Social Shaping Perspectives on e-Science and e-Social Science: the case for

research support

A consultative study for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Steve Woolgar

steve.woolgar@sbs.ox.ac.uk
see also www.virtualsociety.org.uk

Professor of Marketing
Saïd Business School
University of Oxford
Park End Street
Oxford OX1 1HP, UK

Contents

0. Executive Summary

1. Background
2. Aims and scope of this study
3. Methods
4. Results
5. Mapping the New Field: Research Questions and Research Organisation
6. Conclusions and Recommendations

Appendix 1: Some e-definitions

Appendix 2: List of people contacted
Appendix 3: Sample questionnaire sent to respondents
Appendix 4: A small sample of indicative readings relating to the social shaping of e-
Science and e-Social Science
Social Shaping Perspectives on e-Science and e-Social Science: the case for
research support

A consultative study for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Steve Woolgar, Professor of Marketing, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

0. Executive Summary

1. This paper reports the outcome of a consultative study commissioned by

ESRC with the objective of identifying and evaluating research themes and
issues under the general rubric of “social shaping of e-Science and of e-Social
Science”. “Social shaping” is defined very broadly to include all social
scientific aspects of the genesis, use, implementation and effects of the new e
technologies.
2. Despite the enormous unfolding investment in eg grid technologies, it seems
we know almost nothing about how and why (and by whom) these new
technologies will be taken up, nor what will be the likely effects on the nature
and conduct of e-Science and e-Social Science research.
3. The need for attention to these questions is urgent because the initial current
investments are establishing systems that will remain in place for some time to
come.
4. The social shaping agenda provides a major opportunity for intervention by,
for example, contributing social science expertise in the development of
software and in the engineering of the interface.
5. This agenda also provides the opportunity to contribute to our basic
understanding of the genesis, impacts and implications of new technologies –
worked through in relation to a new generation of highly influential
communication technologies.
6. Although the research capacities in this area are both extensive and
multidisciplinary, these are only just beginning to be drawn upon in
understanding the new phenomenon. With the right mode of funding ESRC
could effect a major innovation in interdisciplinary collaborative research.
7. A set of core research themes and associated questions are outlined, which
might be used as the basis for a call for research proposals.
8. It is recommended that ESRC develop a multi faceted programme style
initiative, which includes collaboration with and input from other funding
bodies including JISC, EPSRC and other research councils.

1
Social Shaping Perspectives on e-Science and e-Social Science: the case for
research support1

A consultative study for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Steve Woolgar, Professor of Marketing, Saïd Business School, University of Oxford

1. Background

ESRC’s current e-Science2 strategy comprises two strands. The first concerns the
application of grid technologies within Social Science (eg the potential of e-Science
for qualitative social research). The second relates to the design, uptake and use of e-
Science (eg user-centred design issues and the development of grid infrastructure).
The proposed new ESRC national E-Social Science Centre is envisaged as key to the
delivery of this strategy. To deepen this strategy we need to evaluate the potential of
other social science perspectives which might both contribute to and cut across these
strands. So the objective of this consultative study was to evaluate the potential of
perspectives which follow a broadly “social shaping” (including sociology of
technology, anthropology, linguistic, science and technology studies) perspective3.

2. Aim and Scope of this Study

The main questions addressed were:

1. What is the nature and extent of research already underway in, or of potential
contribution to, this area?
2. What then are the key research themes and issues needing to be addressed?

These initial questions immediately suggest some core lines of inquiry.

There has in recent years been considerable research on general aspects of the genesis
and impacts of information and communication technologies. This has generated a
substantial body of results and research expertise. So an obvious question is the extent
to which the key themes of this previous work are now applicable to the particular
case of ICTs in science and social science? For example, what can we transpose from
what we know about virtual communities to the particular case of the virtual
communities (if that is an appropriate term) of scientists? Are there particular features
of scientific organisation and practice which can benefit from the “application” of
existing knowledge about communities in general? Conversely, are there features of
science which may bear upon and enrich our understanding of the general character of
community?

Attention to these questions is urgent because of the sheer speed and scale of
investment in e-Science (http://www.escience-grid.org.uk). Once such large resources
are committed, their structure and organisation is likely to have lasting consequences:

1
Many thanks to Catelijne Coopmans for invaluable assistance in the preparation of this report. My
thanks also to all the participants in this study, and especially to those who responded so creatively to
the somewhat flatfooted “questionnaire”.
2
For definitions of e-Science, e-Social Science and the grid see Appendix 1.
3
Definitions of social shaping are discussed below, see section 5.1

2
we shall have to live for some time with the effects of our decisions about the design
and implementation of these new technologies.

These might be largely construed as questions about the context of uptake and
implementation. But there is also a more crucial theory of knowledge issue at stake:
what are the effects of new technologies on the nature and practice of research, and on
the substance and direction of new academic knowledge? The history of science
shows how the adoption of new technologies can have crucial effects in this respect.
But how much do we know about the likely effects of the widespread adoption of grid
technologies on (social) scientific knowledge?

There is a tendency to distinguish between research which uses the grid and research
which is about the grid. This study set out to examine the extent to which these two
strands are, or need be, distinct. Is it possible to specify research which integrates an
understanding of the social and economic conditions of uptake and use, with the
actual development and design practices? In other words, what are the prospects for
an interactive social science approach which articulates the advantages of a social
shaping perspective for practice and policy?

The aim of the consultative exercise was to document and evaluate existing research
on these issues, and to specify the research themes and issues which need to be
addressed. It aimed to identify the key work already underway. But it also attempted
to extend the potential pool of research resources. For example, to what extent might
attention to these questions profitably draw upon previous approaches to the social
scientific understanding of new technologies? To what extent might existing
theoretical perspectives and empirical frameworks in the social understanding of other
technologies be of value in understanding these new (viz. grid) technologies?

3. Methods

Bibliographic and online searches were conducted of both existing publications4 and
of recent activities in the area5. These activities included recent and imminent
conferences, meetings, emailings (eg recent email questionnaires such as that by
Nigel Fielding on qualitative research methods), discussions on email lists, websites
of research groups, centres, other organisations and funding initiatives.

This generated an initial database of 226 people for whom was obtained website,
email addresses and other contact details.

A first round email questionnaire was sent to all 226, yielding responses to date6 from
166 people. The questionnaire asked respondents to identify “key players” and “other
potential researchers”. This process generated a further 179 names. A second round
questionnaire was sent to those nominated as a “key player” or by two or more people
as someone else working in the area, comprising 116 (of these 179) 2nd round names.
Thus far, 68 responses have been received. A further 9 unsolicited responses were

4
A small sample of indicative publications is given in Appendix 4.
5
As discussed in section 4.9, since one purpose of the exercise was to discover variations in
respondents’ definitions of “the area”, its precise definition could not be stipulated in advance.
6
Although more responses continue to be received, these figures are based on the first round response
database as “frozen” at 10 Oct 2003.

3
received from people who received the questionnaire passed on by colleagues or
through email lists.

In sum, a total database of 413 was identified of whom 351 were contacted (see
Appendix 2). The response rates are: 1st round: 166/226 = 73%; 2nd round: 77/125 =
62%; overall: 243/351= 67%.

At the same time, a round of more intensive face to face and phone interviews was
undertaken. Interviewees were identified on the basis of their evident prowess in the
community, as a result of their frequent nomination by respondents to the
questionnaire and because of their institutional leadership (heading research centres
and institutes or leading major bids for research funding). The study also took
advantage of participation in two academic meetings where the author led round table
discussions of these issues: international conference on Information, Communication
and Society (Oxford iCS/OII, 17-20 September 2003? http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk);
KNAW Experts Meeting on e-Science (Amsterdam, 25-26 May 2003).

A first draft of the report was sent out to some of the key informants for comments,
which were then taken into account in the final report.

4. Results

4.1 The high response rates were surprising.

4.2 The careful and detailed attention to the questions in many returns was also
surprising. It is notoriously difficult to excite meaningful returns by email
questionnaire.

4.3 The level of interest and enthusiasm for the exercise and for the research area was
very impressive. Indicative comments include: “It has been extremely helpful as the
questions forced me to ask just what is it that I find most interesting and/or most
worthy of research and commentary (respondent 0417); “This is an interesting idea”
(253); “Wow, interesting questions and a difficult area! My angle is to integrate
quantitative assessment techniques into science communication investigations. I
would love to be involved in any studies of this kind” (352); “Very interesting and an
excellent direction for ESRC to be thinking about” (231). It is clear that the
consultative exercise both revealed and further stimulated interest in the area.

