A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software
Software underpins most of our daily activities, from banking and finance to interactions with the internet, to weather forecasts and reports. Software also impacts individuals, groups, and societies through policy implementation, since information for decision and policy making is frequently derive...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Ubiquity Press
2014-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Open Research Software |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/articles/36 |
| _version_ | 1819093239868686336 |
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| author | Brian Blanton Chris Lenhardt |
| author_facet | Brian Blanton Chris Lenhardt |
| author_sort | Brian Blanton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Software underpins most of our daily activities, from banking and finance to interactions with the internet, to weather forecasts and reports. Software also impacts individuals, groups, and societies through policy implementation, since information for decision and policy making is frequently derived from software ranging from climate and weather models to financial forecasting systems. One way to gauge the extent to which specific software needs to be sustainable, accessible, and transparent essentially hinges on the degree to which scientific analysis software, models, and model output are used to help inform and guide policy. Climate models and related 'scientific' results are perhaps the most obvious example of the need for sustainable and transparent software, due in part to the public forum in which the results are scrutinized and the implications on environmental management policy. Without almost ubiquitous adoption of best practices for scientific software development, maintenance, and use, the credibility of scientific results and of ourselves as scientists is substantially at risk; sustainable and transparent research processes are thus at the heart of maintaining and increasing our collective reputations. [The authors want to make clear that, by using climate models as an example of software with policy impacts, we are 'not' claiming that these models, are written with little “best practices” in mind, nor that they are inherently unsustainable as software.] |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T23:08:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e5cb40d276844a7093d11fd636c550cd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2049-9647 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T23:08:21Z |
| publishDate | 2014-07-01 |
| publisher | Ubiquity Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Open Research Software |
| spelling | doaj.art-e5cb40d276844a7093d11fd636c550cd2022-12-21T18:47:06ZengUbiquity PressJournal of Open Research Software2049-96472014-07-0121e17e1710.5334/jors.ba31A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific SoftwareBrian Blanton0Chris Lenhardt1Renaissance Computing Institute University of North Carolina at Chapel HillRenaissance Computing Institute University of North Carolina at Chapel HillSoftware underpins most of our daily activities, from banking and finance to interactions with the internet, to weather forecasts and reports. Software also impacts individuals, groups, and societies through policy implementation, since information for decision and policy making is frequently derived from software ranging from climate and weather models to financial forecasting systems. One way to gauge the extent to which specific software needs to be sustainable, accessible, and transparent essentially hinges on the degree to which scientific analysis software, models, and model output are used to help inform and guide policy. Climate models and related 'scientific' results are perhaps the most obvious example of the need for sustainable and transparent software, due in part to the public forum in which the results are scrutinized and the implications on environmental management policy. Without almost ubiquitous adoption of best practices for scientific software development, maintenance, and use, the credibility of scientific results and of ourselves as scientists is substantially at risk; sustainable and transparent research processes are thus at the heart of maintaining and increasing our collective reputations. [The authors want to make clear that, by using climate models as an example of software with policy impacts, we are 'not' claiming that these models, are written with little “best practices” in mind, nor that they are inherently unsustainable as software.]http://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/articles/36scientific softwarecredibilitycredibility risk |
| spellingShingle | Brian Blanton Chris Lenhardt A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software Journal of Open Research Software scientific software credibility credibility risk |
| title | A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software |
| title_full | A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software |
| title_fullStr | A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software |
| title_short | A Scientist’s Perspective on Sustainable Scientific Software |
| title_sort | scientist s perspective on sustainable scientific software |
| topic | scientific software credibility credibility risk |
| url | http://openresearchsoftware.metajnl.com/articles/36 |
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