Digital universe

Part of the purpose we hope to serve (here at Augmentation) is to promote awareness of the fundamental social, political, and cognitive changes posed by the Information Revolution.

Of course, we are far from alone in our concern. The NSF has taken a leading role in developing the infrastructure needed to support the science of the 21st century. In late September, they held a meeting on "The Role of Academic Libraries in the Digital Data Universe."

By my reading, the only political scientist participating was Henry Brady (UC Berkeley); while it's wonderful to have such a prestigious representative, I think this is a conversation that must be engaged much more widely.

To get started, I recommend checking the readings under "Selective Bibliography," especially the collection of reports commissioned by the NSF over the past few years (e.g., Commission on Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2004).

Addendum: It's a bit dry for the first 12 minutes or so, but check out Chris Greer's (NSF) presentation from the September meeting. Fascinating stuff.