4.4 With enthusiastic responses came good suggestions of further names to include
and consult. Many respondents provided lengthy replies sometimes even attaching
copies of full academic papers on the topic. Some also sent reading lists for relevant
courses they had recently devised. Many sent urls for further follow up.

4.5 The iCS/OII meeting plus the questionnaire prompted further discussion on some
of the major mailing lists eg AoIR (Association of Internet Researchers) with the
result that 8 returns were sent in by people not initially targeted.

7
An anonymised code applied to respondents’ quotations.

4
4.6 The responses were highly international with most of the contact population from
UK (58%), followed by USA (18%), Netherlands (9%) and Germany (5%).

4.7 A comparison between questionnaire rounds revealed a decline in the proportion

of respondents nominating new “key players” (1st round: 73/166 = 0.44; 2nd round:
22/77 = 0.28). But there was an increase in the overall rate of generation of new
names (ie names of both “key players” and of “others who might be interested in
collaborating” Appendix 3, question 6) (1st round: 179/166 = 1.07; 2nd round: 108/68
= 1.59). This suggests an interesting possible dual feature of the emerging research
population. While the responses seem to be converging on a relatively small number
of existing “key players”, they also indicate a diverging number of other researchers
who might become involved in collaboration.

4.8 On closer inspection it is clear that very few of the “key players” were already
using “social shaping” approaches to look at e-Science and e-Social Science. Rather
they seem to have been nominated as people known for work in social shaping more
generally. As one respondent put it: “You’re describing an area that basically doesn’t
exist yet. So I’m not sure anyone fits the description” (046).

4.9 Outside the UK, a handful of institutions and centres are in the process of setting
up programmes of research (eg KNAW proposals for an E-Social Science Institute:
IRISS; KNAW Nerdi http://wwwoud.niwi.knaw.nl/nerdi/welcome.htm). In the USA
some researchers are part of networked initiatives (eg 006, 035, 079, 184). However,
with the possible exception of the proposed KNAW institute, there has as yet been
little attempt systematically to integrate social shaping perspectives with on going
initiatives in e-science or e-social science. So this presents an opportunity for the UK
to take the lead in this respect.

4.10 Spread of disciplinary expertise. It was anticipated that the key players would
include researchers drawn from a very wide range of social sciences: sociology,
economics, management, ethnomethodology, communications, anthropology, and
science and technology studies. In the event the responses revealed an even wider
array of disciplinary interests and expertise, including:

- Anthropology of internet use

- Business studies (eg of effects of disruptive technologies on value chain, and
of ubiquitous computing)
- Communication studies and education studies
- Distributed cognition and communities of practice
- History and philosophy of science and technology
- Innovation studies
- Knowledge organisation (taxonomies and ontologies)
- Law and legal perspectives (especially on IPR) and socio-legal perspectives
- Library information science, computer-assisted content analysis, data mining
- Marketing
- Media studies and internet studies
- Organisational analysis, economics and business studies, innovation theory
- Policy studies and political theory
- Psychology of technology use
- Science and technology studies

5
 - Science communication
- Social informatics, CSCW, ethnomethodology
- Social science methodology
- Sociology of consumption (science and academia as consumption of ICTs)
- Sociology of technology

Some respondents additionally pointed out that the entire premise of the exercise
underestimated the importance and potential involvement of the humanities (eg 255,
352) and that research funding should be actively structured to include humanities
disciplines.

5. Mapping the New Research Area: Research Questions and Research

Organisation

5.1 For the purposes of this exercise, “social shaping” was initially defined very
broadly “to include all social scientific aspects of the genesis, use, implementation
and effects of the new e-technologies.”

Most respondents accepted that when used broadly, “social shaping” was a good
enough general label for the relevant interests and approaches. However some
cautioned against the narrow interpretation - viz. that “social factors” are somehow
causally prior to emerging technologies – since this has been superseded by more
sophisticated theories for example, that the “social” and the “technical” are mutually
elaborated. This means we need to consider bi directional “impacts” ie both how grid
technologies will affect practice, and how the practices of social scientists will affect
the development and use of these technologies (048, 176).

5.2 Many respondents expressed concern about what they regard as the restrictive
connotations of the terms e-Science and e-Social Science, and were unwilling to adopt
uncritically the definitions provided by promoters of these ideas (see Appendix 1). “I
tend to think of e-Scholarship rather than of e-Science” (076). Some US respondents
refer to the field as i-Science (“i” denoting interactive). Others suggested e-Academia
would be much better than e-Science. It was noted that in languages other than
English terms like e-Wissenschaft help overcome the sometimes artificial distinctions
between e-Science and e-Social Science. In a similar vein, several respondents
stressed that to focus solely on research would be to overlook the likely widespread
effects on more routine aspects of academic life, teaching, administration, journal
operation, refereeing and so on (eg 238). Similarly, respondents pointed to the need to
research the use of grid technologies in areas outside science and engineering per se,
such as in digital libraries, CSCW, education and crisis management.

5.3 There was a widespread difference in views about the nature and extent of take up
and use. Some envisaged positive benefits – for example that systems of peer review
might significantly improve with the uptake of new technologies and collaborations
(096) – others were sceptical: “Grid technologies will not affect the vast majority of
social science research……a few dozen at best scientists and social scientists can be
persuaded to make use of the new technologies” (180). This range of views
underscores the point that we badly need to know how actually, on the ground, in
everyday usage these technologies are perceived and used. Indeed, a recurrent theme
was the need for research on the actual usage of communication technologies. For

6
example, much more knowledge is needed about how to do ICT mediated
collaboration (184).

5.4 Many respondents pointed out that there is a widespread lack of knowledge about
the existence and purpose of grid technologies and their applications. It is suggested
that current usage is fragmentary and ill informed (eg 125). We need to know much
more about the distribution and currency of views on grid technologies; which kinds
of factors lead potential users to be favourably disposed or otherwise?

5.5 Much emphasis was placed on the need to investigate variations in actual usage by
different constituencies. While this is often discussed in general terms, about (e)-
Science as a whole, it was thought highly likely that different areas of science will
respond to and use grid technologies in quite different ways (184). And, again, it is
possible that social scientists will have quite different needs from natural scientists,
perhaps more related to peer to peer communication than to data sharing (349).

5.6 The responses largely affirm the value of transposing questions and themes about
“virtual community”8 and “virtual society”9 to the prospective domain of “virtual
science”. In this vein, some of the obvious substantive research issues which come to
mind include: What social circumstances encourage or inhibit data sharing and
collaborative working? How will the implementation of new grid technologies affect
this situation? Are patterns of communication between scientists likely to be
significantly affected by the adoption and use of grid technologies? Are users likely to
be more or less sensitive to IPR concerns? Will the enhanced technical capacity for
communication lead to different attitudes to risk, liability and responsibility? Are
changing structures of accountability concomitant with changing communication
practices? Are we likely to witness the emergence of new concerns about ethics,
privacy and trust? What different social and economic factors affect the uptake and
use of grid technologies in different organisational settings? Are changing reward and
recognition practices affecting communication practices, and vice versa?

5.7 In particular, the growing body of work on the idea of virtual communities offers
themes to be explored in assessing prospects for significant changes in the
organisation and conduct of scientific research. We need to extend what is just now
beginning to be learnt about knowledge-sharing, intimacy, trust, reciprocity and
disclosure (099, 176). This kind of knowledge is essential if we want to develop a
“collection of enormous data sharing options within e-Science and e-Social Science,
and should be a major contributory factor in their design, development and
management” (184).

5.8 In addressing these questions it is important to develop approaches which avoid

“fetishising” the technology. Respondents noted that although discussion at the policy
level often tends to invoke summary descriptions of “the grid” and its “impacts”, and
to adopt rather simple interpretations of core concepts such as “trust” and “sharing”, a
lot is to be gained by investigating the nature of these activities in detail, especially
given the likelihood that they will change in association with attempts at
implementation and adoption. For example, what actually counts as “grid technology”
8
For example http://www.swi.psy.uva.nl/usr/beckers/publications/seattle.html
9
For example (http://virtualsociety.sbs.ox.ac.uk/intro.htm) and
www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCContent/researchfunding/E-Society.asp

7
may vary widely, just as what comes to count as trust and sharing as new practices
evolve. In these circumstances, it is argued, it is inappropriate to adopt the language
of barriers and encouragement as if the effects of the new technologies are already
straightforwardly known. Instead, “we need ways of describing datasets that go
beyond conventional metadata in order to represent organisational uncertainty around
data” (079). The suggestion is that we need to explore ways of conceptualising the
phenomenon as, say, networked communication or as distributed practice, with
emphasis first and foremost on off-line relations rather than just on the technologies
themselves (196).

