Next Generation Cyberinfrastructure Tools

Researchers in the social and behavioral sciences and computer and information sciences have many important synergistic relationships.One way in which this is manifest is in the development and utilization of data. On the one hand, social and behavioral scientists find new ways to create and analyze data in their endeavors to describe human and organizational behavior. On the other hand, computer and information scientists conduct research that yields new ways to improve both domain-specific and general-purpose tools to analyze and visualize scientific data -- such as improving processing power, enhanced interoperability of data from different sources, data mining, data integration, information indexing and data confidentiality protection - or what we have termed cyberinfrastructure tools.

This solicitation invites proposals for "information infrastructure testbeds", each of which would include the development of the next generation of cyberinfrastructure tools applied to data from various sources collected in two areas of research fundamental to social and behavioral scientists: organizations and individuals. The tools that are developed on these platforms must not only change ways in which social and behavioral scientists research the behavior of organizations and individuals, but also serve sciences more broadly.

It is envisioned that proposals for the "organization information testbed" will address three specific components:

• the development of tools that facilitate the integration of qualitative and quantitative information from heterogeneous sources, multiple media, and/or multiple modes;
• investment in basic research that addresses the protection of the confidentiality of respondents in computerized, widely accessible databases; and
• the development of incentives, standards and policies for collecting, storing, archiving, accessing, and publishing research results using organization-relevant information.

It is envisioned that proposals for the "individual information testbed" should concern cyberinfrastructure tools that can be applied to both large scale and distributed data-sets. Proposals should address cyberinfrastructure tools that facilitate automatic collection, integration, annotation, archiving, accessing, and analyzing of

• existing distributed data sets and/or
• extensive audio and video recordings and details of physical artifacts, while paying special attention to
• the protection of the confidentiality of participant identity in widely accessible, computerized databases.