CI-KNOW Cyberinfrastructure Tools to Enable Knowledge Network Discovery, Diagnosis and Design

Northwestern University, Evanston IL

Investigators

Abstract

The NSF blue ribbon panel report on cyberinfrastructure describes the potential of advanced computer, network and data technologies to revolutionize scientific and engineering research. Realization of this potential, however, will require mobilization of tremendous resources, perhaps as much as $1 billion per year. While clearly significant, CI remains relatively obscure compared to the expected breakthroughs and results that will be enabled through the use of CI. This proposal is premised on the belief that increasing the understanding and visibility of cyberinfrastructure lies in the ability to create tools that enable compelling, interactive, data-driven visualization and exploration of CI-enabled science and policy networks. This proposal seeks to develop, CI-Scope, a suite of tools to help discovery, diagnosis, and design of social and knowledge networks within the community of cyberinfrastructure researchers. This CI-Scope project will develop a suite of tools, CI-Scope, for exploring networks associated with the development and deployment of CI in ways that provide important insights regarding how CI enables collaboration and how CI collaborations might be improved. The project will focus on the portfolio of ongoing NSF-funded CI projects and workshops. The proposed work will identify the appropriate data, techniques, processes, and tools for creating and exploring the knowledge networks associated with the CI community. First, CI-Scope will provide the community of CI researchers and developers an unprecedented suite of visual-analytic Discovery tools to identify, who knows who, who knows who knows who, who knows what? and ?who knows who knows what. Second, the Diagnostic tools will help decision makers, at NSF and other funding agencies who are managing the portfolio of investments for CI development and deployment, analyze and visualize the strength, gaps, and potential growth opportunities within the CI knowledge networks. Third, the diagnostics will provide the basis for developing socio-technical incentives to Design more effective virtual organizations within the community of CI researchers.