e-Science Infrastructure for the Social Sciences

When the term „e-Science“ became popular, it frequently was referred to as “enhanced science” or “electronic science”. More telling is the definition ‘e-Science is about global collaboration in key areas of science and the next generation of infrastructure that will enable it’ (Taylor, 2001). The question arises to what extent can the social sciences profit from recent developments in e- Science infrastructure? While computing, storage and network capacities so far were sufficient to accommodate and access social science data bases, new capacities and technologies support new types of research, e.g. linking and analysing transactional or audio-visual data. Increasingly collaborative working by researchers in distributed networks is efficiently supported and new resources are available for e-learning. Whether these new developments become transformative or just helpful will very much depend on whether their full potential is recognized and creatively integrated into new research designs by theoretically innovative scientists. Progress in e-Science was very much linked to the vision of the Grid as “a software infrastructure that enables flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources’ and virtually unlimited computing capacities (Foster et al. 2000). In the Social Sciences there has been considerable progress in using modern IT- technologies for multilingual access to virtual distributed research databases across Europe and beyond (e.g. NESSTAR, CESSDA – Portal), data portals for access to statistical offices and for linking access to data, literature, project, expert and other data bases (e.g. Digital Libraries, VASCODA/SOWIPORT). Whether future developments will need GRID enabling of social science databases or can be further developed using WEB 2.0 support is currently an open question. The challenges here are seamless integration and interoperability of data bases, a requirement that is also stipulated by internationalisation and trans-disciplinary research. This goes along with the need for standards and harmonisation of data and metadata. Progress powered by e- infrastructure is, among others, dependent on regulatory frameworks and human capital well trained in both, data science and research methods. It is also dependent on sufficient critical mass of the institutional infrastructure to efficiently support a dynamic research community that wants to “take the lead without catching up”.

Computer aided content analysis of historical and process-produced data: methodological and technical aspects

Für die quantifizierende Geschichtsschreibung sind Inhaltsanalysen nur verwendbar, wenn die Daten durch einen Reduktionsprozeß zur elektronischen Datenverarbeitung vorbereitet werden. Der Autor stellt die unterschiedlichen Soft-Ware-Programme vor, die eine entsprechende Textverarbeitung ermöglichen. Schwächen und Möglichkeiten der einzelnen Systeme werden erläutert. Abschließend gibt der Autor einen Überblick über bisher in Projekten erfolgte quantitative Verarbeitung von Texten auf Basis einer Inhaltsanalyse. (BG

e-Science Infrastructure for the Social Sciences

"When the term 'e-Science' became popular, it frequently was referred to as 'enhanced science' or 'electronic science'. More telling is the definition 'e-Science is about global collaboration in key areas of science and the next generation of infrastructure that will enable it' (Taylor, 2001). The question arises to what extent can the social sciences profit from recent developments in e-Science infrastructure? While computing, storage and network capacities so far were sufficient to accommodate and access social science data bases, new capacities and technologies support new types of research, e.g. linking and analysing transactional or audiovisual data. Increasingly collaborative working by researchers in distributed networks is efficiently supported and new resources are available for e-learning. Whether these new developments become transformative or just helpful will very much depend on whether their full potential is recognized and creatively integrated into new research designs by theoretically innovative scientists. Progress in e-Science was very much linked to the vision of the Grid as 'a software infrastructure that enables flexible, secure, coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources' and virtually unlimited computing capacities (Foster et al. 2000). In the Social Sciences there has been considerable progress in using modern IT-technologies for multilingual access to virtual distributed research databases across Europe and beyond (e.g. NESSTAR, CESSDA - Portal), data portals for access to statistical offices and for linking access to data, literature, project, expert and other data bases (e.g. Digital Libraries, VASCODA/ SOWIPORT). Whether future developments will need GRID enabling of social science databases or can be further developed using WEB 2.0 support is currently an open question. The challenges here are seamless integration and interoperability of data bases, a requirement that is also stipulated by internationalisation and trans-disciplinary research. This goes along with the need for standards and harmonisation of data and metadata. Progress powered by e-infrastructure is, among others, dependent on regulatory frameworks and human capital well trained in both, data science and research methods. It is also dependent on sufficient critical mass of the institutional infrastructure to efficiently support a dynamic research community that wants to 'take the lead without catching up'." (author's abstract

Children Born of War - A Decade of International and Interdisciplinary Research

The group of Children Born of War (CBOW) has existed under the notion of different wordings throughout history of mankind. Being fathered by foreign and often enemy soldiers and local mothers these children are known under a variety of different names in their respective home countries. Although different, these particular groups of children seem to share some similar characteristics across time, nations, and conflicts. In order to facilitate a systematic comparative analysis, the research field of Children Born of War was established in 2006 unifying the various research activities, information and knowledge on these children cross-nationally. This article summarizes the achievements obtained so far focusing on the following questions: How was the conceptual framework developed to analyze CBOW interdisciplinary and internationally? How was the empirical evidence base on CBOW expanded and consolidated? What are the results obtained so far? The article concludes that developing new research programs is a cumbersome and challenging process as basic components of the research field do not exist a priori. With respect to the field of Children Born of War this process is further complicated as the topic is highly sensitive. Nevertheless, by systematically expanding collaboration and research networks, presenting the topic in relevant research settings and engaging in knowledge transfer the research program today has reached a level of consolidation which provides a sustainable basis for future development. It thereby supports further research on the topic. As the best interest of Children Born of War is often neglected, the expansion of this research field may also give this group a higher visibility in national and international politics and facilitate their empowerment in today’s conflict and post-conflict zones

The human rights of children born of war: case analyses of past and present conflicts

"This paper addresses the human rights of 'children born of war' as measured against the standards formulated in the Convention of the Right of the Child. Taking five 20th century cases studies which cover different conflict and post-conflict situations in diverse geographical regions, the paper concludes despite greater awareness of children's rights as evident in their codification throughout the 20th century, there has been no noticeable improvement in the application of these rights to children born of war." (author's abstract

Rights of Researchers and Governments to National Records: Who Owns Contract and Grant Data and Who Can Use It?

Rights of Researchers and Governments to National Records: Who Owns Contract and Grant Data and Who Can Use It