{"id":1468,"date":"2014-12-17T13:54:35","date_gmt":"2014-12-17T21:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2014-12-17T13:54:35","modified_gmt":"2014-12-17T21:54:35","slug":"helping-research-on-the-web-one-prototype-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/mozilla-science\/helping-research-on-the-web-one-prototype-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Helping research on the web, one prototype at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This is the second post in our Year in Review series. Every day this week, one member of the Science Lab will be posting their reflections on lessons learned in 2014, and point to plans for 2015 in their area of expertise as discussed by the team in Portland earlier this month. Today, our lead developer, Abby Cabunoc, writes about her experiences leading our technical prototyping strategy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This past August, I joined the Mozilla Science Lab as lead developer because I care deeply about using the web to help move science forward. With a history rooted in the open web and open source communities, Mozilla is in a powerful position to facilitate a culture of open research on the web. In this post, I&#8217;ll be going over our technical prototyping strategy as we look back at 2014 and plan for the next year.<\/p>\n<h2>Why do we need prototypes?<\/h2>\n<p>In order to advance science\u00a0on the web, we need to test ways to support research through open standards and tools.\u00a0Prototypes can be used to leverage existing systems and technologies in the research environment in an open way. At the Science Lab, we want to empower the scientific community to come together to build tools that make research more efficient and reliable by promoting accessibly, openness and interoperability.<\/p>\n<h2>How are we helping build these prototypes?<\/h2>\n<p>We\u00a0approach prototyping in a strategic way that not only provides a useful tool to researchers, but helps strengthen communities and enable\u00a0them to build their own tools.\u00a0As part of our technical prototyping strategy, we<\/p>\n<ul type=\"a\">\n<li>a) help\u00a0<strong>identify<\/strong> tools and standards needed for research to thrive on the web,<\/li>\n<li>b)<strong> partner<\/strong> with relevant institutions and communities to leverage existing technologies and facilitate interoperability and<\/li>\n<li>c)<strong> empower<\/strong> the research community to come together and work on these problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What does this look like?<\/h2>\n<h4>Partnering on prototypes for web-based science tools<\/h4>\n<p>In 2014 we established a variety of partnerships within the community. Together with\u00a0publishers, funders, industry and academia, we worked on solutions advancing science on the web.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Code as a Research Object: <\/strong>This collaboration with the code hosting service <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/\">GitHub<\/a> and the open data repositories <a href=\"http:\/\/figshare.com\/\">fig<strong>share<\/strong><\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/zenodo.org\/\">Zenodo<\/a> explores\u00a0how to better integrate code and scientific software into the scholarly workflow. In 2014, <a href=\"https:\/\/guides.github.com\/activities\/citable-code\/\">several<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/mozillascience.github.io\/code-research-object\/\">technical<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/mozillascience.org\/code-as-a-research-object-updates-prototypes-next-steps\/\">prototypes<\/a> emerged from the collaboration allowing users to easily obtain\u00a0a DOI for their code\u00a0making it citable and easier to incorporate into the existing credit system. We also engaged the community to discuss what software metadata standards are needed to allow\u00a0for discoverability, reuse and citation.\u00a0<span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">In<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> 2015, we<\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\"> wi<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">ll continue to work on a JSON-LD specification to enable discoverability across repositories,<\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\"> expand our<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> discussions with the NIH&#8217;s Big Data to Knowledge Program around software citation, and explore tie-ins with university libraries. More on the project here: <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h url\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mozillascience.org\/code-as-as-research-object-new-phase\/\">http:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/code-as-as-research-object-new-phase\/<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Open Access Button:\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">Early in 2014, the Mozilla Science Lab worked to extend the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.openaccessbutton.org\/\">Open Access Button<\/a> to help<\/span><span class=\"author-p-21003\"> researchers locate publicly available copies of pay-walled literature by linking institutional repositories, pre<\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">&#8211;<\/span><span class=\"author-p-21003\">print archives, and Open Access publishers. Since then, t<\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">he Open Access Button team has merged the\u00a0code<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> crafted by this project<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">\u00a0into their redesign, expanding their discoverability mechanism. <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h url\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mozillascience.org\/open-access-button-project-updates-prototypes-next-steps\/\">http:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/open-access-button-project-updates-prototypes-next-steps\/<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li>\n<div id=\"attachment_1361\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/15665169525_d71035d974_q.