Professor Nigel Shadbolt describes the emergence of Web Science Research Initiative and discusses the themes and topics that contribute to an understanding of Web Science

Shadbolt, Nigel

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Foundations of Web Science: Introductory Lecture 2. What is Web Science?

research / thought leadership / educationContents of this presentation•  introduction to WSRI •  what we do•  what is Web Science•  exemplars•  current activitiesresearch / thought leadership / educationIntroductionour motivation•  the Web has been transformational•  we need to understand it•  anticipate future developments•  identify opportunities and threats•  we have established a new discipline: Web Scienceresearch / thought leadership / educationIntroductionour aims•  promote and encourage multidisciplinary collaborative research to study the development of the Web•  provide a global forum to enable academia, government and industry to understand the scientific, technical and social factors that drive the growth of the Web and enable innovation•  devise curricula for the new discipline of Web Science so as to train future generations of Web Scientistsresearch / thought leadership / educationIntroductiondirectors the reputations, experience and skills of our Directors enables us to work closely alongside academia, government, industry and donors to realize our aims Tim Berners-LeeWendy HallNigel ShadboltDaniel Weitznerresearch / thought leadership / educationWhere we are launch November 06“Web Science represents a pretty big next step in the evolution of information. This kind of research is likely to have a lot of influence on the next generation of researchers, scientists and, most importantly, the next generation of entrepreneurs who will build new companies from this.” Dr Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google Inc.  “Web Science research is a prerequisite to designing and building the kinds of complex, human-oriented systems that we are after in services science.”Irving Wladawsky-Berger, VP, Technical Strategy and Innovation, IBM Corporation.research / thought leadership / educationGovernance structure•  scientific councilleaders in their disciplines•  strategic advisory boardindividuals with influence•  corporate advisory board companies committed to Web Scienceresearch / thought leadership / educationWhere we are WSRI Operational PhasesPhase 1: Nov 06 to Nov 07 Launched the concept and targeted activitiesPhase 2: Dec 07 to Nov 08 Establish operational base in America and EuropePhase 3: Dec 08 onwards Build a global, multi-partner organization and expand activity base research / thought leadership / educationvision impact  Web Science technology science social To create a multi-disciplinary approach to understand how the Web will evolve, anticipate issues that will arise and proactively address these issues to ensure that the Web remains as a positive enabler for our society Business Communities Policy Makers Foundations/ non-profits •  how Research Thought leadership Education • Evolution of the web – Structure  – Protocols – Social effects – Fragmentation – Rates of change • Applications – Education – Science – Health – eGovernment    • Global forum  of experts to inform • Academia, Government, Industry • Raise awareness, lead thinking, disseminate • Workshops • Issue generation • Consultancy • Conferences • Input Sessions    • Web Science curriculum development at undergraduate and graduate levels • Creation of Web Science capabilities and talent • Role of web in innovation • Web as  driver for development    • Integrated, multi-disciplinary perspective • Capacity for new field of Web Science • Solutions to anticipated  issues • Coordination on a global scale    • Enhanced ways of working • Address future talent needs • Opportunities for innovation • Ability to share information • Informed resource allocation •  Capacity building for Social welfare • More informed policy choices •  Broader reach of input •  More access • Connect resources with needs • Facilitate social goals • Maximize impact WSRI- a catalyst for the future webresearch / thought leadership / educationWhat is Web Science?The Web has been transformationalLargest human information constructHow are we to Understand what it isDevelop its engineeringEnsure its social benefitDevelop capacityThis requires a new interdisciplinary field - This field we call Web Scienceresearch / thought leadership / educationresearch / thought leadership / educationContents Practical Examples of Web Science•  Past•  Present•  Futureresearch / thought leadership / educationWeb Science - Past Web StructureScale-freeSome nodes are of high degree most are low degreeStructure and dynamics independent of the network sizePower lawsThe degree distribution follows a power law, with an exponent ? > 2.Small worldsThe average distance (or diameter) is much smaller than the order of the graph. Hubs and authoritiesThe number of distinct bipartite cliques or cores is large when compared to a random graph with the same number of nodes and edges.research / thought leadership / educationDynamics of the WebThe Web is different from most hitherto-studied systems in that it is changing at a rate which is of the same order as, or maybe greater than, our ability to observe it. How are we to instrument the Web and how can we log it or identify behaviours? Mathematical tools help to analyse the changing structure of the Web (e.g., using graph theory). The graph beneath the graphSociology can develop an understanding of the two-way process by which individuals and technologies shape each other. whether law is a catalyst for Web dynamics, or merely reactive to it. language (and e.g., the preponderance of people for whom English is a second language) is affecting the development of the Web. research / thought leadership / educationWeb Science - Past The Blogosphere•  by understanding the scientific, technical and social factors that drive the growth of the Web we can understand past Web phenomena research / thought leadership / educationSelf Expression Self PublishBlog site…Blogosphere…Spoofing…Web Science UnderstandingBlogs Citation•  creative innovation•  design and engineering•  the social and the technical•  interpretation and analysis Trackbackresearch / thought leadership / education“Openness” on the WebThe Web, as it exists today, is a complex