Collaboration in scientific digital ecosystems: A socio-technical network analysis

This dissertation seeks to understand the formation, operation, organizational (collaboration) and the effect of scientific digital ecosystems that connect several online community networks in a single platform. The formation, mechanism and processes of online networks that influence members output is limited and contradictory. The dissertation is comprised of three papers that are guided by the following research questions: How does online community member’s productivity (or success) depend upon their ‘position’ in the digital networks? What are the network formation mechanism, structures and characteristics of an online community? How do scientific innovations traverse (diffuse) amongst users in online communities? A combination of exploratory, inductive and deductive research designs is applied sequentially but in a non-linear manner to address research question. The dissertation contributes to the literature on scientific collaboration, digital communities of creation, social network modelling and diffusion of innovation. The first paper applies network theory and spatial probit autocorrelative modelling technique to evaluate how member developer’s positioning in digital community correlate with his/her productivity. The second paper looks at the dynamics of developer’s participation in online developers’ network for a period spanning 7-years using exponential random graph models (ERGM). This paper applies theory of network (network science) to model network formation patterns in developer community. The third paper, like the first, applies network theory and to understand user network characteristics and communication channels which influence diffusion of scientific innovations. Bass and spatial probit autocorrelative models are applied for this analysis. Data from this study was mined from developers, authors and user communities of nanoHUB.org cyberinfrastructure platform. NanoHUB.org is a science and engineering online ecosystem comprising self-organized researchers, educators, and professional communities in eight member institutions that collaborate, share resources and solve nanotechnology related problems including development and usage of tools (scientific innovation). Data from collaboration and information sharing activities was used to create the developers, authors and user networks that were used for analysis. Results of the first paper show that the spatial autocorrelation parameter of the spatial probit model is negative and statistically different from zero. The negative spatial spillover effect in the developer network imply that developers that are embedded in the network have a lower probability of getting more output. The structural network characteristics of eigen vector centrality had statistically significant effects on probability of being more productive. Developers who are also authors were found to be more productive than those in one network. The implications of these findings is that developers will benefit from being in multiple network spaces and by associating with more accomplished developers. The autocorrelative and interaction models also reveal various new modelling approach of accounting for network autocorrelation effects to online member. Results of the second paper show that developers form in a manner that follow a pure uniform random distribution. Results also show that developer’s collaborative mechanisms are characterized by low tendencies to reciprocate and form homophiles (tendency of developers to associate with similar peers) but high tendency to form clusters. The implications of network formation mechanism and processes are that developers are forming in a purely random and self-organized manner and minimum efforts should be applied in trying to organize and influence the community organization. The results also reveal that a simple link to link ERGM and stochastic dominance criteria can be combined to characterize the network formation characteristics just like the ERG(p*) model but have an advantage of overcoming degeneracy challenges associated with ERG(p*) models. Results of the third paper show that bass model is a good predictor for diffusion of scientific innovations (tools) in online community setting. Results also show different innovations have varying levels and rates of adoption and these were influenced by both external and internal factors. Results of the micro-based model found degrees and betweeness centrality as some of the internal variables that have positive influence on the adoption of innovation while centrality measures of power or leadership were found to have negative influence of adoption process. The relative time taken to run a simulation (measured as job usage time) was also found to be negatively influencing diffusion. The implication of the study results is that bass model is a good fit for evaluating and forecasting adoption of innovation in online communities. Moreover, network structural characteristics are responsible for adoption of innovation adoption and policy making should consider tool adoption enhancing ones. Additionally, researchers could further explore the network structural characteristics that are driving diffusion of innovation

Practical Considerations in Cloud Utilization for the Science Gateway nanoHUB.org

nanoHUB.org is arguably the largest online nanotechnology user facility in the world. Just between July 2010 and June 2011 it served 177,823 users. 10,477 users ran 393,648 simulation jobs on a variety of computational resources ranging from HUBzero-based virtual execution hosts for rapid, interactive runs as well as grid-based resources for computationally-intense runs. We believe that as such our users experience a fully operational scientific “cloud”-based infrastructure even though it is not using “standard” computational cloud infrastructures such as EC2. In this paper we explore the use of standard computational cloud-based resources to determine whether they can deliver satisfactory outcomes for our users without requiring high personnel costs for configuration. In a science gateway environment, the assignment of jobs to the appropriate computational resource is not trivial. Resource availability, wait time, time to completion, and likelihood of job success must all be considered in order to transparently deliver an acceptable level of service to our users. In this paper, we present preliminary results examining the benefits and drawbacks of utilizing standard computational cloud resources as one potential venue for nanoHUB computational runs. In summary we find that cloud resources performed competitively with other grid resources in terms of wait time, CPU usage, and success in a multiple job submission strategy

