a successful computerization movement, or whether it is more accurate to say that some within the community aspire towards building a CM that will in turn have a wider impact on the physical sciences, the social sciences and the humanities.

Authors: de la Flor, G; Lindgren, T; Meyer, ET

• Publication status: Not published
• Publication date: 2008-01-01
• Edition: Author's Original
• Event title: The Oxford eResearch Conference 2008
• Event location: Oxford‚ UK
• Event start date: 2008-09-11
• Event end date: 2008-09-13
• Language: English
• Subjects: Internet research; Shaping the Internet; e-Research; Science and technology