David De Roure and Carole Goble Six Principles of Software Design to Empower Scientists

Our e-Science context 6 principles of design for adoption 6 principles of user engagement The myExperiment experience Reflections

The e-Science Pilots, OMII-UK and myExperiment

The e-Science Pilots, OMII-UK and myExperiment

CombeChem my Grid Taverna CoAKTinG Memetic CREW CombeChem platform OMII-UK myGrid myGrid platform myExperiment

Box of Chemists My Chemistry Experiment

Box of Chemists

X-Ray e -Lab Analysis Properties Properties e -Lab Simulation Video Diffractometer G rid Middleware Structures Database www.combechem.org Iconic CombeChem Picture

scientists Digital Libraries Graduate Students Undergraduate Students experimentation Data, Metadata Provenance Workflows Ontologies The social process of science Local Web Repositories Virtual Learning Environment Technical Reports Reprints Peer-Reviewed Journal & Conference Papers Preprints & Metadata Certified Experimental Results & Analyses

www.smarttea.org Smart Tea

Workflows are the new rock and roll Machinery for coordinating the execution of (scientific) services and linking together (scientific) resources The era of Service Oriented Applications Repetitive and mundane boring stuff made easier Iconic my Grid/Taverna Slide Carole Goble

Workflows are the new rock and roll

Machinery for coordinating the execution of (scientific) services and linking together (scientific) resources

The era of Service Oriented Applications

Repetitive and mundane boring stuff made easier

Paul writes workflows for identifying biological pathways implicated in resistance to Trypanosomiasis in cattle Paul meets Jo. Jo is investigating Whipworm in mouse. Jo reuses one of Paul’s workflow without change . Jo identifies the biological pathways involved in sex dependence in the mouse model, believed to be involved in the ability of mice to expel the parasite. Previously a manual two year study by Jo had failed to do this. Recycling, Reuse, Repurposing

Paul writes workflows for identifying biological pathways implicated in resistance to Trypanosomiasis in cattle

Paul meets Jo. Jo is investigating Whipworm in mouse.

Jo reuses one of Paul’s workflow without change .

Jo identifies the biological pathways involved in sex dependence in the mouse model, believed to be involved in the ability of mice to expel the parasite.

Previously a manual two year study by Jo had failed to do this.

Kepler Triana BPEL Ptolemy II

Run on your laptop – no sysadmin required Access independent third party world-wide service providers of applications, tools and datasets 850 databases, 166 web servers Nucleic Acids Research Jan 2006 My local applications, tools and datasets. In the Enterprise. In the laboratory Easily incorporate new services without coding The Taverna Superclient

Run on your laptop – no sysadmin required

Access independent third party world-wide service providers of applications, tools and datasets

850 databases, 166 web servers Nucleic Acids Research Jan 2006

My local applications, tools and datasets. In the Enterprise. In the laboratory

Easily incorporate new services without coding

40 Taverna downloads per day taverna.sourceforge.net 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003

OMII-UK provides free Open Source software and support to enable a sustained future for the UK e-Research community. Our software includes Software Solutions, which are easy-to-use and easy-to-install software packages that solve common e-Research problems, and the Development Kit, which is a set of inter-operable software components that can be linked together to provide bespoke functionality. OMII-UK supports Open Source software development by commissioning developers to produce software with the functionality required by our user community. omii.ac.uk

e-Science Value Chain © Infrastructure Provider Component Provider Solution Provider e-Science End User OMII OMII-UK

myExperiment.org is… “ Facebook for Scientists”...but different to Facebook! A community social network. A gateway to other publishing environments A federated repository A platform for launching workflows Publishing self-describing Encapsulated myExperiment Objects Mindful publication Started March 2007 Closed beta since July 2007 Open beta November 2007 myExperiment.org is... 703 users, 67 groups, 146 workflows, 24 files

“ Facebook for Scientists”...but different to Facebook!

A community social network.

A gateway to other publishing environments

A federated repository

A platform for launching workflows

Publishing self-describing Encapsulated myExperiment Objects

Mindful publication

Started March 2007

Closed beta since July 2007

Open beta November 2007

scientists Graduate Students Undergraduate Students experimentation Data, Metadata Provenance Workflows Ontologies Digital Libraries The social process of science 2.0 Local Web Repositories Virtual Learning Environment Technical Reports Reprints Peer-Reviewed Journal & Conference Papers Preprints & Metadata Certified Experimental Results & Analyses

Our Six Principles of Design for Adoption

Our Six Principles of Design for Adoption

No obligation on service providers to change their services to fit into Taverna Early users tolerated less-than-perfect interfaces because their favourite service was available myExperiment motto is to bring myExperiment to the user Wikis, iGoogle, etc www.myexperiment.org 1. Fit in, Don’t Force Change

