Governance and cyberinfrastructure in the Earth system sciences

Governance and cyberinfrastructure in the Earth system sciences

Paul N. Edwards School of Information and Dept. of History, University of Michigan

EarthCube goal }  “…to design, build, and maintain an easy-to-use system

based on existing resources that embraces open-source culture and methods to align technology development with scientific needs.”

Richard et al. “Community‐developed Geoscience Cyberinfrastructure.” Eos 95, no. 20 (2014): 165-166

EarthCube All-hands Meeting, June 2014 Paul N. Edwards

Governance: formal vs. informal


The Tower of Babel… }  Heritage of multiple

disciplines, sensors, data analysis methods

}  Cacophony of formats, metadata, software

}  Earthcube survey of ~175 scientists (2011): need… }  Common data formats }  Better metadata and metadata

standards }  Better ways to find data }  Coupled web-based services,

such as visualization tools


Cyberinfrastructure and climate change informatics (Rood & Edwards 2014)

R. B. Rood & P. N. Edwards, “Climate Informatics: Human Experts and the End-to-End System,” Earthzine, May 2014


The loading dock model of cyberinfrastructure

Data Models Services

Loading Dock Model EarthCube All-hands Meeting, June 2014 Paul N. Edwards

Access is not the main problem }  Beyond the loading dock model }  Need for translational information for (many) particular

users and uses }  Human communication — often informal — remains the

most basic process for effective data sharing }  Metadata as product vs. metadata as process

}  Always provide for communication with data creators


This morning }  A little history of infrastructure }  … and of governance in meteorology }  What is governance? }  Governance and software in Earth system science




Infrastructure: a historical model }  System building: designed, coherent,

centrally organized }  Proliferation of systems; variation }  Networks: dedicated gateways link

heterogeneous systems }  Internetworks: generic gateways

link heterogeneous networks }  Decentralization, fragmentation }  Abandonment, substitution

time

Edwards et al. 2007


Dedicated or improvised gateways (Egyedi 2001)

}  Whose responsibility? }  Who sets standards? }  Who pays?


Computer networks link computers


Generic gateways the ISO standard container


Internetworks link networks

}  Routers are gateways }  connect computers to each

other (network) }  … and connect the local

network to other networks

}  “The” Internet connects millions of networks




1872 War Dept. synoptic map EarthCube All-hands Meeting, June 2014 Paul N. Edwards

The Victorian Internet (Standage 1998): British telegraph network, 1890


1870 1900

1930 1960

Surface station coverage: evolution

Source: J. Hansen and S. Lebedeff, “Global Trends of Measured Surface Air Temperature,” Journal of Geophysical Research 92, no. D11 (1987), 13,346-13,347



Stages in the history of weather forecasting }  Systems: national weather

services }  Set own standards

}  Networks: national and international }  The Réseau Mondial

}  Internetworks }  Integrating heterogeneous

data sources }  Surface stations }  Air bases and airports }  Marine data }  Satellites

}  Governance }  International Meteorological

Organization (1873-1949) }  World Meteorological

Organization (WMO, founded 1950)

}  Set standards, assisted coordination — but lightweight relative to national services


an internetwork

World Weather Watch •  Planned early 1960s

•  Operational 1968




What is governance? }  Aligning an organization’s practices and procedures with

its goals, purposes, and values }  Oversight, steering, and articulating organizational norms

and processes }  vs. management: detailed planning, supervision of work,

allocation of effort


Modes of governance Hierarchy Network (of

firms) Market or firm

Bazaar

Contractual framework

Employment contract

Neoclassical contract

Property contract

Open source license

Incentives intensity

Low Medium High Low

Control intensity

High Medium Low Low

Social relations

Strong ties Strong ties Anonymous Mostly anonymous or weak ties

Membership Employees selected

Members select each other

Buyer selected by seller

Open; many free riders

Timeframe Long-term commitment

Long-term commitment

Transaction or contract

Variable; no commitment

Source: adapted from B. Demil and X. Lecocq, “Neither Market Nor Hierarchy Nor Network: The Emergence of Bazaar Governance,” Organization studies 27, no. 10 (2006): 1447-66


Open source culture: bazaar governance }  E. Raymond, “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”

}  Linux is ‘a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches’

}  Characteristic: chaotic market, huge variations in quality

}  “Low levels of control and weak incentives intensity are distinctive features of bazaar [governance], lending a high uncertainty to governed transactions.”

}  Source: B. Demil and X. Lecocq, “Neither Market Nor Hierarchy Nor Network: The Emergence of Bazaar Governance,” Organization Studies 27, no. 10 (2006): 1447-1466.


…but how does governance really work?

Highly competent groups can get a lot done without much management from above — but there are limits to leaderless teams, especially when work is time-sensitive and requires coordinating complex, interdependent activity.




Organizations in science… }  Organizations provide space, equipment, money, and support

}  Stable, long-lasting (decades) }  Well-defined roles and routines

}  Have boundaries, hierarchies, and entrenched cultures }  Research (NCAR, GFDL, universities) vs. operational (NOAA, NASA,

DOE) }  National laboratories and military research }  Funding agencies (NSF, NIH) and foundations

}  They strongly structure work incentives and disincentives


… vs. projects }  ...but most scientific work takes place in projects, teams,

and working groups }  Varying sizes }  Lifespans vary, but mostly short (1-5 years)

}  Depend heavily on funding cycles

}  Often cross organizational boundaries }  Many scientists are involved in several projects at once

}  Overlapping membership

}  Funding is an ongoing concern





Governance: norms & rules (Elinor Ostrom)

}  Constitutional rules }  Collective choice rules }  Operational norms and rules


Operational norms and rules }  Expectations that govern everyday interaction among

project members }  Largely informal and tacit (unarticulated)

}  May be embedded in organizational routines or tools

}  Usually surface only during crisis or conflict }  Difficult to change without a forcing factor

}  Tools can embody operational norms — but usually can’t force changes


Cyberinfrastructure pitfalls }  Software makes it seem easy to build gateways between

systems and networks… }  “You just…”

}  … but social, institutional, and security gateways are even more important }  Multiple institutional cultures }  Complex projects with many working groups }  Multiple security and legal standards can block interchange


Conclusions: some lessons from history }  Centralized design and control is not the primary path to

working infrastructure }  Instead, build gateways (couplers)

}  Standards technologies, institutions }  Must be lightweight, readily understood, easily transferred

across regions and cultures (including disciplinary cultures)

}  International governance of data standardization and exchange in meteorology was achieved by the 1960s }  in the face of enormous technical obstacles (communication

channels) and social obstacles (Cold War, decolonization)


EarthCube goal }  “…to design, build, and maintain an easy-to-use system

based on existing resources that embraces open-source culture and methods to align technology development with scientific needs.”

Richard et al. “Community‐developed Geoscience Cyberinfrastructure.” Eos 95, no. 20 (2014): 165-166


Conclusions: some lessons from history

}  The tensions between hierarchy, network, and bazaar modes of governance will be difficult to resolve

}  Cyberinfrastructure can help, but it can also hinder }  Social and organizational issues must be addressed along with

technology

}  The EarthCube experiment is enormously important, and worth doing!


Edwards et al., Knowledge Infrastructures: Intellectual Frameworks and Research Challenges (2013) knowledgeinfrastructures.org


Governance and cyberinfrastructure in the Earth system sciences

Science

earthcube survey

earthcube goal

earth system sciences

edwards school of information

substitution time edwards

synoptic map earthcube

heterogeneous networks

internetworks link networks