5.9 Historical comparisons are needed. Respondents remarked that many of these
analytic themes were reminiscent of previous experiences with eg ARPANet. What
can be learned from this and similar past experiences (048, 054)?

5.10 We also know very little about international comparisons, about for example to
what extent different national science policies are pursuing different kinds of
“solution”, funding structures and organisation (096). Do these differences lead to
variations in take up and use? To what extent does this have a bearing on possibilities
for international collaboration?

5.11 With these possible differences in mind we need to look at what in practice the
use of Grid technologies will achieve: to what extent, and for whom, will grid
computing allow computing to become much more intuitive. For example, will grid
technologies actually facilitate many more working calculations (John Law’s notion
of “qualculation”) rather than leading to an increase in rigour per se? (003). And will
this in turn lead to new scenarios of use, and to what counts as adequate knowledge?

5.12 Answers to these questions can offer a new perspective on old debates about
supposedly fundamental differences between science and social science. What sorts of
data are or are not amenable to data sharing? Will the deployment of grid technologies
make a difference? Given the longstanding disputes between traditions which favour
codification versus interpretation, will these technologies favour the view that social
science data can be meaningfully interpreted outside of its context of production?
What is the role of the commercialisation of knowledge and of universities in the
genesis and use of the new technologies?

5.13 The total population of experts identified in this study can be very roughly
divided into 3 main categories:

i) those researching the social dimensions of the uptake and use of new
communications technologies
ii) those predominantly concerned with developing, implementing and using these
technologies. This includes social scientists declaring themselves as having a
predominantly methodological interest (eg 228)10.
iii) those researching the social and communication characteristics of social and
scientific communities

10
Some of the people in this category viewed grid technologies as enabling cross disciplinarity rather
than inter disciplinarity: “grid services will facilitate cross discipline analyses of shared data without
requiring collaborators to involve practising a completely different discipline” (239)

8
Although, as yet, little research attempts to span these categories, it is likely that the
most profitable outcomes will derive from attempts to operate across the boundaries.
It is therefore recommended that in supporting these areas, special attention is given
to means of encouraging collaboration and cooperation across existing interests. In
particular, it is important that we modify the current tendency to research the
“technical” aspects of e-Science (human factors, interface design and requirements
engineering) in isolation from the social shaping dimensions.

5. 14. In further pursuit of this question, respondents were asked in particular about
the relationship between research which uses the grid and research which is about the
grid.

A distinction is often made between research which uses the new (grid) technologies and
research which is about the use of these technologies. Does your work fit most easily
into:
a) research which uses the new technologies
b) research which is about the new technologies
c) both

A small minority said their work fell under a11; a larger minority opted for b; a
surprisingly large majority said “both”. A typical comment was “One cannot do b
well without doing a, though of course there are many who get away with doing b
alone” (255). Or, a more pointed criticism of the implication that a and b could ever
be separate: “how could you do ethnographies of distributed practice without making
them distributed ethnographies” (079).

There was considerable enthusiasm for the idea of conjoining “social shaping”
approaches with attempts to develop innovative applications in social science. For
example, it was suggested that the technologies could be developed to provide
powerful tools for mapping scientific controversies; that exciting research and
teaching tools could result from efforts to link scientometrics, ideas about web
democracy, history of science archives, and intelligent purpose-built web crawlers
(224).

5.15 While there are significant opportunities for cooperation and collaboration across
disciplines, both within and beyond the social sciences, several respondents
commented on the structural problems they perceived to be associated with the UK
funding of such an inter and cross disciplinary area. Others contrasted the UK
situation with what they saw as the favourable conditions for interdisciplinary support
in the Netherlands (eg 319)12. For example, the KNAW (2003) proposals envisage a
new research institute which fully integrates humanities, computation and “science
studies” – the Dutch equivalent of a broadly construed social shaping perspective.
This kind of integration also provides the opportunity to explore new forms of
collaboration and new ideas about the possible “utility” of social shaping approaches.

11
One extreme response: “I have no interest or expertise in these questions. My interest is in the use of
grid technology to actually do social science. I realise other people are interested in other aspects, but I
would have thought ESRC should be mainly concerned with funding people to actually do social
science.” (225)
12
This reflects in part the German/Dutch use of the organising concept “wissenschaft/wetenschap”
rather than “science and social science” (see section 5.2).

9
5.16 In the UK, a current danger is that social shaping falls between two funding
stools: it is perceived as either insufficiently technical, and so inappropriate to the
(natural) science funding rubric, or as insufficiently addressing the traditionally
defined social scientific agenda of researching “social impacts”. It is recommended
that we aim to develop a funding structure which encourages the active participation
of social shaping research in scientific and social scientific research, and vice versa.
This highlights the need to explore innovative models of cooperation and
collaboration. An example is suggested by one of the short listed bidders for the
ESRC e-Social Science Centre competition. He inquired about the possibility of
incorporating a social shaping perspective into his final bid, specifically by flagging
the intention of applying for second round funds to follow the “social shaping of our
programme as it unfolds. The aim would be track the effects of grid technologies on
social science - and of course vice versa” (174).

6. Conclusions and Recommendations

6.1 There is considerable interest in the development and application of the social
shaping agenda in relation to e-Science and e-Social Science. The research
community recognises the urgency of understanding how these new technologies are
being developed, how they will be used and what are their impacts and implications.

6.2 There is also considerable capacity for developing this new area both in virtue of
expertise in social shaping which can be applied to grid technologies, and through the
potential collaboration between interface designers and experts in science and social
science methodology and social shaping researchers.

6.3 In broad summary, the various research questions identified in section 5 might be
grouped into 4 main themes:

A. The Genesis of new Grid Technologies. Historical comparisons with the

development of other communications technologies and ICTs. The broader
institutional and political contexts. How do these efforts relate to the wider
pressures on accountability, value for money and the commercialisation of
research?
B. Social Organisational Features of Design, Uptake and Use. How in practice
are the new technologies being used/will they be used? How do the many
concerns about the operation of virtual communities and organisation –
sharing, privacy, trust, collaboration, IPR – map onto the particular case of
“virtual science”? To what extent do new grid technologies challenge existing
social scientific knowledge about the social shaping of new technologies?
C. The Changing Nature of Science and Social Science. What are the
implications for the nature and practice of science and social science and for
the nature and direction of new knowledge? To what extent can these
questions about e-Science and e-Social Science research be usefully related to
other areas of scholarship, such as the humanities, and to more routine aspects
of academic practice such as teaching and publishing?
D. International Comparisons. To what extent do different national science
policies signal other kinds of attempts to fund and organise these
developments?

10
Appendix 1: Some e-Definitions

e-Science "means science increasingly done through distributed global collaborations enabled by the
Internet, using very large data collections, terascale computing resources and high performance
visualisation"

“In the future, e-Science will refer to the large scale science that will increasingly be carried out
through distributed global collaborations enabled by the Internet. Typically, a feature of such
collaborative scientific enterprises is that they will require access to very large data collections, very
large scale computing resources and high performance visualisation back to the individual user
scientists.”

“The World Wide Web gave us access to information on Web pages written in html anywhere on the
Internet. A much more powerful infrastructure is needed to support e-Science. Besides information
stored in Web pages, scientists will need easy access to expensive remote facilities, to computing
resources - either as dedicated Teraflop computers or cheap collections of PCs - and to information
stored in dedicated databases.”

“The Grid is an architecture proposed to bring all these issues together and make a reality of such a
vision for e-Science. Ian Foster and Carl Kesselman, inventors of the Globus approach to the Grid
define the Grid as an enabler for Virtual Organisations: ‘An infrastructure that enables flexible, secure,
coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources.’ It
is important to recognize that resource in this context includes computational systems and data storage
and specialized experimental facilities.”

"The word Grid is chosen by analogy with the electric power grid, which provides pervasive access to
power and, like the computer and a small number of other advances, has had a dramatic impact on
human capabilities and society. We believe that by providing pervasive, dependable, consistent and
inexpensive access to advanced computational capabilities, databases, sensors and people,
computational grids will have a similar transforming effect, allowing new classes of applications to
emerge."

