A wide range of developments in ICT, covering hardware, software, and networking technologies, bring about ongoing changes in the science system and research methodology. They include significant computing power and storage capacity improvements and better networking and search technologies.
Such developments have allowed scientists and researchers to rapidly use the Internet and ICT tools. However, there are concerns that the Internet is becoming inadequate for certain scientific purposes.
Introduction
Several governments and universities have recently taken initiatives to develop faster networking technologies to meet the needs of science. ICT-related changes underlying the evolving science system have three main sources:
- Technological change in the ICT industry (mostly driven by needs unrelated to science)
- Scientists and Researchers’ efforts to develop their tools; and
- Government programs specifically designed to foster developments in ICT and apply them to scientific needs, the US High-Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) program.
Focus
The application areas of ICT include:
- You can reach deeper into your local area as well as take your search far beyond your regular a.boundaries
- You can access current information at all hours of the day or night.
- Using the Internet in your searchdemonstratesC.leading-edge skills
- The Internet lets you meet new people and initiate new relationships with others in your profession or region
- The Internet can help you explore career alternatives and options that you maybe haven’t considered
Main Technological Developments
Conventional computers solve problems by performing program instructions one at a time in a strict sequence.
Electronics manufacturers have provided users with increasing computing power at decreasing cost for many years, essentially by squeezing a greater number of ever smaller transistors and other components onto chips, thanks to continuous advances in lithographic techniques (Science,1996).
They have also found alternative ways of getting more processing power from computers, for example by using reduced instruction set computer chips (RISC) or special-purpose chips to perform designated tasks faster than a general-purpose processor (New Scientist, 1996).
Focus 1
The supercomputers used for research generally have custom-made, expensive processors which provide better performance. Up to the late 1980s, vector supercomputers were the most powerful computers.
They were the only option for researchers with truly large problems, who used them to perform calculations simultaneously on long strings of numbers, i.e., vectors (Pool,1995).
The research potential of parallel computers has been demonstrated more recently. These multiple processor machines’ real major programming tasks down method remains quite difficult, however, and cannot be used to solve all problems.
Focus 2
Cheaper off-the-shelf components and software have generally contributed to the increased use of information technology. A new generation of extremely powerful off-the-shelf commodity chips is also at the heart of an emerging standard parallel architecture(Matthews,1996).
Even working on their own, these chips attain speeds of up to 200,300 or 600 million flops (floating point operations per second). Many off-the-shelf components are also available for certain scientific instruments.
Plug-in circuit cards allow new features to be added to personal computers (PCs) without much adjustment.
Focus 3
Complex software, increasingly available for Windows Operating System(OS), contributes to the use of technology by non-specialists at lower cost. Various storage and information delivery technologies continue to co-exist.
Traditional storage systems such as the CD-ROM(compact disk-read-only memory) are still being used by publishers, particularly where current Internet access limitations would result in very slow access when the package contains great quantities of data.
New products that combine CD-ROM data with information on the World Wide Web(WWW) or online services allow publishers to deliver huge amounts of data on CD-ROM and then use the Internet to offer updates or transactions.
Focus 4
The Digital VideoDisk(DVD) can store seven times as much data as a CD-ROM and deliver a moving picture quality that outshines la-ser disks. It is particularly useful for multimedia publishing and will enable educational software, in particular, to incorporate more video.
The mass storage industry continues to develop technologies that can handle increasing quantities of data, thereby satisfying the needs of scientists carrying out large-scale simulations, experiments, and observation projects.
Electronic networks constitute the infrastructure that provides scientists with new means of communication that give them access to data, information, and software in cyberspace. It allows them to share and control remote instruments, and link distant learners to virtual classrooms and back issues of electronic journals in almost any discipline.
Focus 5
They act as Altavista, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos, Web 12 Crawler and Yahoo constantly tunnelling through and cataloguing Internet documents. Here are also limited area search engines that index only resources relevant to a specific subject and thus raise the speed and efficiency of searches. Internet search technology is still, however, in its infancy.
Many ICT applications used by scientists, such as access to databases, information services, and e-mail, were originally based on narrowband technologies; broadband technologies were only needed for video applications.
However, the growth of the Internet and new interactive-often multimedia applications has led to a rapidly growing demand for high bandwidth technology, which may also be needed to process large amounts of data.
