WORKSHOP: The Future of Scientific Knowledge Discovery in the Open Networked Environment

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The ways in which scientific knowledge is discovered and communicated openly online have changed dramatically over the last three decades, and especially in the last ten years. Multiple factors have contributed to massive growth in this area. The production of vast amounts of data and literature, coupled with the rapid development and advancement of the processing, storage, and communication technologies have made it both possible and necessary to use more computing technologies and methods in the research process. Computer-mediated discovery processes are being increasingly adopted and used by different scientific communities to explore and study a wide range of domains of knowledge, including all scientific disciplines. Computational scientific knowledge discovery is thus rapidly becoming practiced as a new form of scientific inquiry in the virtual environment, building upon and supplementing the research based on theoretical, experimental, and observational methods that preceded it. At the same time, many new models of open science have been developed that take much greater advantage of the capabilities of digital networks. When integrated together online, various types of open knowledge resources are forming incipient information ?commons? and knowledge environments, which can derive more value from the public investments in research. Of particular interest to this proposed project, such mechanisms can enable more efficient and effective applications of digital scientific knowledge discovery tools and techniques. A deeper understanding of the opportunities and barriers to such processes has the potential to accelerate the progress of scientific research, to support U.S. national competitiveness and increased productivity in information-intensive areas of research and its applications. An improved understanding of these issues also can enable research managers and policy makers to make much more informed decisions about the research enterprise, and to explain more clearly to policymakers and to the general public how the public investment in research and digital technologies advances broader socioeconomic interests.