E-Science is thus envisaged as a major agent of change: “e-Science is about global collaboration in key
areas of science, and the next generation of infrastructure that will enable it…..e-Science will change
the dynamic of the way science is undertaken.” (John Taylor, Director General of Research Councils,
UK Office of Science and Technology)

A National e-Science Centre is based in Edinburgh (and is a collaboration between Edinburgh and
Glasgow Universities). This Centre supervised the setting up of a “National Grid” of computing and
data resources including eight Regional Centres based at the Universities of Newcastle, Belfast,
Manchester, Cardiff, Cambridge, Oxford, Southampton and Imperial College, London.

See for example: http://www.escience-grid.org.uk/, http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/escience/ and

http://www.nesc.ac.uk/

By analogy e-Social Science is “the conduct of social science through global collaborations…. drawing
on the computational power of grid technologies.”

In late 2002 ESRC invited calls for proposals for small scale pilot projects in e-Social Science, with
the aim of exploring the potential application of Grid technologies within the social sciences.
“Proposals should address substantively focussed research questions, based upon the novel use of
either quantitative or qualitative or mixed data sources. Proposals are encouraged from all areas of
social science. Proposals are invited on the following topic areas, although this is by no means an
exclusive list: Data Management, Disclosure and control, Data Fusion, Data Mining, Data
Visualisation, Simulation, and Collaborative Analysis tools”.

In April 2003 ESRC announced calls for proposals for a National Centre for E-Social Science, which
will have the overall aim of “stimulating the uptake and use by social scientists of new and emerging

11
Grid-enabled computing and data infrastructure both in quantitative and qualitative research.” See
http://www.esrc/esrccontent/DownloadDocs/escicentrespec.doc

There is also, however, some scepticism about the significance of the (claimed) difference between the
effects arising from grid technology and from its predecessors. For example, Elijah Wright provided
the following characterisation (post to air-l@aoir.org on 28-09-03):

“Doesn't grid sound like I2 (Internet 2) all over again? …. “grid” computing is being pushed as mostly
cell-based - while I2-style research was characterized by its focus on massive bandwidth consumption
without much regard for the computation happening at the peripheries. So,
paradigm 0: gosh this network is slow..
paradigm 1 (I2): we need more bandwidth, we'll figure out what to do with it later...
paradigm 2 (grid): golly, now that we have a lot more bandwidth, it sure would help to be able to
generate computationally intensive problems that take advantage of that... whether they require
massive data transfer or just massive amounts of intercommunication...”

12
 Appendix 2: List of people contacted
* denotes face to face or phone interview

Abbate Janet University of Maryland, USA http://www.inform.umd.edu/hist/Faculty/JAbbate/

Agar Jon Cambridge University http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/dept/agar.html
Agre Philip University of California, Los http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/
Angeles USA
Aguillo Isidro CINDOC-CSIC Madrid, Spain http://bscw.gmd.de/pub/english.cgi/d30621232-2/*/*/Aguillo,%20Isidro
Ahmad Khursid University of Surrey http://www.computing.surrey.ac.uk/staff/KAhmad.htm
Alter Steven University of San Francisco, USA http://www.usfca.edu/sobam/Faculty/alter.htm
Anderson Anne University of Glasgow http://www.mcg.gla.ac.uk/staff/anne/anne.html
Anderson Stuart Edinburgh eScience Centre http://www.nesc.ac.uk/nesc/staff/sanderson.html
Anderson* Ben University of Essex http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/people/ben_anderson.html
Atkinson Malcolm National e-Science Centre http://www.nesc.ac.uk/nesc/staff/mpa.html
Bakardjieva* Maria University of Calgary, Canada http://www.ucalgary.ca/~bakardji/
Banks Marcus University of Oxford http://www.isca.ox.ac.uk/staff.html
Bannon Liam University of Limerick http://www.ul.ie/~cscw/liam.html
Barjak Franz University of Applied Sciences http://www.fhso.ch/_e/kont_e/pers_hp/doz_wirtschaft/barjak_e.htm
Solothurn Northwestern Switzerland
Barry Andrew Goldsmiths College http://www.gold.ac.uk/academic/soc/barry.htm
Beaudouin-Lafon Michel University Paris-Sud, France http://www-ihm.lri.fr/~mbl/eintroduction.html
Beaulieu Anne Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://wwwoud.niwi.knaw.nl/nerdi/anne/home.htm
Information Services (NIWI)
Beaulieu Micheline University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/I-M/is/people/beaulie.html
Beckett Elizabeth University of Oxford
Beek*, van Krijn Dutch Council for Social
Development
Benford Steve University of Nottingham http://www.crg.cs.nott.ac.uk/people/Steve.Benford/
Bennis Hans Meertens Institute, Netherlands http://www.meertens.knaw.nl/indexe.html
Bergman Max University of Neuchatel, Switzerland http://www.sidos.ch/about/staff/mb.asp
Bernard Russell University of Florida, Gainesville http://nersp.nerdc.ufl.edu/%7Eufruss/
USA
Besselaar*, van den Peter Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/maatschappijwetenschappen/staf/peter_s_ho
Information Services (NIWI) me/toon
Bijker* Wiebe University of Maastricht, http://137.120.191.76/public/websites/bijkernieuw/
Netherlands
Billig Michael Loughborough University http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/depstaff/staff/billig.html
Bingham Nick Open University http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/nbingham/info.html
Birkin Mark University of Leeds http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/m.birkin/
Birnbaum Michael California State University, Fullerton http://psych.fullerton.edu/mbirnbaum/home.htm
USA
Bisby Frank University of Reading http://www.sp2000.org/projectteam.html#RWhite
Bohlin Ingemar Göteborg University, Sweden http://www.sts.gu.se/staff/IngemarB/Ingemar2.html
Boot Peter Constantijn Huygens Institute, http://www.knaw.nl/chi/index-ned/index-eng-fr.htm
Netherlands
Bosnjak Michael University of Freiburg, Germany http://www.psychologie.uni-freiburg.de/meth-survey/authord.htm
Bowers John University of California, Santa http://www.ece.ucsb.edu/Faculty/Bowers/
Barbara USA
Bowker Geoff University of California, San Diego http://weber.ucsd.edu/~gbowker/
USA
Brady Mike University of Oxford http://www.robots.ox.ac.uk/~jmb/home.html
Brannen Julia University of London http://ioewebserver.ioe.ac.uk/ioe/cms/get.asp?cid=470&470_0=7864
Brent Edward IdeaWorks USA http://www.ideaworks.com/news.shtml
Breuer Franz University of Münster, Germany http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/impressum/breuer-e.htm
Brey Philip University of Twente, Netherlands http://www.wmw.utwente.nl/wtmc/brey.htm
Brown Nik University of York http://www.york.ac.uk/org/satsu/Staff/Nik.htm
Bryman Alan Loughborough University http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/depstaff/staff/bryman.html
Brynjolfsson Eric Massachusetts Institute of http://ebusiness.mit.edu/erik/
Technology (MIT) USA

