1. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk 1 Overview Communication problems between computer scientists and scientists who use computers Facilitator: Matthew Habgood, Scribe: Simon Hettrick Matthew Habgood, Gillian Sinclair, Louise Price, Tim Parkinson, Steve McGough, David Ferguson, Gabor Terstyanszky, Elizbeth vander Meer, Tiejun Ma, Simon Mueller, Steve Wilson, Edoardo Pignotti) Further breakouts: Continuation of the same breakout after the sub-topics have been discussed Production of a pamphlet, glossary, etc. (tomorrow maybe, potential attendees: Simon H., Gillian S, David F., Louise P.) “How to deal with scientists”

2. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk 2 Scope Started off with a quick discussion about the definition of a computer scientist and what’s a scientist Started off with an example from Louise Price – she worked with Steve McGough and had conversations that were peppered with computer- science terms that she did not understand Scientists are interested in getting the job done, they don’t really want to know what’s going on under the hood of the software they use However, to get the software they need, they’ve got to communicate with computer scientists – which is where communication problems arises

3. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk Documentation It needs to be understandable by the scientists that use it, rather than the computer scientists that write it Writing the documentation needs to be part of the software development process Documentation is often not accessible to scientists – so maybe we need bilingual documentation: one bit for the scientists and one for the software developers Maybe collaborate on a document/pamphlet that describes ‘What is Grid/e-Research’ to scientists (a big job – so spread the load) 3

4. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk Software Need to be developed so that there’s the least possible overhead involved for the scientists having to understand the software Shouldn’t we just develop the software so that it doesn’t need to be understood? (Bit of a split in the group here) Need to train up the software developers so that they can communicate with scientists without using computer science language One solution: could have a ‘good practice’ guide developed by OMII-UK 4

5. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk Interpretation One solution would be to have interpreters who are trained in the domain science and in computer science Prepare a dictionary – describe the common themes that come up at a level understood by scientists, such as: Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting Condor, PBS, GridSAM Workflow language Web Services Portals and portlets APIs (see list on the right for more) Also be good to include replicated words i.e. the ones that are used in different disciplines but mean different things 5 Authentication, Authorisation and Accounting Condor, PBS, GridSAM Workflow language Web Services Portals and portlets APIs Methodology, metadata Ontology Grid, cloud computing, Workflow Business process Provenance Middleware Boot-strapping SRB VFS VM

6. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk Dissemination Perfect solution would be to get the research councils to publicise us We need to publicise the resources that are out there o NGS and EGEE do a lot of training for scientists – but (at least for the scientists in the room) don’t know about People generally don’t know about Grid/e- Science, etc. o Go to domain science events – spread the word to the unconverted o Research councils could help with too 6

7. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk Conclusions There’s certainly work to do… Better external publicity about e-Research o Collaborators could use a slide in their presentations to emphasise the role played by OMII-UK Better internal publicity o Produce a pamphlet that describes – at a high level – Grid, e-Research and a glossary o Better documentation – written from the scientist’s point of view o Policy for better software development – so that developers produce understandable software 7

8. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk 8 Future work e-Research pamphlet Slide for scientists to publicise the part played by OMII-UK in their collaboration Guides for software developers that will lead to better development policies Q&A area – like Yahoo answers – where scientists can post a question and have it answered

9. web: www.omii.ac.uk email: info@omii.ac.uk Continuation Continuation of the same breakout after the sub-topics below have been discussed Production of a pamphlet, glossary, etc. (tomorrow maybe, potential attendees: Simon H., Gillian S, David F., Louise P.) “How to deal with scientists” 9