RCN: Developing an Integrative Approach to Computational and Digital History and Philosophy of Science

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This award supports the development of an international Research Coordination Network (RCN) for developing computational and big data methods for history and philosophy of science (HPS) research. Such research is beginning to yield novel insights from individual projects. However, an integrated approach is required in order to take full advantage of these methods. The RCN will take some of the steps that are necessary to eventually provide a structured representation of HPS knowledge and the foundation for a data driven computational HPS infrastructure. Given the diversity of contexts, questions, and approaches, it is clear that integration, coordination and standards cannot be imposed centrally, meaning that an RCN is the pertinent mechanism for this type of project. By establishing a new integrative approach to computational and data-driven HPS, the RCN will in turn facilitate an integration of HPS with big-data and data-driven science. In addition, the RCN will lead to new types of questions facilitated by this approach, and thereby increase the relevance of HPS for larger questions at the intersection between science and society. It will also facilitate international collaborations and the inclusion of a diverse group of scholars, particularly many younger scholars; it will do so by promoting commitment to open source, open access, and open education thereby providing broader access to and participation in the HPS community, including members of the general public. Without coordinated authorities and ontologies, data cannot be shared or integrated across individual projects, severely limiting their broader use. Without the benefits of such an economy of scale the transformative impact of computational methods in HPS is limited as the integration and computational analysis of datasets across multiple projects is precisely what enables novel and innovative questions. This RCN addresses the challenges related to authorities and ontologies for computational and digital projects in HPS by conducting research and developing computational solutions for mapping authorities and integrating ontologies across HPS projects through step-wise aggregation and mapping of data models, authorities and ontologies. The international RCN will (1) solidify a working social/organizational network of researchers in computational HPS, including a structured set of educational modules; (2) coordinate research and development of software solutions to address the challenge of data integration across HPS projects; and (3) document and analyze the process of reaching these solutions and integration as an example of how the computational turn affects the development of scientific fields.