The Global Campus: ICT and the Global Transformation of Higher Education

This paper analyses the changes which the ICT drives in a global scale. The emergence of e-Infrastructure for e-Science, the Open Educational Resources movement, e-Libraries and the tendency of building global educational alliances are analysed as well. The paper puts in focus the influence of the Web 2.0 technologies and the new organizational models they drive, e.g. Enterprise 2.0, University 2.0. A new university model is defined – the Global Campus Model. Some arguments that the ultimate result of the ICT driven transformation in the world could make the whole world to become a Global Campus in the next few decade

The Emerging Global Campus Model

This paper analyses the Emerging Global Model of universities as well as the changes which the ICT drives in a global scale. The emergence of e-Infrastructure for e-Science, the Open Educational Resources movement, e-Libraries and the tendency of building global educational alliances are analysed as well. The paper puts in focus the influence of the Web 2.0 technologies and the new organizational models they drive, e.g. Enterprise 2.0, University 2.0. A new university model is defined – the Emerging Global Campus Model. Some arguments that the ultimate result of the ICT driven transformation in the world could make the whole world to become a Global Campus in the next few decades

The Global Campus - ICT and the Future of Universities

This paper analyses the changes which the ICT causes on a global scale. The globalization of higher education triggered by e-Learning, the emergence of e-infrastructure for e-science, the Open Educational Resources movement, e-libraries and the tendency of building global educational alliances are analysed as well. Special emphasis is put on several wellknown university models, e.g. Research University, Open University and Entrepreneurial University, as well as on some emerging university models for the Knowledge Society, such as: Global University and Innovation University. The paper puts in focus the influence of the ICTs and the new organizational and business models they bring, such as Virtual University, eCampus, Enterprise 2.0, University 2.0. A new university model is defined—the Global Campus Model. Some arguments that the ultimate result of the ICTs driven transformations could turn the whole world into a Global Campus in the next few decades

Visual Analytics to Support Atomistic Simulations Design

Nowadays, complex simulations of a variety of processes are extensively used in academia and industry. Particularly in academia, powerful scientific software tools are constantly developed to simulate complex systems; for instance, simulations of quantum transport using the non-equilibrium greens Function formalism. The potential impact of these scientific tools in industry is huge, but it is hindered by the lack of usability of the software by those who are not deeply familiar with it. Visual analytics is a new field that has shown the positive impact of interactive visualizations in software usability and the cognitive process of the user. This research investigates whether the implementation of interactive visual aids also improves the usability and the cognitive processes of research codes users, particularly those used for simulation design. To accomplish this goal, this study defines a framework for simulation design in scientific research, identifies the stages in which visual aids can be implemented to increase usability, and implements an interactive visualization system (NemoViz). NEMO5, a tool for designing atomistic simulation, is used as a case study to measure the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of the use of visual aids in scientific simulation design. The results from this research provide a framework of reference for development of user-friendly simulation design tools, and will shed light on strategies that scientific developers might implement to broaden the impact of their simulation codes

Towards a Social Cloud Framework for Collaborative eResearch

Collaboration has always been an important aspect of scientific research. The coming of internet opened the doors for greater levels of collaboration for the research community, first enabled by email and then by web 2.0 based online portals called VREs. A new force, social networks, are bringing a paradigm shift to online research communities. Social networks could foster a more vibrant research environment powered by social activities such as sharing, community creation, tagging and community groups. This thesis explores the idea of using the power of social networks to create a social cloud to contribute and share computing resources. The prototype implementation, called the Social Collaborative Cloud (SoCC), uses facebook as the underlying social network. The prototype was evaluated using simulations of both real and synthetic datasets, as well as real world tests

Open Science via HUBzero: Exploring Five Science Gateways Supporting and Growing their Open Science Communities

The research landscape applying computational methods has become increasingly interdisciplinary and complex regarding the research computing ecosystem with novel hardware, software, data, and lab instruments. Reproducibility of research results, the usability of tools, and sharing of methods are all crucial for timely collaboration for research and teaching. HUBzero is a widely used science gateway framework designed to support online communities with efficient sharing and publication processes. The paper discusses the growth of communities for the five science gateways nanoHUB, MyGeoHub, QUBEShub & SCORE, CUE4CHNG, and HubICL using the HUBzero Platform to foster open science and tackling education with a diverse set of approaches and target communities. The presented methods and magnitude of the communities elucidate successful means for science gateways for fostering open science and open education