The document discusses the importance of knowledge infrastructure in global systems science, highlighting platforms like myExperiment that facilitate the sharing of research methods and workflows. It emphasizes the evolution of workflows into computational research objects, advocating for the reproducibility and reusability of research in a digital environment. Key themes include the integration of machines in research processes and the shift towards automated and social machines that support collaborative scientific endeavors.

1. Knowledge Infrastructure for
Global Systems Science
David De Roure
m o de
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na r
rati
ves
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ts citize
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3. Social Objects

4. www.myexperiment.org
 A repository for sharing
research methods (e.g.
data analysis pipelines)
 Largest public workflow
repository (2600 workflows
for multiple systems, 320
groups, 280 packs)
 Workflows have co-evolved
into Packs, Research Objects
and now Computational
Research Objects
 Influenced BioCatalogue,
MethodBox and SysMO-SEEK

5. methods
data

6. Co-Evolution of Research Objects
Packs
ORE
OAI
Workflows
Research Objects
W3C PROV
Computational
Research Objects

7. Sean Bechhofer
SELECT?wf ?uri
SELECT?wf ?uri
SELECT?pack ?contrib WHERE {{
WHERE
SELECT?pack ?contrib
WHERE { ?wf mebase:has-current-version ?v.
?wf mebase:has-current-version ?v.
WHERE {
?pack rdf:type mepack:Pack. ?v mecomp:executes-dataflow ?d.
?v mecomp:executes-dataflow ?d.
?pack rdf:type mepack:Pack.
?pack ore:aggregates ?contrib. ?d mecomp:has-component ?c.
?d mecomp:has-component ?c.
?pack ore:aggregates ?contrib.
} ?c rdf:type mecomp:WSDLProcessor.
?c rdf:type mecomp:WSDLProcessor.
}
?c mecomp:processor-uri ?uri.
?c mecomp:processor-uri ?uri.
}
}

8. http://force11.org/

9. …after the inputs have been completed, the
model will run, and as the resulting output
becomes available to view in the eBook, the
navigation tree changes to reflect this…
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/research/estat/

10. www.methodbox.org

11. The R dimensions
Reusable. The key tenet of Replayable. Studies might involve
Research Objects is to support the single investigations that happen in
sharing and reuse of data, methods milliseconds or protracted processes
and processes. that take years.
Repurposeable. Reuse may also Referenceable. If research objects
involve the reuse of constituent are to augment or replace traditional
parts of the Research Object. publication methods, then they must
Repeatable. There should be be referenceable or citeable.
sufficient information in a Research Revealable. Third parties must be
Object to be able to repeat the able to audit the steps performed in
study, perhaps years later. the research in order to be convinced
Reproducible. A third party can of the validity of results.
start with the same inputs and Respectful. Explicit representations
methods and see if a prior result can of the provenance, lineage and flow
be confirmed. of intellectual property.
Replacing the Paper: The Twelve Rs of the e-Research Record” on http://blogs.nature.com/eresearch/

12. Research
repeat Record repeat
Machine
Machine paper
paper Machine
Machine
REPRODUCE
paper
paper
software
software software
software
Machine
Machine Machine
Machine
Software
Software
REPRODUCE OR REPEAT?
paper
paper
workflow
workflow workflow
workflow
wf
wf software
software
software
software
Machine
Machine Software
Software Machine
Machine
blogs.nature.com/eresearch/

13. Notifications and automatic re-runs
Executable theses
Autonomic
Curation
New research?
and repair
Computational Research Objects
Machines are users too

14. A Big Picture
cyber/e-infrastructure
Big Data The Future?
More machines
Big Compute
Conventional Social
online
Computation Networking research
More people

15. Some Social Machines
sociam.org

16. Discussion points
1. What are the social objects of Global
Systems Science?
– Models, data, narratives, …
1. How do we achieve automation that is
assistive and scales?
– Machines are users too: computer assistance versus
automation/Taylorisation
– Computational research objects
1. Social Machines for Systems Science
– Theory and practice, design and construction
– Science on, of and in the Web

17. Data ∪ Models ∪ Expertise
“sense-making network”
Datasets or
(+ models)
(searched by experts)
Iain Buchan

18. david.deroure@oerc.ox.ac.uk
www.oerc.ox.ac.uk/people/dder
www.scilogs.com/eresearch
@dder
http://www.myexperiment.org/packs/346

19. Links
• myExperiment project wiki
http://wiki.myexperiment.org/
• Workflow Forever project (Wf4Ever)
http://www.wf4ever-project.org/
• Digital Social Research
http://www.digitalsocialresearch.net/
• e-Stat
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cmm/research/estat/
• Methodbox
http://www.methodbox.org/
• Theory and Practice of Social Machines (SOCIAM)
http://sociam.org/
• Web Science
http://webscience.org/
• Future of Research Communication (FORCE11)
http://force11.org/

20. • D. De Roure, C. Goble and R. Stevens. The Design and Realisation of the myExperiment
Virtual Research Environment for Social Sharing of Workflows Future Generation
Computer Systems 25, pp. 561-567.
• S. Bechhofer, I. Buchan, D De Roure et al. Why linked data is not enough for scientists,
Future Generation Computer Systems
• D. De Roure, David and C. Goble, Anchors in Shifting Sand: the Primacy of Method in
the Web of Data. WebSci10, April 26-27th, 2010, Raleigh, NC, US.
• D. De Roure, S. Bechhofer, C. Goble and D. Newman, Scientific Social Objects, 1st
International Workshop on Social Object Networks (SocialObjects 2011).
• D. De Roure, K. Belhajjame, P. Missier, P. et al Towards the preservation of scientific
workflows. 8th International Conference on Preservation of Digital Objects (iPRES 2011).
• Carole A. Goble, David De Roure and Sean Bechhofer Accelerating scientists’
knowledge turns. Will be available at www.springerlink.com
• Khalid Belhajjame, Oscar Corcho, Daniel Garijo et al Workflow-Centric Research
Objects: First Class Citizens in Scholarly Discourse, SePublica2012 at ESWC2012,
Greece, May 2012
• Kevin R. Page, Ben Fields, David De Roure et al Reuse, Remix, Repeat: The Workflows of
MIR, 13th International Society for Music Information Retrieval Conference (ISMIR
2012) Porto, Portugal, October 8th-12th, 2012