[LINK] e-Social Science, ANU, Canberra, "live" report, 12 November

[Tom Worthington]

Greetings from the "e-Social Science Enabling Technologies and New Research 
Symposium", at the Australian National University in Canberra 12 November 
2004. This was organized by Robert Ackland and Rachel Gibson from the 
ACSPRI Centre for Social Research at the ANU. These are my notes from the 
event, added to the official program <http://law.anu.edu.au/nissl/ess.pdf>, 
as I sit here in the seminar. If anyone has a question please e-mail it and 
I will ask and pass back the answer.

>9.00 – 9.10 WELCOME AND OPENING

Robert Ackland explained that this is about applying grid technology to the 
social sciences.

>9.10 – 10.30 PLENARY SESSION: ENABLING TECHNOLOGIES IN E-SOCIAL SCIENCE 
>RESEARCH: THE UK EXPERIENCE.
>
>Speakers DR ROB PROCTER Director, National Centre for e-Social Science 
>(NCeSS), University of Manchester, UK
>PROFESSOR ASHLEY LLOYD Optus Chair in e-Business, School of Information 
>Systems, Curtin Business School
>Chair DR RACHEL GIBSON ACSR, ANU
>
>The e-social science programme of the UK's Economic and Social Research 
>Council (ESRC) is designed to promote the use by social scientists of 
>Grid-enabled computing and data infrastructure, both in quantitative and 
>qualitative research.
>
>The National Centre for e-Social Science (NCeSS) was established in April 
>2004 to raise awareness of e-science technologies and stimulate their use 
>in the social sciences. Dr Rob Procter, Director of NCeSS, will present on 
>the goals of the Centre and discuss current activities and plans for the 
>future. The ESRC also funded 11 pilot demonstrator projects exploring the 
>application of Grid technologies in the social sciences. Professor Ashley 
>Lloyd (Curtin Business School) will discuss the findings of one 
>demonstrator project that evaluated the potential for Grid infrastructure 
>to improve the effectiveness of decision-making about business and local 
>government policy.

E-science is not just about practice, it is about tools. How can tools 
developed for physical sciences be applied to social science? The aim is to 
make data easily accessible via middleware. Access Grids provide 
collaboration tools, there are also computational grids, data grids and 
sensor grids.

10.30 – 11.00 MORNING TEA

>11.00 – 12.30 ROUNDTABLE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN E-SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 
>AGENDA IN AUSTRALIA
>
>Participants DR MARKUS BUCHHORN / MR STUART HUNGERFORD Internet Futures, ANU
>DR MANDY THOMAS Executive Director, Humanities and the Creative Arts, 
>Australian Research Council (ARC)
>MR GEORGE MCLAUGLIN Director International Development, AARNet
>Chair DR DEBORAH MITCHELL Director, ACSR, ANU
>
>This session will pick up on some the key themes explored in the plenary 
>session on e-Social Science in the UK as they relate to the Australian 
>context. In particular, the type of infrastructure best suited to develop 
>e-Research among Australian social scientists will be discussed as well as 
>the types of substantive research questions that can and should be 
>investigated. The scope and direction of funding necessary to support such 
>activities will be discussed as well as the current initiatives that exist 
>in this area.

>12.30 – 1.30 LUNCH

>1.30 – 3.00 PLENARY SESSION: THE INTERNET AND NEW RESEARCH IN THE SOCIAL 
>SCIENCES
>
>Speakers MR MARTIN DODGE Researcher, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis 
>(CASA), University College London, UK
>PROFESSOR BRUCE BIMBER Director, Centre for Information Technology and 
>Society (CITS), University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
>Chair DR ROBERT ACKLAND ACSR, ANU
>
>The Internet has become an important tool for communication, with 
>individuals and organisations increasingly using e-mail and the World Wide 
>Web (WWW) for personal and professional interactions. This session will 
>focus on the potential of the Internet to provide new data for 
>quantitative social scientists and will highlight the need for new 
>research methods and tools. Mr Martin Dodge, cyberspace researcher at the 
>Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London, will 
>present on approaches to mapping cyberspace and the implications of 
>internet research for privacy of individuals and organisations. Professor 
>Bruce Bimber, Director of the Center for Information Technology and 
>Society, University of California Santa Barbara, will discuss the 
>potential of the Internet for promoting research into the networking 
>activities of social movements and political organisations.

>3.00 – 3.30 AFTERNOON TEA

>3.30 – 5.00 DEMONSTRATOR PROJECTS
>
>Presenters DR ANDREW SMITH Researcher, ARC Key Centre for Human Factors 
>and Applied Cognitive Psychology, University of Queensland
>DR ROBERT ACKLAND ACSR, ANU
>
>In this session, Dr Andrew Smith (UQ) and Dr Robert Ackland (ANU) will 
>demonstrate the application of new research software (Leximancer and 
>UberLink) to quantitative social science research using Internet data.

>5.00 – 5.15 CONCLUDING REMARKS


Tom Worthington FACS     tom.worthington at tomw.net.au  Ph: 0419 496150
Director, Tomw Communications Pty Ltd             ABN: 17 088 714 309
http://www.tomw.net.au                  PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617
Visiting Fellow, Computer Science,  Australian National University
Publications Director,  Australian Computer Society