13
Buchanan Tom University of Westminster http://users.wmin.ac.uk/~buchant/
Buckingham David University of London http://www.ccsonline.org.uk/mediacentre/Staff/Buckingham.html
Buitelaar* Paul Saarbrücken University, Germany http://www.dfki.de/~paulb/home.html
Burk Dan University of Minnesota Law School http://www.law.umn.edu/FacultyProfiles/BurkD.htm
Burnhill Peter University of Edinburgh http://www.geog.port.ac.uk/hist-bound/people/burnhill.htm
Burrows* Roger University of York http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/rjb.htm
Burt* Eleanor University of St Andrews http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/management/text/eleanor.htm
Button Graham Grenoble Xerox Laboratory http://www.xrce.xerox.com/people/button/
Caldas* Alexandre University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/prpb7/contact.htm
Camp Jean Harvard University, USA http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/degreeprog/courses.nsf/wzByDirectoryNam
e/L.JeanCamp
Campbell* Heidi University of Edinburgh http://homepages.ed.ac.uk/ewcv24/index.htm
Carter* Denise University of Hull http://www.denisecarter.net/
Chadwick Andy Oxford Internet Institute http://users.ox.ac.uk/~inet0022/
Chalmers Matthew University of Glasgow http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~matthew/
Chambers* Stephan University of Oxford http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/html/faculty_profile.asp?ID=5172
Chan Yolande Queen's University, Kingston http://www.business.queensu.ca/research/faculty/index.php
(Ontario), Canada
Chattoe Edmund University of Oxford http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/people/chattoe.html
Christensen Clay Harvard University, USA http://www.claytonchristensen.com/biography.html
Ciborra Claudio London School of Economics http://is.lse.ac.uk/staff/ciborra/
Clark Nigel Open University http://www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/staff/nclark/info.html
Clement Andrew University of Toronto, Canada http://www.fis.utoronto.ca/faculty/clement
Coffey Amanda Cardiff University http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/methods/projects/posters/coffey.shtml
Cole Keith University of Manchester http://www.mimas.ac.uk/staffpages/keith_cole.html
Coleman Stephen University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=faculty
Conole Grainne University of Southampton http://www.education.soton.ac.uk/info_and_events/staff_directory/?link
=individual.php&id=116
Corbett Greville University of Surrey http://www.surrey.ac.uk/LIS/SMG/gcorbett.html
Corti Louise University of Essex http://www.esds.ac.uk/qualidata
Cothey Viv University of Wolverhampton http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~in7803/index.html
Crabtree Andrew University of Nottingham http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/~axc
Craglia Max University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/ccr/people/craglia.htm
Crouchley Robert Lancaster University http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/asarc
Dale Angela University of Manchester http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/staff/ad.htm
David Matthew University of Plymouth http://www.sociology.plymouth.ac.uk/~mdavid
David* Paul University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=faculty
De Roure David University of Southampton http://www.soton.ac.uk/~dder
Deacon David Loughborough University http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/depstaff/staff/deacon.htm
Dew Peter University of Leeds http://www.iri.leeds.ac.uk/people/director/dew.html
Diatlov* Vladimir University of Southampton http://www.management.soton.ac.uk/PhDStudents/VladimirDiatlov.htm
Dicks Bella Cardiff University http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/methods/projects/posters/coffey.shtml
Doornik Jurgen University of Oxford http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/people/doornik.htm
Dorling Danny University of Leeds http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/d.dorling
Dourish Paul University of California, Irvine USA http://www.ics.uci.edu/research/profiles/faculty/dourish.php
Dovey Matthew University of Oxford http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/rts/staff.xml
Downey Gary Virginia Polytechnic Institute, http://www.cis.vt.edu/sts/faculty/downeyg.htm
Blacksburg USA
Draper Steve University of Glasgow http://www.psy.gla.ac.uk/~steve
Dutton* Bill University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=faculty
Earl Michael University of Oxford http://www.templeton.ox.ac.uk/michaelearl
Eberle Thomas University of St Gallen, Germany http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/beirat/eberle-e.htm
Edwards Pete University of Aberdeen http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~pedwards/pedwards.html
Elliot Mark University of Manchester http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/staff/mel.htm
Elvebakk Beate University of Oslo, Norway http://www.fps.no/beate.html

14
Evans Rob Cardiff University http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/kes/RE-pubs.html
Facer Keri University of Bristol http://sosig.esrc.bristol.ac.uk/grapevine/Query?view=fullLm&person_id
=edklf
Faulbaum Frank University of Duisburg-Essen, http://soziologie.uni-duisburg.de/PERSONEN/faulbaum.html
Germany
Featherstone Mike University of Nottingham http://tcs.ntu.ac.uk
Fielding Nigel University of Surrey http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/nigel_fielding.htm
Finholt Thomas University of Michigan, USA http://www.crew.umich.edu/Investigators/tfinholt.htm
Firth David University of Warwick http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/statistics/staff/academic/firth
Fischer Michael University of Kent http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/staff/mikeF.html
Fitzpatrick Geraldine University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/profile145884.html
Foot Kirsten University of Washington, USA http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/ford/bios/foot.html
Foster Ian University of Chicago, USA http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~foster
Fox Geoffrey Indiana University, USA http://communitygrids.iu.edu/cglpeople.html
France Alan University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/socst/staff/france.htm
Frankland Linda University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=oii_admin
Franklin Sarah Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/sfranklin.html
Fraser Mike University of Nottingham http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/~mcf
Friday Adrian Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/~adrian/index.php
Fry Jenny Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/home_page_jenny_f
Information Services (NIWI) ry/toon
Fujimura Joan University of Wisconsin, Madison http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/soc/faculty/pages/fujimurahome.htm
USA
Gardner Michael University of Essex http://www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/people/michael_gardner.html
Garson David North Carolina State University, http://hcl.chass.ncsu.edu/sscore/editors.htm
USA
Gavaghan David University of Oxford http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/people/david.gavaghan.html
Gaver Bill Royal College of Art http://www.interaction.rca.ac.uk/research/people/bill/1.html#
Gellersen Hans Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/~hwg
Geser Hans University of Zürich, Switzerland http://www.geser.net
Gibbs Graham University of Huddersfield http://www.hud.ac.uk/hhs/dbs/psysoc/staff/cv/gg_cv.htm
Gilbert Nigel University of Surrey http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/nigel_gilbert.htm
Gillespie Tarleton Cornell University http://www.sts.cornell.edu/viewprofile.php?ProfileID=5
Goble Carole University of Manchester http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~carole
Golding Peter Loughborough University http://www.lboro.ac.uk/departments/ss/depstaff/staff/golding.htm
Grabosky Peter Australia's National University, http://regnet.anu.edu.au/people/Grabosky.htm
Canberra
Graham Andrew University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people
Gresham John Kenrick Glennon Seminary, St Louis http://sim74.kenrickparish.com/intro.htm#author
USA
Grint Keith University of Oxford http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/html/faculty_profile.asp?ID=5148
Hagendijk Rob University of Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Halfpenny* Peter University of Manchester http://www.fssldev.man.ac.uk/staff/halfpenny.shtm
Hall Wendy University of Southampton http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~wh
Hardey* Mike University of Newcastle upon Tyne http://www.ncl.ac.uk/geps/staff/profile/m.hardy
Harley John Ernst & Young
Harmelen, van Frank Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, http://www.cs.vu.nl/~frankh
Netherlands
Harnad Stevan University of Southampton http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/info/people/harnad
Harper Richard University of Surrey http://www.appliancestudio.com/team/richardharper.htm
Harris Martin University of Essex http://www.essex.ac.uk/AFM/about_us/staff/harris.html
Harrison Tina University of Edinburgh http://www.bus.ed.ac.uk/staff/profiles/harrison.html
Hay Donald University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=management
Haythornthwaite* Caroline University of Illinois, Urbana- http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~haythorn
Champaign USA
Heath Christian King's College London http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/pse/mancen/witrg/staff.html
Heath Anthony University of Oxford http://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/people/heath.html