No obligation on service providers to change their services to fit into Taverna

Early users tolerated less-than-perfect interfaces because their favourite service was available

myExperiment motto is to bring myExperiment to the user

Wikis, iGoogle, etc

www.myexperiment.org

This is about incentives The activation energy required by users to adopt a feature must be matched by the reward gained Get some core capability and quick wins out there as soon as you can Our scientists and developers travelled on the journey together 2. Jam Today and more Jam Tomorrow

This is about incentives

The activation energy required by users to adopt a feature must be matched by the reward gained

Get some core capability and quick wins out there as soon as you can

Our scientists and developers travelled on the journey together

This is about delivery Be better not perfect Solve the problems users already know they have – don’t make them wait for solutions to problems they don’t yet know they have and perhaps never will! With websites it’s easier to be incremental and to involve a distributed and disparate community of users in the design process 3. Just in Time and Just Enough

This is about delivery

Be better not perfect

Solve the problems users already know they have – don’t make them wait for solutions to problems they don’t yet know they have and perhaps never will!

With websites it’s easier to be incremental and to involve a distributed and disparate community of users in the design process

Carole Goble

We targeted a community we know really well, picked a few close ‘friends and family’ and just built it for them Experience suggests that customisation outvotes genericity, extensibility outvotes comprehensivity, and scruffy and flexible outvotes smart but rigid As Don Wells said, “Don’t Solve a Problem Before You Get to It” 4. Act Local, think Global

We targeted a community we know really well, picked a few close ‘friends and family’ and just built it for them

Experience suggests that customisation outvotes genericity, extensibility outvotes comprehensivity, and scruffy and flexible outvotes smart but rigid

As Don Wells said, “Don’t Solve a Problem Before You Get to It”

This is about empowerment Extensibility and customisation are crucial to adoption The small team associated with myExperiment means maximal reuse and reusability is a necessity as well as a nicety As much use as possible of third party code and services, and our services available through a simple API 5. Enable Users to Add Value

This is about empowerment

Extensibility and customisation are crucial to adoption

The small team associated with myExperiment means maximal reuse and reusability is a necessity as well as a nicety

As much use as possible of third party code and services, and our services available through a simple API

This is about community Large number of scientists conducting the routine processes of science on a daily basis Gathering usage data enables the community to benefit from usage without explicitly uploading new content 6. Design for Network Effects

This is about community

Large number of scientists conducting the routine processes of science on a daily basis

Gathering usage data enables the community to benefit from usage without explicitly uploading new content

Both projects are just as much – or perhaps even more – about content as software We were reminded of this when we went open beta with myExperiment and the first bug report that came in was about a spelling error in a user-provided workflow description NB

Both projects are just as much – or perhaps even more – about content as software

We were reminded of this when we went open beta with myExperiment and the first bug report that came in was about a spelling error in a user-provided workflow description

Building Trust between Users and Developers Our Six Principles of User Engagement

Building Trust between Users and Developers

Our Six Principles of User Engagement

Local pioneers and external early adopters OMII-UK operates a scheme of beta testers and ‘Product/Area Liaisons’ (PALs), who are not directly working for OMII-UK but are the eyes and ears in the communities they work in Taverna has three very active PALs myExperiment has community champions 1. Keep your Friends Close

Local pioneers and external early adopters

OMII-UK operates a scheme of beta testers and ‘Product/Area Liaisons’ (PALs), who are not directly working for OMII-UK but are the eyes and ears in the communities they work in

Taverna has three very active PALs

myExperiment has community champions

We embed developers with users and users with developers, getting them to sit side by side for long periods We started myExperiment by embedding the developers in an end-user laboratory, to experience the work environment with respect to sharing and communication, and understanding non-functional requirements 2. Embed

We embed developers with users and users with developers, getting them to sit side by side for long periods

We started myExperiment by embedding the developers in an end-user laboratory, to experience the work environment with respect to sharing and communication, and understanding non-functional requirements

Tendency of developers to get hung up on some point that a user doesn’t worry about in the overall scheme of things Our software is not the only software our users use, and they are only using it to do the research they really want to do They daily use complex tools they are familiar and comfortable with – mimic these tools and link with them 3. Keep Sight of the Bigger Picture

Tendency of developers to get hung up on some point that a user doesn’t worry about in the overall scheme of things

Our software is not the only software our users use, and they are only using it to do the research they really want to do

They daily use complex tools they are familiar and comfortable with – mimic these tools and link with them

Building trust is a two-way activity, requiring compromise and favours For every pioneer, myGrid ‘sacrificed’ one developer in support – this was not wasted effort! We still develop, or help partners develop, bespoke code In myExperiment we prioritise tasks and allocate development effort based on the return in adoption 4. Favours will be in your Favour

Building trust is a two-way activity, requiring compromise and favours

For every pioneer, myGrid ‘sacrificed’ one developer in support – this was not wasted effort!