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1361\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-1361 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/15665169525_d71035d974_q.jpg\" alt=\"OpenBadges at MozFest 2014! CC image courtesy of christosbacharakis on Flickr\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1361\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><small>OpenBadges at MozFest 2014! CC image courtesy of christosbacharakis on Flickr<\/small><\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Contributorship Badges:\u00a0<\/strong><b><\/b><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">Our next prototyping effort is exploring the use of digital badges for crediting contributors to scholarly papers for their work. As the research environment becomes more digital, we want to test how we can use this medium to help bring transparency and credit for individuals in the publication process. This work is a collaboration with publishers <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biomedcentral.com\/\">BioMed Central<\/a>\u00a0and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.plos.org\/\">Public Library of Science<\/a>; the biomedical research foundation, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wellcome.ac.uk\/index.htm\">The Wellcome Trust<\/a>; the software and technology firm <a href=\"http:\/\/www.digital-science.com\/\">Digital Science<\/a>; and the registry of unique researcher identifiers,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/orcid.org\/\">ORCID<\/a>.<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">\u00a0You can read more about that project here: <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h url\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mozillascience.org\/contributorship-badges-a-new-project\/\">http:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/contributorship-badges-a-new-project\/<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We are currently evaluating other possible partnerships and prototypes for 2015. Stay tuned for possible updates on data visualisations or review systems! We&#8217;re always looking for areas where we can help build tools to facilitate open research, let us know if you have an idea.<\/p>\n<h4>Empowering the community to build<\/h4>\n<p>In 2014 we worked to create environments\u00a0and surface projects where the community could come together to work on these projects.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sprints:\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Global Sprint:\u00a0<\/strong>In July, we hosted our first global Mozilla Science Lab sprint. There were\u00a022 participating cities and 52-consecutive hours of collaboration on tools, lesson materials and resources for open science. The community was able to come together and build new lesson materials, tools for teaching and new technologies for open science.\u00a0<span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">A full list of projects can be found here: <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h url\"><a href=\"https:\/\/etherpad.mozilla.org\/sciencelab-2014summersprint-sites\">https:\/\/etherpad.mozilla.org\/sciencelab-2014summersprint-sites<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h b\"><b>Mozilla Festival<\/b><\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">: For this year&#8217;s \u201cscience and the web\u201d track at MozFest, we included\u00a0a series of hands-on projects. The track included <\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">more than<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> 30 sessions <\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">led by more than<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> 65 community members for <\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">more than<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> 300 participants. <\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">Community members f<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">rom the <a href=\"http:\/\/ipython.org\/notebook.html\">IPython Notebook<\/a> community, <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/\">GitHub<\/a>, the <a href=\"http:\/\/schoolofdata.org\/\">School of Data<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/ropensci.org\/\">ROpenSci<\/a>, as well as sprint projects led by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.metoffice.gov.uk\/\">Met Office<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/opennews.org\/\">Knight-Mozilla Open News<\/a> fellows, the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypl.org\/\">New York Public Library <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zooniverse.org\/\">Zooniverse<\/a><\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\"> led<\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\"> trainings. For a full list of sessions and a look at the people leading them, visit: <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h url\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mozillascience.org\/mozscience-at-mozfest\/\">http:\/\/mozscienceblog.wpengine.com\/mozscience-at-mozfest\/<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li><strong>Local events<\/strong>: In 2015, we&#8217;ll be exploring the idea of hosting local sprints, study groups and meetups. We want to give the community a place where they can meet and build together. Strong relationships and communication, especially between different fields, are essential for successful collaborations. Look out for a local Toronto Science Lab sprint early next year.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Website:\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">We are also redesigning our site to improve its use and functionality with particular focus on helping new learners from our education programs increase their open science practice and engagement in our work. We are designing it as a hub for community materials, programs, and tools including integrating <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">GitHub<\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">, the Collaborate platform, a version-control based blogging system, <\/span><span class=\"author-g-gyy1ixum4g8akl3h\">and other social functionality<\/span><span class=\"author-g-tk4gdfoy4uuhybha\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s an amazing time for science and the web! We have the community and resources to make a difference in this space. I hope you&#8217;ll join us as we build and explore different ways to help research thrive on the open web.<\/p>\n<p><small><em>Cover photo: <a href=\"http:\/\/particle-clicker.web.cern.ch\/particle-clicker\/\">particleclicker<\/a>\u00a0team demoing their game at #mozfest CC image courtesy of\u00a0yuandra on flickr<\/em><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This is the second post in our Year in Review series. Every day this week, one member of the Science Lab will be posting their reflections on lessons learned in 2014, and point to plans for 2015 in their area &hellip; <a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/mozilla-science\/helping-research-on-the-web-one-prototype-at-a-time\/\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":1495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[290376],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}