15
Heimeriks Gaston University of Amsterdam, http://www.swi.psy.uva.nl/usr/heimeriks/home.html
Netherlands
Hellsten Iina Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/home_page_iina/too
Information Services (NIWI) n
Hendry David University of Oxford http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/users/hendry
Hess David Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, http://home.earthlink.net/~davidhesshomepage
USA
Hetherington Kevin Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/khetherington.html
Hewson Claire Bolton Institute http://www.sar.bolton.ac.uk/Henzi/staff%20pages/PEOPLE/hewson.htm
Hey Tony EPSRC http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~ajgh
Hilgartner Steve Cornell University http://www.sts.cornell.edu/viewprofile.php?ProfileID=6
Hindmarsh Jon King's College London http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/pse/mancen/witrg/staff.html
Hine* Christine University of Surrey http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/christine_hine.htm
Hodgson Susan University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/socst/staff/s_hodgson.htm
Holdaway Simon University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/ccr/people/holdawy.htm
Hølge-Hazelton Bibi Roskilde University, Denmark http://www.ruc.dk/inst10/om_inst10/Personale/VIP/bhh
Hovy Eduard University of Southern California, http://www.isi.edu/natural-language/people/hovy/bio.html
Marina del Rey USA
Hughes John Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/jhughes.html
Hunter Jane University of Queensland, Australia http://archive.dstc.edu.au/RDU/staff/jane-hunter.html
Ingwersen Peter Royal School of Library and http://www.db.dk/pi
Information Science, Copenhagen
Denmark
Introna Lucas Lancaster University http://www.lums2.lancs.ac.uk/BINO/Introna.htm
James Allison University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/socst/staff/a_jamestemp.html
Jankowski* Nicholas University of Nijmegen, Netherlands http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~jour/DN2003/Nicholas.html
Jasanoff Sheila Harvard University, USA http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/degreeprog/courses.nsf/wzByDirectoryNam
e/SheilaJasanoff
Jeffery Keith Rutherford Appleton Labs http://www.cordis.lu/cybercafe/src/jeffery.htm
Jeffreys* Paul University of Oxford http://senior.keble.ox.ac.uk/fellows/homepage.php?fellow=jeffreysp
Jirotka* Marina University of Oxford http://web.comlab.ox.ac.uk/oucl/people/marina.jirotka.html
Jones Kip De Montfort University http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/impressum/jones-e.htm
Jong*, de Gaspard Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/toon
Information Services (NIWI)
Karasti Helena University of Oulu, Finland http://www.tol.oulu.fi/~helena
Keeble Leigh University of Teesside http://www.cira.org.uk/leigh.htm
Kelle Udo University of Vechta, Germany http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/beirat/kelle-e.htm
King John University of Michigan, USA http://intel.si.umich.edu/cfdocs/si/courses/people/faculty-
detail.cfm?passID=220
Knorr-Cetina* Karin University of Bielefeld, Germany http://www.uni-bielefeld.de/iwt/gk/profs/knorr.htm
Koenig Thomas University of Göttingen, Germany http://wwwuser.gwdg.de/~uspw/tkoenig
Krantz John Hanover College, USA http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/tutor.html
Kretschmer Martin Bournemouth University http://www.cippm.org.uk/html/the_people.html#1
Kretschmer Hildrun Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.h-kretschmer.de/index.htm
Information Services (NIWI)
Kuutti Kari University of Oulu, Finland http://www.hci.oulu.fi/~kuutti/KKe.html
Lash Scott Goldsmiths College http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cultural-studies/html/scott.html
Latour Bruno Ecole de Mines de Paris, France http://www.ensmp.fr/PagePerso/CSI/Bruno_Latour.html
Laurillard Diana Open University http://www.hkwebsym.org.hk/2000/laur_cv.html
Lee Nick Keele University http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/so/staff/nick_lee.htm
Lee Stuart University of Oxford http://users.ox.ac.uk/~stuart
Lee Raymond Royal Holloway, University of http://web.rhul.ac.uk/sociopolitical-science/About-Us/Lee.htm
London
Lenoir Tim Stanford University, USA http://www.stanford.edu/dept/HPST/TimLenoir
Lessig Larry Stanford University, USA http://www.law.stanford.edu/faculty/lessig
Lievrouw Leah University of California, Los http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/llievrou/LeahHome.html
Angeles USA
Light Ann University of Sussex http://www.cogs.susx.ac.uk/users/annl
Livingstone Sonia London School of Economics http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/s.livingstone@lse.ac.uk

16
Lloyd Ian University of Strathclyde http://www.strath.ac.uk/law/staff/lloyd.htm
Lloyd Ashley University of Edinburgh http://www.bus.ed.ac.uk/staff/profiles/lloyd.html
Loader Brian University of Teesside http://www.cira.org.uk/brian.htm
Luff Paul King's College London http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/pse/mancen/witrg/staff.html
Lynch Michael Cornell University http://www.sts.cornell.edu/viewprofile.php?ProfileID=9
Lyon Stephen University of Durham http://www.dur.ac.uk/anthropology/Staff/lyon.html
Lyon David Queen's University, Kingston http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/dl.htm
(Ontario), Canada
MacKenzie Donald University of Edinburgh http://www.ed.ac.uk/sociol/Research/Staff/mcknz.htm
Mackenzie Owen John University of Amsterdam, http://cf.hum.uva.nl/bai/home/jmackenzie/home.htm
Netherlands
MacMillan Katie Loughborough University http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/mmethods/staff/katie
MacQueen Hector University of Edinburgh http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/staff/view.asp?ref=53
Maiden Neil City University London http://www-hcid.soi.city.ac.uk/pNeilmaiden.html
Mangabeira Wilma Middlesex University http://www.mdx.ac.uk/www/issr/socpolstaff.htm
Mann Chris University of Cambridge http://www.sps.cam.ac.uk/cfr/Dr_C_Mann_mod.html
Marres Noortje University of Amsterdam, http://www.mohr-i.nl/content.phtml?249
Netherlands
Mason Jennifer University of Leeds http://www.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/people/jm.htm
Mason Bruce Cardiff University http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/methods/projects/posters/coffey.shtml
Masser Ian (visiting) University College London http://codazzi4.igac.gov.co/gsdi5/i_masser_r.htm
Matzat Uwe University of Düsseldorf, Germany http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/~matzat
May Tim University of Salford http://www.espch.salford.ac.uk/sociol/Tim_May/t_may.htm
Mayer-Schoenberger Viktor Harvard University, USA http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/degreeprog/courses.nsf/wzWebFaculty/May
er-Schoenberger236?Opendocument
McCarty* Willard King's College London http://www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm
McEnery Tony Lancaster University http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/staff/tony/tony.htm
Merz Martina Swiss Federal Institute of http://www.wiss.ethz.ch/employees/martina_merz/index.de.html
Technology, Zurich
Michael Mike Goldsmiths College http://www.gold.ac.uk/academic/soc/michael.htm
Miller Danny University College London http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/matcult/staff_member_miller.htm
Mruck Katja Freie Universität Berlin, Germany http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/impressum/mruck-e.htm
Muhr Thomas ATLAS.ti http://www.atlasti.de
Muller Henk University of Bristol http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/%7Ehenkm/index.html
Musson David Oxford University Press http://www.oup.co.uk/people/mussond
Nash Victoria University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=faculty
Nentwich* Michael Austrian Academy of Science http://eiop.or.at/mn
Nerbonne John University of Groningen, http://odur.let.rug.nl/~nerbonne
Netherlands
Neyland Daniel University of Oxford http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/html/faculty_profile.asp?ID=5589
Nissenbaum Helen New York University, USA http://www.nyu.edu/education/steinhardt/db/faculty/1263/Dept_design/0
Norris Pippa Harvard University, USA http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/degreeprog/courses.nsf/wzByDirectoryNam
e/PippaNorris
Norris Clive University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/socst/staff/c_norris.html
Olson Gary University of Michigan, USA http://intel.si.umich.edu/cfdocs/si/courses/people//faculty-
detail.cfm?passID=77
Olson Judy University of Michigan, USA http://intel.si.umich.edu/cfdocs/si/courses/people//faculty-
detail.cfm?passID=78
Orlikowski Wanda Massachusetts Institute of http://ccs.mit.edu/Wanda.html
Technology (MIT) USA
Palfrey John Harvard University, USA http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/jpalfrey.html
Palmer Carole University of Illinois, Urbana- http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~clpalmer
Champaign USA
Pawson Ray University of Leeds http://www.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/people/rp.htm
Peters Simon University of Manchester http://les1.man.ac.uk/ses/staffpages/peters.htm
Pilsbury David World Universities Network http://www.wun.ac.uk
Pitt Lisa University of Edinburgh http://www.rcss.ed.ac.uk/sigis
Pleace Nicholas University of York http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/chp/nicholas.htm
Procter Rob University of Edinburgh http://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~rnp

