Cyberinfrastructure: What’s in a name?!

Goals for this Module

• What is Infrastructure?
• What is Cyberinfrastructure’?
• Address the ‘So what?’ Question

Activities

• Infrastructure word cloud
• Information Infrastructure word cloud

Insight into the ‘So What?’ Question

• Look to the sociotechnical literature for relevant concepts to help understand more about information infrastructure
• Helpful to clarify concepts (infrastructure, information infrastructure, cyberinfrastructure); but there’s a lot of fuzziness at the borders
• Highlight dimensions that are indicative of infrastructure
• Realize infrastructure is a social construct; it’s not just the tools, but how you use the tools; practice and communities of practice
• These ideas are relevant to:
  • Creating cyberinfrastructure
  • Team science / convergent science
  • Sustainability