The Influence and Impact of Web 2.0 on e-Research Infrastructure, Applications and Users

Applications DayApplications Day

De Roure, D. and Goble, C. (2007) myExperiment – A Web 2.0 Virtual Research Environment. In: International Workshop on Virtual Research Environments and Collaborative Work Environments, May 2007, Edinburgh, UK.

...revisited

Or...

1. The Long Tail• Our target users are the

large number of scientists conducting the routine processes of science on a daily basis.

• Through sharing we have the potential to enable smart scientists to be smarter and propagate their smartness, in turn enabling other scientists to become better and conduct better science.

• myExperiment currently has 1640 registered users, 138 groups, 651 workflows, 170 files and 50 packs

• Lots of unique IP visits!• Total viewings: 85168

Most viewed: 2934 Total downloads: 68525Most downloaded: 3524

• We share process• There is evidence in papers and

talks that people are finding and using workflows to achieve new scientific results

2. Data is the Next “Intel Inside”

• myExperiment understands that scientists are focused on data, not software or one particular workflow engine.

• Furthermore, workflows themselves are the data of myExperiment and provide its unique value.

• Taverna 1, GWorkflowDL, Taverna 2 beta, Chemistry Plan, Trident (Package), Trident (XOML), WSVLAM

• Packs are our new Intel Inside?

3. Users Add Value

• myExperiment makes it easy to find workflows and is designed to make it useful and straightforward to share workflows and add workflows to the pool.

• To succeed we draw on the insights into the incentive models of scientists gained through experience with Taverna.

• Largest public workflow collection

• BUT Upload incentive has long return on investment• Paul Fisher gets support

requests not credit!• We are prepared to pay

expert curators• Quality triage imminent

4. Network Effects by Default• myExperiment aggregates

user data as a side-effect of using the VRE.

• The ability to execute workflows from myExperiment, and the integration of tools such as Taverna with myExperiment, further enable us to achieve increased value through usage.

• Google works!• Privacy restricts

recommendation• Biocatalogue takes this

forward

5. Some Rights Reserved

• myExperiment users require protection as well as sharing, but the environment is designed for maximum ease of sharing to achieve collective benefits – workflows are "hackable" and "remixable".

• Initiatives such as Science Commons provide a useful context for this.

• Compare with OpenWetWare• E-Lab lifecycle...

6. The Perpetual Beta• myExperiment is an online

service – indeed a collection of online services – and is continually evolving in response to its users.

• To support this, the project commenced with developers being embedded in the user community.

• Through day-to-day contact between designers and researchers, design is both inspired and validated.

• Daily dev meetings, weekly management meetings, monthly hackfests & team meetings with guests

• Test servers (virtualised)• Friends and

family,champions

7. Cooperate, Don't Control• myExperiment is a network

of cooperating data services with simple interfaces which make it easy to work with content.

• It both provides services and reuses the service of others. It aims to support lightweight programming models so that it can easily be part of loosely coupled systems.

• It’s not a lightweight set of components

• Nor is Facebook!

Search Engine

reviewsratingsgroupsfriendships

tags

Enactor

filesworkflows

`

HTML

For DevelopersFor Developers

RDF Store

SPAR

QL

endp

oint

Managed REST API

face

book

iGoo

gle

andr

oid

XML

APIconfig

mySQL

profiles

packscredits

8. Software Above the Level of a Single Device

• The current model of Taverna running on the scientist’s desktop PC or laptop is evolving into myExperiment being available through a variety of interfaces and supporting workflow execution.

• Interfaces for iGoogle, Facebook and Android

1. Fit in, Don’t Force Change2. Jam today and more jam

tomorrow3. Just in Time and Just

Enough 4. Act Local, think Global 5. Enable Users to Add Value6. Design for Network Effects

1. Fit in, Don’t Force Change2. Jam today and more jam

tomorrow3. Just in Time and Just

Enough 4. Act Local, think Global 5. Enable Users to Add Value6. Design for Network Effects

Six Principles of Software Design to Empower ScientistsSix Principles of Software Design to Empower Scientists

1. Keep your Friends Close2. Embed3. Keep Sight of the Bigger

Picture4. Favours will be in your

Favour5. Know your users6. Expect and Anticipate

Change

1. Keep your Friends Close2. Embed3. Keep Sight of the Bigger

Picture4. Favours will be in your

Favour5. Know your users6. Expect and Anticipate

Change

De Roure, D. and Goble, C. (2009) Six Principles of Software Design to Empower Scientists. IEEE Software vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 88-95, Jan/Feb 2009.

Scientists do share – also see OpenWetWare Looking at upload incentives

Web2 Principles worked Privacy, credit, attribution, licensing really matter

We have chosen a software platform that enables us to spend more time with the users in development and provide agile response in operation

Next: controlled vocabularies, navigation of results, repository integration, recommendations, ...

We want to explode myExperiment into an e-Lab – what are the components, services and research objects?

Contributions of the National Centre for e-Social Science have been crucial

Closing remarksClosing remarks

Contact

David De Rouredder@ecs.soton.ac.uk

Carole Goblecarole.goble@manchester.ac.uk

Further infowiki.myexperiment.org

Thanks

The myGrid ConsortiumNational Centre for e-Social Science