Science and the Web: From Theory to Implementations
July 27th – August 2nd, 2008
Abstract:
Scientific research is one of the most complex endeavours of the human society. Knowledge is expanded by the interplay of millions of researchers and thousands of institutions that are involved in funding, conducting, and publishing scientific research. The parties involved in this interplay may have different motivations and interests, and have access to different pieces of information. How can such a complex system work reliably? And how can it be improved? Tackling this question requires experimental, theoretical, and computational approaches from diverse disciplines, including philosophy, behavioural sciences, and economics. Results from these approaches may help to improve existing institutions and may inspire the development of novel mechanisms in scientific research. Clearly, the internet is playing a major role in transforming mechanisms of scientific research. To develop optimal implementations it is essential to study properties and dynamics of existing tools and communities in the internet, and to understand the interplay between motivation, interests, and incentives, between accessing, contributing and distributing information. A better understanding of these issues will improve the use of web-based tools not only for scientific research, but also for educational purposes and decision-making processes. We hope the workshop will result in the development of novel research projects, and in starting points for software implementations to understand and facilitate the flow of information in the scientific community and other communities on the web. To reach this goal we aim to bring together researchers from diverse academic and non-academic backgrounds. Participants will interact in a sci-foo format workshop with a minimum of scheduled lectures and a maximum of time for free discussion. We start with a focus on the scientific community and then broaden the perspectives towards web communities in general.
Lecturers and moderators:
Johan Almenberg, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden
Gaell Mainguy, The Institut Veolia Environnement, France
Dominique Cardon, Orange, France
Karen Croxson, Oxford University, UK
Marc Foglia, L’Ecole européenne de gouvernance, France
Bastien Guerry, Centre de Réflexions Interdisciplinaires, France
David Chavalarias, L’École Polytechnique, France
Robert Hoffmann, MIT, USA
JB Michel, Harvard, USA
John Ioannidis, University of Ioannina, Greece
Giancarlo Spagnolo, University of Rome, Italy
More information:
Detailed workshop schedule to be announced.
Prerequisites:
Due to the extremely interdisciplinary nature of the school, there are no formal prerequisites for the candidates. Each application will be evaluated separately.
Fee:
Fellowships are available to cover registration and accomodation costs for all participants.
Application:
Application documents should include a CV and a motivation letter with a list of scientific questions participants already have as regards to topic and a eventually a list of things already done on the web (researches, software…).
Send your application to: wwwscience@medils.hr
Application deadline:
June 15th
Organizers:
Livio Riboli-Sasco
Thomas Pfeiffer
François Taddei
Organised with the support of Orange Interdisciplinary Chair