17
Psathas George Boston University, USA http://www.bu.edu/sociology/faculty/affiliated/psathas.html
Purdam Kingsley University of Manchester http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/staff/kp.htm
Rall* Denise Southern Cross University, Lismore http://www.scu.edu.au/staffdirectory/person_detail.php?person_id=3653
NSW, Australia
Randall Dave Manchester Metropolitan University http://www.mmu.ac.uk/h-ss/sis/staff/daver.html
Rappert Brian University of Nottingham http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/sociology/staff/brain.htm
Ratto Matt Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/home_page_matt_ra
Information Services (NIWI) tto/toon
Rayner Steve University of Oxford http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/html/faculty_profile.asp?ID=5470
Rayson Paul Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/staff/paul.html
Read Rupert University of East Anglia http://www.uea.ac.uk/soc/phil/people/read_r.shtml
Reddy Colin Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/home_page_colin_r
Information Services (NIWI) eddy/toon
Reichertz Jo University of Duisburg-Essen, http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs/impressum/reichertz-e.htm
Germany
Reips Ulf-Dietrich University of Zürich, Switzerland http://www.psychologie.unizh.ch/sowi/reips/reipspers.html
Renn Jürgen Max Planck Institute for the History http://www.mpg.de
of Science, Germany
Renold Emma Cardiff University http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/whoswho/renold.html
Richards Lyn QSR International Pty Ltd, Australia http://www.qsr.com.au/aboutus/people/people.htm
Robb Margaret University of Oxford
Robinson Peter De Montfort University http://www.dmu.ac.uk/faculties/humanities/english/peter.robinson.jsp?C
omponentID=6939&SourcePageID=6959
Robinson John University of Maryland, USA http://www.webuse.umd.edu/about_webuse.htm
Rodden Tom University of Nottingham http://www.mrl.nott.ac.uk/People/tar.html
Rodriguez Medina Leandro State University of New York, Stony
Brook USA
Rogers Richard University of Amsterdam, http://www.govcom.org/about_us.html
Netherlands
Rogers Yvonne University of Sussex http://www.sussex.ac.uk/informatics/profile2266.html
Rose Richard University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=faculty
Rosen Paul University of York http://www.york.ac.uk/org/satsu/Staff/Paul.htm
Ross Seamus University of Glasgow http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/dlm/program/bio_sr_en.html
Rouncefield Mark Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/mrouncefield.html
Rousseau Ronald Polytechnic University Brugge http://users.pandora.be/ronald.rousseau/html/english_homepage.html
Oostende, Belgium
Ryan Nick University of Kent http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/nsr
Sandvig Christian University of Oxford http://www.spcomm.uiuc.edu/users/csandvig/index.html
Sassen Saskia University of Chicago, USA http://www.law.uchicago.edu/faculty/sassen
Scharnhorst Andrea Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/home_page_andrea
Information Services (NIWI) _scharnhorst/toon
Schauder Don Monash University, Australia http://www3.sims.monash.edu.au/SIMSPeople.nsf/0/76509c21649bfa6f4
a25659300340de2?OpenDocument
Schmidt William Michigan State University http://newsroom.msu.edu/indexer/292/content.htm
Schmidt Kjeld IT University of Copenhagen, http://www.itu.dk/people/schmidt
Denmark
Schneider Steve State University of New York, http://www.sunyit.edu/~steve
Institute of Technology, USA
Scholl Wolfgang Humboldt University Berlin, http://www.psychologie.hu-
Germany berlin.de/orgpsy/index.html?/orgpsy/mitarbeiter/scholl.htm
Schroeder Ralph Chalmers University of Technology, http://www.mot.chalmers.se/staff/private/ralsch/research.html
Sweden
Schürer* Kevin University of Essex http://www.essex.ac.uk/history/staff/schurer.htm
Seale Clive Goldsmiths College http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/departments/sociology/staff/seale.html
Selwyn Neil Cardiff University http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/selwyn
Shadbolt Nigel University of Southampton http://www.ecs.soton.ac.uk/~nrs
Shapiro Dan Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/dshapiro.html
Sharrock Wes University of Manchester http://les.man.ac.uk/sociology/staff/sharrock.shtm
Shephard Neil University of Oxford http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/Users/SHEPHARD
Shepherd Adrian Birkbeck College http://people.cryst.bbk.ac.uk/~ubcg60a
Shove Elizabeth Lancaster University http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/scistud/shove.htm

18
Sillitoe Paul University of Durham http://www.dur.ac.uk/anthropology/Staff/sillitoe.html
Silverstone Roger London School of Economics http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/r.silverstone@lse.ac.uk
Simon Bart Concordia University, Montreal http://artsandscience.concordia.ca/SocAnth/Simon_latest.htm
Canada
Slack Roger University of Edinburgh http://www.inf.ed.ac.uk/people/staff/Roger_Slack.html
Slater Don London School of Economics http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/d.slater@lse.ac.uk
Smart Carol University of Leeds http://www.leeds.ac.uk/sociology/people/cs.htm
Snellen* Ignace Erasmus University Rotterdam, http://web.eur.nl/fsw/english
Netherlands
Soothill Keith Lancaster University http://www.lancs.ac.uk/depts/apsocsci/staff/soothill.htm
Sörensen* Knut University of Trondheim, Norway http://www.hf.ntnu.no/itk/sts_sorensen/cv.htm
Spence Michael University of Oxford http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/lawvle/staff2.phtml?lecturer_code=spencem
Star Leigh University of California, San Diego http://weber.ucsd.edu/~lstar/home.htm
USA
Stark Thom Stark Realities, USA http://www.starkrealities.com
Steed Anthony University College London http://www.cs.ucl.ac.uk/research/vr/Projects/Interact/Anthony%20Steed.
htm
Stewart Iain Durham eScience Institute http://www.dur.ac.uk/i.a.stewart/MainPages/IainOverview.html
Steyaert Jan Fontys Hogescholen, Eindhoven, http://www.steyaert.org/Jan/index.htm
Netherlands
Stronks Els Utrecht University, Netherlands http://www.let.uu.nl/~Els.Stronks
Suber Peter Earlham College, Richmond USA http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/hometoc.htm
Suchman Lucy Lancaster University http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/sociology/lsuchman.html
Swiss Thomas University of Iowa, USA http://www.uiowa.edu/~english/faculty/swiss/vita.html
Tacchi Jo Cardiff University http://www.cf.ac.uk/jomec/contact/Tacchi.html
Tagg Clare Partnership Tagg Oram UK http://www3.taggoram.co.uk/partners/clare/Clare%20Tagg
Taylor* John Glasgow Caledonian University http://www.gcal.ac.uk/about/structure/taylor.htm
Teasley Stephanie University of Michigan, USA http://intel.si.umich.edu/crew/Investigators/steasley.htm
Thaller Manfred University of Cologne, Germany http://www.hki.uni-koeln.de/people/thaller/mt.html
Thelwall Mike University of Wolverhampton http://www.scit.wlv.ac.uk/~cm1993/mycv.html
Thomas Graham University of East London http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/g.s.thomas
Thomas Martyn University of Oxford http://www.ukcrc.org.uk/members/display.php?selectentry=48
Thrift* Nigel University of Bristol http://www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/staff/staff/staff_thrift.htm
Treloar Andrew Monash University, Australia http://andrew.treloar.net
Turkle Sherry Massachusetts Institute of http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www
Technology (MIT) USA
Uszkoreit* Hans Saarbrücken University, Germany http://www.coli.uni-sb.de/~hansu
Valentine Gill University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/staff/valentine_gill.html
Van House Nancy University of California, Berkeley http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~vanhouse
USA
Vanhoutte Edward Centrum voor Teksteditie en http://www.kantl.be/ctb/vanhoutte
Bronnenstudie, Gent, Belgium
Vann Katie Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/homepage_katie_va
Information Services (NIWI) nn/toon
Varian Hal University of California, Berkeley http://www.sims.berkeley.edu/~hal
USA
Vaver David University of Oxford http://denning.law.ox.ac.uk/lawvle/staff2.phtml?lecturer_code=vaverd
Vogel Carl Trinity College Dublin http://www.cs.tcd.ie/Carl.Vogel
Voorbij Hans Utrecht University, Netherlands http://www.cs.uu.nl/groups/IK/archives/voorbij.htm
Wagner* Caroline University of Amsterdam/Rand http://www.rand.org/hot/media/bios/cwagner.html
Organisation
Wajcman Judy Australia's National University, http://demography.anu.edu.au/People/Staff/judy.html
Canberra
Wakeford Nina University of Surrey http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/nina_wakeford.htm
Wall David University of Leeds http://www.leeds.ac.uk/law/staff/lawdw/law6dw.htm
Walsh John University of Illinois, Chicago USA http://tigger.uic.edu/~jwalsh/
Watson Rod University of Manchester http://les.man.ac.uk/sociology/staff/watson.shtm
Waverman Len London Business School http://www.london.edu/ri/Full_Time_Faculty___Staff/Leonard_Waverm
an/leonard_waverman.html
Webster Andrew University of York http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/soci/s_webs.html