We still develop, or help partners develop, bespoke code

In myExperiment we prioritise tasks and allocate development effort based on the return in adoption

Rarely is there one kind of user: Scientists domain expert developers producing applications service developers service providers system administrators. Don’t forget young postdocs and postgraduates! 5. Know your Users

Rarely is there one kind of user:

Scientists

domain expert developers producing applications

service developers

service providers

system administrators.

Don’t forget young postdocs and postgraduates!

User needs and wants will change Success will mean that scientific practice will change, and so will expectations The choice of pioneering friends will need to change and new classes of user will emerge When we started out, we replicated current scientific practice – two years later we were inventing new practice 6. Expect and Anticipate Change

User needs and wants will change

Success will mean that scientific practice will change, and so will expectations

The choice of pioneering friends will need to change and new classes of user will emerge

When we started out, we replicated current scientific practice – two years later we were inventing new practice

The myExperiment Experience www.myexperiment.org

The myExperiment Experience

24/5/2007 | myExperiment | Slide

Google Gadget

Ownership and Attribution

` Enactor HTML XML Snapshot map of resources with their relationships and versions users descriptions groups friendships tags blobs workflows

Web 2.0 developers vs CS Software Engineers Core team + champions works really well We’ve stuck to “only do what users ask for” – features then refactoring For the project manager it’s like driving a very fast car! Weekly update Managing Developers

Web 2.0 developers vs CS Software Engineers

Core team + champions works really well

We’ve stuck to “only do what users ask for” – features then refactoring

For the project manager it’s like driving a very fast car!

Weekly update

Daily 5pm developer chat chaired by PM, Co-PI or PM delegate Weekly 10.30 management telephone conference Monthly team Face to face Monthly hackfest Monthly (at least) user workshop PM has daily contact with developers Influencing myGrid team The regime!

Daily 5pm developer chat chaired by PM, Co-PI or PM delegate

Weekly 10.30 management telephone conference

Monthly team Face to face

Monthly hackfest

Monthly (at least) user workshop

PM has daily contact with developers

Influencing myGrid team

e-Science Pipeline e-Science Technology Creators & Integrators Applications Research EE Research Socio-economic & Commercial Innovation e-Science bespoke tailoring Mass Use by Researchers 5 years 5 years 5 years CS Research e-Science 10s of integrators 100s of embedded consultants 1000s of research users The Arrow Problem Malcolm Atkinson NB This isn’t wrong!

Don’t think rollout of technologies... Think roll-in of researchers... Mass Use by Researchers Knowledge co-production vs Service Delivery! Mass Use by Researchers

Don’t think rollout of technologies...

Web Services RESTful APIs cmd lines ssh http Web Browser Mobile phone iPod Car Equipment PDA P2P OeRC mashups workflows services applications Subject ICT experts Computer Scientists Software Companies Workflow tools Ruby on Rails ecosystem Scientists open source Software Engineers nesc

N 2 N N

One Middleware 2N N N

Middleware ? N N Middleware Middleware Middleware Middleware Middleware Polynomial involving N1, N2 and M

Don’t think rollout of technology, think roll-in of users Take home

Don’t think rollout of technology, think roll-in of users

Fit in, Don’t Force Change Jam today and more jam tomorrow Just in Time and Just Enough Act Local, think Global Enable Users to Add Value Design for Network Effects Summary of Principles Keep your Friends Close Embed Keep Sight of the Bigger Picture Favours will be in your Favour Know your users Expect and Anticipate Change

Fit in, Don’t Force Change

Jam today and more jam tomorrow

Just in Time and Just Enough

Act Local, think Global

Enable Users to Add Value

Design for Network Effects

Keep your Friends Close

Embed

Keep Sight of the Bigger Picture

Favours will be in your Favour

Know your users

Expect and Anticipate Change

Contact David De Roure dder@ecs.soton.ac.uk Carole Goble [email_address] Thanks Malcolm Atkinson, Jeremy Frey, Savas Parastatides, The myGrid Family http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/15032/

Contact

David De Roure

dder@ecs.soton.ac.uk

Carole Goble

[email_address]

Thanks

Malcolm Atkinson, Jeremy Frey, Savas Parastatides, The myGrid Family