Informatics Colloquium on Cyberinfrastructure for the Ages

Geof Bowker and Leigh Star, Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego

2pm Tuesday 31st August Psychology Lecture Theatre, F21, George Square, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh

Focus of the Colloquium

Current research on distributed knowledge processes suggests a critical conflict between knowledge processes in groups and the technologies built to support them. The conflict centres on observations that authentic and efficient knowledge creation and sharing is deeply embedded in an interpersonal face to face context, but that technologies to support distributed knowledge processes rely on the assumption that knowledge can be made mobile outside these specific contexts. This paper draws on the history of the development of large scale information infrastructures over the past millennium to explore the mutual imbrication of knowledge, organizational form and political agenda and adduce some lessons for the contemporary push to create e-science.

Further Information

Background papers are available at http://weber.ucsd.edu/~gbowker/pubs.htm
All welcome. For further information contact Prof Robin Williams, Institute for Studies of Science, Technology and Innovation, The University of Edinburgh (R. Williams@ ed. ac. uk)
This visit is sponsored by the EPSRC Dependability of Computing Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration (DIRC)