19
Webster Juliet Trinity College Dublin http://www.tcd.ie/erc/about.htm#JWb
Wernick Paul University of Hertfordshire http://www.feis.herts.ac.uk/home.asp?filename=/computer/home.asp
Wessels Bridgette University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/socst/staff/b_wessels.htm
Whalen Jack Xerox PARC, USA http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/incite/wirejackwhalenbio.htm
Whittaker Steve University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/I-M/is/people/stafpage/whittake
Williams Matthew Cardiff University http://www.cf.ac.uk/socsi/whoswho/williams-m.html
Williams* Robin University of Edinburgh http://www.rcss.ed.ac.uk/people/robinw.html
Wilson Andrew Lancaster University http://www.ling.lancs.ac.uk/staff/andrew/andrew.htm
Winner Langdon Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, http://www.rpi.edu/~winner
USA
Wittenburg* Peter Max Planck Institute for http://www.mpi.nl/world/persons/profession/pewi.html
Psycholinguistics, Netherlands
Woolgar Steve University of Oxford http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/html/faculty_profile.asp?ID=5174
Wouters* Paul Netherlands Institute for Scientific http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/group_members/home_page_paul_w
Information Services (NIWI) outers/toon
Wright Patricia Cardiff University http://www.cf.ac.uk/psych/home/wrightp1
Wyatt Tristram University of Oxford http://www.online.ox.ac.uk/office/wyatt.htm
Wyatt* Sally University of Amsterdam, http://users.fmg.uva.nl/swyatt/index.htm
Netherlands
Yearley Steve University of York http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/sei/staff/syearley.html
Zeitlyn* David University of Kent http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/dz/dz.html
Zinberg Dorothy Harvard University, USA http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/degreeprog/courses.nsf/wzWebFaculty/Zin
berg351?Opendocument
Zittrain Jonathan Harvard University, USA http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/zittrain.html

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Appendix 3: Sample questionnaire

Dear

ESRC have asked me to do a scoping report to identify issues and problems they
should be funding around "the social shaping of e-Science and e-Social Science".

Despite the enormous unfolding investment in eg grid technologies, it seems we know

almost nothing about how and why (and by whom) these new technologies will be
taken up, nor what will be the likely effects on the nature and conduct of e-
(Social)Science research. “Social shaping” is defined very broadly to include all
social scientific aspects of the genesis, use, implementation and effects of the new e
technologies.

On the basis of initial searches we have selected a number of people with interests or
potential interests in this area. So we are keen know where and how you see your
work fit in (if at all), and if you have any views on what issues and questions ESRC
should be funding in this area. Would you be so kind as to help us please by taking a
few moments to respond to the brief questions below?

Many thanks for your help

Steve

1. We have thus far identified a number of questions and issues that fall within the
remit of social shaping of e-Science and e-Social Science. Examples are:

What social circumstances encourage or inhibit data sharing and collaborative

working? - How will the implementation of new grid technologies affect this
situation? - How will the new grid technologies affect the methodologies employed by
scientists and social scientists? - How will patterns of communication between
scientists be affected? - To what extent will IPR be an issue? - Can we anticipate
different attitudes to risk, liability and responsibility? - Are changing structures of
accountability concomitant with changing communication practices? - What are the
issues around ethics, privacy and trust? - What different social and economic factors
affect the uptake and use of grid technologies in different organisational settings? -
How can scientists and social scientists be persuaded to make use of the new
technologies?

Which of these questions best describe your own work? Which others should we add?

2. We have also identified a number of disciplinary perspectives that come under the
very broad rubric of “social shaping of e-Science and e-Social Science”. Examples
are:

- Sociology of technology, science and technology studies

21
 - Social informatics, CSCW, ethnomethodology
- Library information science, computer-assisted content analysis, data mining
- Organisational analysis, economics and business studies, innovation theory
- Science communication
- History and philosophy of science and technology
- Communication studies and education studies
- Psychology and anthropology of technology use
- Media studies and internet studies
- Social science methodology

Which of these disciplinary perspectives best fits with your own work? Or, if none of
these apply, how would you characterise your work?

3. Could your work be reasonably described as:

a) social shaping of e-(Social)Science

b) social shaping of other technologies
c) neither (please specify why not)

4.Frequently, a distinction is made between research which uses the new (grid)
technologies and research that is about the use of these technologies. Does your
research fit most easily into:

a) research which uses new technologies

b) research which is about the use of new technologies
c) both

5. Please nominate 3 (or more) people who you regard as the key players in this area:

6.Can you think of others who, although not working within a “social shaping” remit,
may be interested in collaborating in “social shaping of e-Science and e-Social
Science” projects or initiatives?

Thanks again!

22
Appendix 4: A small sample of indicative readings relating to the social shaping
of e-Science and e-Social Science

(NB This is absolutely not a representative, let alone a comprehensive bibliography.)

Beaulieu, Anne, (2003) ‘Mediating ethnography: the Internet, situated knowledge and
objectivity in anthropology’, paper for the Workshop ‘Objects of Objectivity’, September,
NERDI.
www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/conferences/workshop_objects_of_objectivity/programme_pape
rs/toon

Committee on a KNAW Research Institute for e-Science, (2003) The KNAW International
Research Institute on e-Science Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRISS) (15
September)

Crabtree, Andy, (2003) Designing Collaborative Systems. A Practical Guide to Ethnography

(Springer-Verlag UK).

ETAN Expert Working Group (1999) Transforming European Science through Information
and Communication Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities of the Digital Age.
Prepared for the European Commission. Directorate General for Research, Directorate AP-
RTD Actions: Policy Co-ordination and Strategy.

Haythornthwaite, Caroline (2002). Building social networks via computer networks: Creating
and sustaining distributed learning communities. In K.A. Renninger & W. Shumar, Building
Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace (pp.159-190). Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.

Heath, D, E Koch, B Ley and M Montoya (1999) Nodes and queries - Linking locations in
networked fields of inquiry American Behavioral Scientist 43(3): 450-463.

Hert, P. (1997) ‘The Dynamics of On-Line Interaction in a Scholarly Debate’, The

Information Society Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 329-360.

Hine, Christine, ‘The ethnography of cyberscience: information in contemporary science’,

Research Proposal to the ESRC.

Hine, Christine, (2000) Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage.

Hine, Christine, (2002) ‘Cyberscience and social boundaries: the implications of laboratory
talk on the Internet’, Sociological Research Online 7 (2), August 31, 79-99.

Kling, R. and McKim, G. (2000) ‘Not Just a Matter of Time: Field Differences in the
Shaping of Electronic Media in Supporting Scientific Communication’, Journal of the
American Society for Information Science Vol. 51, No. 14,
http://www.slis.indiana.edu/kling/publications.html

Lewenstein, B.V. (1995) ‘Do Public Electronic Bulletin Boards Help Create Scientific
Knowledge? The Cold Fusion Case’, Science, Technology and Human Values Vol. 20, No. 2,
pp. 123-149.

Mann, Chris and Stewart, Fiona, (2000) Using the Internet in Qualitative Research: A
Handbook for Researching Online. New Technologies for Social Research series. (London:
Sage)

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Matzat Uwe, (2001) Social Networks and Cooperation in Electronic Communities. A
theoretical-empirical Analysis of Academic Communication and Internet Discussion Groups.
(Amsterdam: Thela Publisher)

Nentwich, Michael, (2003) Cyberscience. Research in the Age of the Internet (Austrian
Academy of Sciences Press, Vienna)

Nowotny, H, P Scott and M Gibbons (2001) Re-thinking Science. Cambridge: Polity.

OECD (2000) The Global Research Village Conference 2000: Access to Publicly Financed
Research Organised jointly by the Netherlands Ministry of Education, Culture and Science,
Directorate Research and Science Policy and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation
and Development (OECD), Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI),
Committee for Scientific and Technological Policy (CSTP)

Roberts, Kathryn A. & Richard W. Wilson, (2002) ‘ICT and the Research Process: Issues
Around the Compatibility of Technology with Qualitative Data Analysis’, Forum Qualitative
Social Research, Volume 3, No. 2 – May.
http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-02/2-02robertswilson-e.htm

Steering Committee on Research Opportunities Relating to Economic and Social Impacts of

Computing and Communications, National Research Council,
Fostering Research on the Economic and Social Impacts of Information Technology
(http://books.nap.edu/catalog/6269.html)

Walsh, John P. & T. Bayma, (1996) ‘Computer networks and scientific work,’ Social Studies
of Science 26, 661-703.

Wouters, Paul, (2000) ‘The impact of the Internet on the sciences’. Paper presented at
4S/EASST conference Worlds in Transition: Technoscience, Citizenship and Culture in the
21st Century. September 27-39, University of Vienna, Austria.

Zeitlyn, David, M. David & J. Bex, (1999) Knowledge Lost in Information: Patterns of Use
and Non-Use of Networked Bibliographic Resources. British Library Research and Innovation
Centre Research Report no. RIC/G/313.

24