Communication among Researchers
Improved communication due to ICT may contribute to an increase in the size of professional networks. For example, among oceanographers, intensive e-mail users report larger professional networks.
In biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics, collaborations have also increased in size, apparently in association with the use of ICT.
In experimental particle physics, the Internet has facilitated experiments in which a large number of people collaborate effectively.
Focus 1
A more significant change in the organization of research has been the increase in remote collaboration, particularly at the international level.
Computer networks have reduced the need for co-workers to be at a single location. Consequently, a new form of research work has emerged, the “extended research group”:
This is typically a large, unified, cohesive, cooperative research group that is geographically dispersed, yet co-ordinated as if were at one location and under the guidance of a single director.
It provides access to colleagues and equipment, software, and databases that are traditionally part of the laboratory organization, without regard to geography. These”collaborators” rely heavily on ICT to coordinate their work.
Focus 2
E-mail over the Internet enables researchers to overcome many barriers to communication due to geographic distance. such as time, costs, and language.
The main requirement is that all members of the group have Internet addresses. E-mail was preferred to the telephone because scientists who travel may be hard to reach by phone.
But can be contacted at their virtual address because written messages allow time for formulating answers before responding, and because colleagues whose native language is not English prefer written communication.
Focus 3
Therefore, E-mail is considered next best to face-to-face interaction and a good medium for facilitating collaboration among researchers.
However, many researchers emphasize the importance of establishing a common understanding of the research problem through intensive, face-to-face interaction before engaging in computer-mediated collaboration.
For example, the Modiago scholarship presently has two students from the Department of Electrical/Electronic Engineering, University of Ibadan(Nigeria), and two others from another country working on the same project yet not debarred by geographical distances.
Focus 5
With closer links among geographically dispersed researchers, the international community of scholars is becoming denser. For a given research topic, ICT allows the creation of more complex work groups with more fluid structures.
Virtual research teams can be formed and link a variety of researchers, each of whom contributes his or her skills to the project. Projects take advantage of networks to obtain access to the precise skills needed, and researchers gain access to projects that demand their skills.
As a result, the research topic, rather than geographical proximity, determines collaboration decisions.
Effects on Status and Hierarchy
ICT-based communication can lead to greater decentralization or less difference in status because interaction over the Internet provides fewer clues to status, rank, and gender than face-to-face or even mail or phone communication (Walsh,1997).
Group decisions are consequently less influenced by the status of those proposing particular solutions. Moreover, by its informal nature, e-mail reduces lower-level researchers’ caginess about contacting higher-level ones.
Focus 1
It may facilitate the creation of new ties among remote collaborators and give researchers with lower status easier access to their more eminent colleagues with whom they may eventually publish results jointly.
On the other hand. it may create even greater disparity in publication rates as top researchers become attached to a greater number of research projects via e-mail contacts.
To the extent that status distinctions remain, however, individuals with high status will continue to exert more influence on group decisions.
Focus 2
As the technology has been developed, more status cues are being inserted into the communication. E-mail addresses, for example, are evolving from a nondescript assembly of letters and numbers to a combination of family name, institution or company, and country of registration.
Also, other mechanisms for introducing the sta-tus-reinforcing procedures of earlier communication technologies (mail, telephone) are beginning to appear. For example, high-level researchers increasingly use gatekeepers to screen their e-mails just as they screen letters and calls.
Focus 3
Similarly, if ICT violates existing work norms or status distinctions, it may not be used. New technology can also change part of the basis for existing status distinctions.
ICT can, for example, enhance the status of younger colleagues who are more familiar with the latest technology.
It may also provide peripheral researchers with wider access to crucial resources such as computing facilities, software, or databases that have traditionally been unequally distributed.
Improved access could reduce the gap between more and less eminent research general, ICT has allowed more researchers to have access.
Conclusion
This has access to the latest information and thus remains up to date. However, there is a significant difference between having access and being present. Researchers at top institutions have access to oral information and seminars as well as research papers.
They also have access to specialists who know which information and papers are important. The filtering provided by local and informal communication is an important part of the process of finding research information. Researchers at large institutions usually also have better access to funding and equipment. Read more related posts on our research page of the site.
adminate
