The confluence of two major trends in scientific research is leading to an upheaval in standard scientific practice and collaborative technologies. A new generation of scientists, working in large-scale collaborations, is repurposing social software for use in collaborative science. Existing social tools such as chat, IM, and FriendFind are being adopted and modified for use as group problem-solving facilities. At the same time, exponentially greater and more complex datasets are being generated at a rate that is challenging the limits of current hardware, software, and human cognitive capability. A concerted effort to create software that will support new scientific practices and handle this data tsunami is redefining the collaboratory and represents a new frontier for computer supported cooperative work.

This follow-on event to a similarly themed workshop at CHI 2009 is intended to foster community among researchers and practitioners from multiple disciplines interested in the changing dynamics of scientific collaborations.

[Workshop Website]

This workshop is part of the CSCW 2010 conference that will take place on February 6-10, 2010, in Savannah, Georgia, USA.
Position papers of 2-4 pages need to be submitted until November 20, 2009.

Too bad that I will be downunder at the time of the conference. Savannah is a pretty place… and I sure wouldn’t mind to re-visit Georgia again.

[Sebastian Fiedler]