Between Scripts and Applications: Computational Media for the Frontier of Nanoscience

Abstract

The popularity of computational notebooks heralds a return of software as computational media rather than turn-key applications. We believe this software model has potential beyond supporting just the computationally literate. We studied a biomolecular nano-design lab that works on a current frontier of science -RNA origami -whose researchers depend on computational tools to do their work, yet are not trained as programmers. Using a participatory design process, we developed a computational labbook to concretise what computational media could look like, using the principles of computability, malleability, shareability, and distributability suggested by previous work. We used this prototype to co-reflect with the nanoscientists about how it could transform their practice. We report on the computational culture specific to this research area; the scientists' struggles managing their computational environments; and their subsequent disempowerment yet dependence. Lastly, we discuss the generative potential and limitations of the four design principles for the future of computational media.

Collectives and Their Artifact Ecologies

“…2.1.2 Case 2: Academic research lab. The Andersen lab [70] is a research laboratory at the Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center at Aarhus University. The lab specializes in using biomolecules to create nano-devices that can fold and unfold in particular ways to, for example, deliver drugs in specific areas of the body.…”

“…Yet, some of their tools and software were governed or dictated by the hosting institution, while others were personal to members of the lab. In the lab many social values of scientific research such as, e.g., ownership of results meet and collide with educational licensing of software (contrasting for instance, open source software and data formats and cheaply priced closed software), role of specialized, scarce artifacts and more [70].…”

“…From 2017 to 2019 we studied how a biomolecular research group works with complex macro-molecules and the role of devices, computers, software and custom tools play in their scientific practice. Prior work in this area has developed artifact ecologies as a theoretical concept for discussing the multiple technologies that people use [20,93], how these technologies change [19], what their dynamics are [15,16] and their role in a organic food association [20], households [10,93], and a research lab [70], including a survey of similar concepts [61]. Initially, the definition was scaled from Jung et al [45] to the community level with the 'community artifact ecology' [20].…”

Webstrates, Codestrates v2, and Varv: A Software Stack for Computational Media

“…Throughout the years, we and others have used Webstrates, Codestrates v1, and Codestrates v2 to explore computational media in a variety of projects including collaborative data visualization [1,8,12], public libraries [6,15], collaborative video editing [10], collaborative programming assignments [5], computational laboratory notebooks [13], collaborative writing tools [3], affinity diagramming [11], and hybrid meetings [7].…”

Casting the runes and parsing them: Unpacking software mediation, interactions, and computational literacy in non-conventional programming configurations

“…"Between Scripts and Applications: Computational Media for the Frontier of Nanoscience" (Nouwens, Borowski, et al 2020) was the result of a multiphase study of biomolecular nanoscientists who work on the cutting-edge of science. The first part of the study was an empirical inquiry of the material and sociocultural working conditions of the nanoscientists, i.e., their computational tools, scripts, and environments and the computational culture(s) in which they work.…”