mixture of open, public areas and closed, private zones. The Web must be based on open platforms v property rights provide the strongest incentive for innovation in the Web. What is meant by “openness”?How can legal frameworks be constructed to deal with openness on the Web? Is openness necessary for innovation, or are private and commercial incentives more effective?Is openness compatible with the security requirements of e.g., e-health applications? When is it important to release intellectual property to build a user base, and when should a more restrictive business model come into place? research / thought leadership / educationWeb Science - PresentWikipedia - Collective Intelligence•  Shape and structure•  Scale free•  Preferential attachment•  Communities •  Values and obligations •  Incentivesresearch / thought leadership / educationWeb Science - PresentWikipedia - Collective Intelligence•  Shape and structure •  Scale free •  Preferential attachment•  Communities •  Values and obligations •  Incentivesresearch / thought leadership / educationCollective IntelligenceCollaborative endeavour with only light rules of co-ordination that lead to the emergence of large-scale, coherent resources (such as Wikipedia). How, from a technical point of view, can collective intelligence be enabled? What are the socio-economic reasons why individuals participate in collective endeavour? What legal framework governs (or should govern) the resources that are created? What is the psychology of identification with an online collective community? How can collective intelligence emerge, given the different languages used by different genders, races, classes and communities? What role is there for policy-makers to engage in and facilitate collaborative endeavour? Harnessing the potential of collective and collaborative intelligence is an important theme for governments as they try to engage citizens, verify their legitimacy and find creative policy levers.research / thought leadership / educationMaterial from Ciro Cattutohttp://isiosf.isi.it/~cattuto research / thought leadership / educationresearch / thought leadership / educationresearch / thought leadership / educationresearch / thought leadership / educationMaterial from Ciro Cattutohttp://isiosf.isi.it/~cattuto research / thought leadership / education Web Science - Future Linked data•  Is the Semantic Web at a tipping point•  It is not services it is content•  The Linked Web of Data•  See DBpedia etc.research / thought leadership / education“Inference”The amount of information on the Web is enormous and growing exponentially.It is a major challenge to measure the amount of information contained in the Web. How we are to browse, explore and query the Web at this scale? How inference can be supported at the Web scale; How can context be represented and supported? The design of interfaces for querying complex data? How can the data sources within the Web be exploited to help us to develop understanding of the sociological aspects of the Web?Linked Data on the Web:  May 2007 Linked Data on the Web:  April 2008 Content, Emergence and Unanticipated Reuse The four micro principles of the Semantic Web 1.  All entities of interest, such as information resources, real-world objects, and vocabulary terms should be identified by URI references. 2.  URI references should be dereferenceable, meaning that an application can look up a URI over the HTTP protocol and retrieve RDF data about the identified resource. 3.  Data should be provided using the RDF/XML syntax. 4.  Data should be interlinked with other data.  research / thought leadership / educationThe four micro principles of the Semantic Web 1.  All entities of interest, such as information resources, real-world objects, and vocabulary terms should be identified by URI references. 2. URI references should be dereferenceable, meaning that an application can look up a URI over the HTTP protocol and retrieve RDF data about the identified resource. 3. Data should be provided using the RDF/XML syntax 4. Data should be interlinked with other data.  Web Science - Future Linked data•  by understanding the scientific, technical and social factors that drive the growth of the Web we can anticipate future Web phenomena •  e.g the linked data Webresearch / thought leadership / educationPublic Health investigationLinked Data-driveninvestigationPublic healthsuccessBig brother?Web Science Social impact of linked data Data Miningrelief &uneasePublic health challengesData mining powerPrivacy concernsUnclear legal rulesUnanticipated social effects PowerinvestigationLaw?research / thought leadership / educationA Linked Data Social challengePublic Health InvestigationComplex Scenario Can we analyze data dependencies in order to track rule compliance and rule violation?research / thought leadership / educationSecurity, Privacy and TrustAll economic, social and legal interactions are based on certain assumptionsIndividuals can verify identities; can rely on the rules and institutions governing the interactions; and are assured that certain information will remain private. On the Web: an environment where security, privacy and trust can be very difficult to monitor, verify and enforce. Will the Web grind to a halt as a result? Will ways be found to ensure that these basic features are present? Or will users of the Web find their own ways to cope with the absence of e.g., trust? These questions call on a broad range of Web Science disciplines: to understand how individuals perceive trust and privacy when they use the Web; to see how concepts such as trust can be computationally represented; to develop the legal institutions needed to govern Web interactions. An understanding of the technology underlying security, the variables underlying trust and the extent of the privacy that Web users demand is clearly valuable in a number of industries. research / thought leadership / educationNeed new privacyframeworkInformation AccountabilityPublic healthsuccessSocial accountability?Web Science Information AccountabilityDependencyreasoningNew privacy frameworkTechnical architecture for usage tracking and policy explanationLegal rules the concentrate on permissible/impermissible useAnalysis of technical/social interplayUsagetrackingNew LawAccountableusageresearch / thought leadership / educationWeb Science Next social challenges…What can we learn from