Case Studies of e-Infrastructure Adoption

This article reports results from a study of e-Infrastructure adoption in the social sciences and humanities (SSH). The authors find that bridging barriers between computer and domain scientists is of key importance. In particular, SSH communities have to be accepted as being distinct and not suited to a ‘‘one size fits all’’ strategy of e-Infrastructure diffusion. Sustainability was also a core issue, whereas barriers to resource sharing could mostly be resolved with technological solutions, and skills and training activities are a reflection of the general ‘‘user dilemma.’’ The authors’ recommendations to European Union (EU) policy makers point the way to promoting e-Infrastructure development and wider application in the SSH.

[1]  W. Bijker The social construction of bakelite: toward a theory of invention , 1987 .

[2]  Cory P. Knobel,et al.  Understanding Infrastructure: Dynamics, Tensions, and Design , 2007 .

[3]  Yvonne Dittrich,et al.  From Knowledge Transfer to Situated Innovation , 2003 .

[4]  D. Edge,et al.  The social shaping of technology , 1988 .

[5]  J. Fleck Learning by trying: the implementation of configurational technology☆ , 1994 .

[6]  J. Lane,et al.  Accelerating transition to virtual research organization in social science (AVROSS) : first results from a survey of e-infrastructure adopters , 2007 .

[7]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change , 1995 .

[8]  A. Beaulieu,et al.  Imagining e-science beyond computation , 2006 .

[9]  Katherine A. Lawrence Walking the Tightrope: The Balancing Acts of a Large e-Research Project , 2006, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[10]  S. Pickles,et al.  Grid Enabling Empirical Economics: A Microdata Application , 2007 .

[11]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[12]  James Fleck,et al.  Dynamics of information technology implementation: A reassessment of paradigms and trajectories of development , 1990 .

[13]  E. Hippel,et al.  Lead users: a source of novel product concepts , 1986 .

[14]  Paul Avery Open science grid: Building and sustaining general cyberinfrastructure using a collaborative approach , 2007, First Monday.

[15]  Robert Allan,et al.  sabreR: Grid-enabling the analysis of multi-process random effect response data in R , 2006 .

[16]  Reijo Miettinen,et al.  Articulating User Needs in Collaborative Design: Towards an Activity-Theoretical Approach , 2002, Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW).

[17]  Rob Kling,et al.  Not just a matter of time: Field differences and the shaping of electronic media in supporting scientific communication , 1999, J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci..

[18]  Paula E. Stephan,et al.  Scientific Teams and Institution Collaborations: Evidence from U.S. Universities, 1981-1999 , 2004 .

[19]  Marina Jirotka E-Research Infrastructure Development and Community Engagement , 2007 .

[20]  Brian Kahin Cyberinfrastructure and innovation policy , 2007, First Monday.

[21]  Mark Birkin,et al.  A Synthetic Demographic Model of the UK Population : Methods , Progress and Problems , 2006 .

[22]  Benjamin F. Jones,et al.  Supporting Online Material Materials and Methods Figs. S1 to S3 References the Increasing Dominance of Teams in Production of Knowledge , 2022 .

[23]  Wiebe E. Bijker,et al.  Of Bicycles, Bakelites, and Bulbs: Toward a Theory of Sociotechnical Change , 1995 .

[24]  Roger Burrows,et al.  The Coming Crisis of Empirical Sociology , 2007, Sociology.

[25]  T. Clark,et al.  Sociological Engagements with Computing: The Advent of E-Science and Some Implications for the Qualitative Research Community , 2007 .

[26]  Cory P. Knobel,et al.  Report of a Workshop on "History & !e ory of Infrastructure: Lessons for New Scientific Cyberinfrastructures" , 2007 .

[27]  Anne Beaulieu,et al.  Critical Accountability: Dilemmas for Interventionist Studies of e-Science , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[28]  Clay Spinuzzi,et al.  Tracing Genres through Organizations: A Sociocultural Approach to Information Design , 2003 .

[29]  Alfonso H. Molina,et al.  Insights into the Nature of Technology Diffusion and Implementation: The Perspective of Sociotechnical Alignment , 1997 .

[30]  Ben Anderson,et al.  What Are Data? The Many Kinds of Data and Their Implications for Data Re-Use , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..