User:Psheld/Web Science Institute

Formation2014; 10 years ago (2014)
FounderNigel Shadbolt
Wendy Hall
TypeAcademic institution
PurposeWeb Science
Location
  • Building 32, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
Coordinates50°56′13″N 1°23′46″W / 50.936858°N 1.3960526°W / 50.936858; -1.3960526
Parent organization
Southampton University
Staff
20
Websitewww.southampton.ac.uk/wsi/

The Web Science Institute (WSI) "brings together world-leading multidisciplinary expertise to tackle the most pressing global challenges facing the World Wide Web and wider society today. It is necessarily interdisciplinary, as much about social and organisational behaviour, as about the underpinning technology."[1]

The Web is changing our society, politics and economy, but we don't yet understand how exactly it has wrought change, nor how it will continue to do so. The Institute defines Web Science as focusing "the analytical power of researchers from disciplines as diverse as mathematics, sociology, economics, psychology, law and computer science to understand and explain the Web. It is necessarily interdisciplinary - as much about social and organizational behaviour as about the underpinning technology."[2]

The launch of the Institute

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The Institute was officially launched at the Royal Society 12th June 2014 with contributions from Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Dame Professor Wendy Hall, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, JP Rangaswami, Professor Richard Susskind, Liam Maxwell, Professor Susan Halford, and Professor Don Nutbeam.

Professor Wendy Hall is quoted as saying: "There is a 'perfect storm' brewing which combines open data, open education and open research, so this is a very exciting time to be launching the Web Science Institute."[3]

Research Groups

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  • Web and Internet Science (WAIS) group
  • Work Futures Research Centre
  • Digital Economy Research Group
  • Digital Humanities
  • Institute for Complex Systems Simulation
  • The Doctoral Training Centre
  • This one guy who wasn't paying attention because he was writing the Wikipedia page for the event he was attending...

See also

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References

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  1. ^ http://www.southampton.ac.uk/wsi/, retrieved 12 June 2014
  2. ^ http://www.southampton.ac.uk/wsi/about/what_is_web_science.page? Retrieved 12 June 2014
  3. ^ Southampton University launches Web Science Institute, BBC News website, 11 November 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-24898583