composition of social networks?What are the right privacy norms?How will we arrive at social/legal consensus?research / thought leadership / educationWeb Science is interdisciplinaryPhysicsStatistical MechanicsPhase Transitions…Political ScienceGovernanceDemocratic Mechanisms…research / thought leadership / educationComputational PerspectiveWeb of linked data at a more fine-grained level - how we are to browse, explore and query such a Web at scale.How do we support inference at a Web scale? What types of reasoning are possible? How is context represented and supported in Web inference?How are concepts such as trust and provenance computationally represented, maintained and repaired on the Web?As the Web has grown substantial amounts of it have become disconnected, atrophied or in others ways redundant. How are we to identify such necrotic and non-functional parts of the Web and what should be done about them? research / thought leadership / educationMathematical PerspectiveHow do we model the transient or ephemeral Web? How do we model this graph beneath the graph that is the Web?What is the topological structure of the Web? Can connections always be established between its various parts, or do particular dynamic and time-dependent conditions create disconnected or sub- regions within it?Given the huge numbers of searches performed simultaneously, the Web, at any given moment, will present a different structure to different users. It is a mathematical challenge to develop tools to describe this structure.research / thought leadership / educationSocial Sciences PerspectiveHow and why do people use newly emergent forms of the Web in the way that they do? What kinds of sociological and psychological concepts do we need to understand this? What implications does this have for our understanding of key sociological categories, e.g. kinship, gender, race, class and community, and vice versa? What implications does this have for our understanding of psychological constructs, e.g. personal and group identity, collaborative decision making, perception and attitudes.How is the Web situated within networks of power and in relation to social inequalities? To what extent might the Web offer empowering political resources? How might the Web change further as new populations access it? research / thought leadership / educationEconomics PerspectiveWhat are the economics of Web 2.0 (+)? What new economic issues are raised by the opportunities that Web 2.0 gives for users to generate content and share it in self-forming networks?What are the economic forces that shape the formation of social networks on the Web? What is the relationship between the economic structure of the Web, its social and mathematical structure?What are the commercial incentives created by the Web? What will be the industrial structure? Is the Web inherently prone to concentration, where a large part of the structure is owned and controlled by a small number of players? Or are there forces that will allow smaller scale operations to co-exist with large firms?What are the economic arguments for and against open platforms in the Web? Should policy (economic and public) play any role in shaping or determining the openness of Web platforms?research / thought leadership / educationLegal PerspectiveTechniques for representing and reasoning over legal and social rules – what new tools need to be developed within legal theory to explore and understand the impact of law as a driver in shaping the Web development? Should law be a catalyst for change or merely reactive to it and how should it interact and respond to economic, social and technological influences?Is the present intellectual property regulatory regime fit for purpose in the Web 2.0 (+) environment given that its legal principles were established in the offline world? What is content in the Semantic Web and what rights should attach to it particularly when much is likely to be “computer generated”?Which technologies within the Web should the law ensure remain “open” rather than becoming the “property” of one or more commercial entities and what are the consequences of the choices available?To what extent are the service providers going to become the legal gatekeepers for public authorities in terms of delivering their public policy objectives e.g. Web policing for what is judged to be “illegal and harmful content”?What privacy issues arise in a Web environment of increasingly sophisticated information sharing? Activitiesresearch / thought leadership / educationOutreach and Thought Leadership•  Refined Research Agenda with Sci Council (MIT Nov 2008)•  Influence on funding agencies – UK EPSRC (Digital Economy), European Commission, Singapore, China•  Workshops – WebEvolve2008 @WWW2008•  More workshops in the pipeline for 2009 – scholarship on the Web, accountability, critical infrastructure, WebEvolve2009?•  Web Science 2009, Athens, 18-20 March 2009   research / thought leadership / educationEducation•  Doctoral Summer School, joint with the Oxford Internet Institute, July 2008•  Curriculum workshop, September 2008•  Curriculum wiki launched•  Another workshop or BoF in Athens @ WebSci’09•  Doctoral Training Centre Proposalresearch / thought leadership / educationFund-Raising•  “Below the line” research project funding at Southampton, MIT and RPI•  “Above the line” for WSRI’s community building mission•  NESTA (UK National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts)•  Corporate Advisory Board•  Donations and projectsresearch / thought leadership / educationWSRI Affiliation Activities•  WSRI Affiliated Labs (WAL’s)•  Wider network of Web Science research groups•  Curriculum  Development•  WSRI Ambassadors and Evangelistsresearch / thought leadership / educationWSRI Affiliated Web Science Labs48•  Developing a network of Web Science Labs around the world•  Pursuing a coordinated programme of work•  Research – annual meeting of research directors•  Doctoral Summer Schools•  Curriculum Development•  Technology Transferresearch / thought leadership / educationWeb Science why this matters•  the Web matters•  an essential part of humanity•  understanding the Web is a major challenge as big as any other global cause 

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Foundations of Web Science: Introductory Lecture 2. What is Web Science?

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