Community Recommendations for Sustainable Scientific Software

Authors

  • Robert R. Downs Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University
  • W. Christopher Lenhardt Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Erin Robinson Foundation for Earth Science
  • Ethan Davis Unidata, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)
  • Nicholas Weber University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5334/jors.bt

Keywords:

Science software, software sustainability, sustainable systems, focus groups

Abstract

Science software has contributed to research practices, but the sustainability of scientific software presents challenges for the future use of research resources. Identifying improvements for science software sustainability practices can contribute to the re-use of science software. A focus group study was conducted to identify ways to improve science software sustainability practices of the Earth science community. A facilitated, roundtable discussion activity at the 2014 Federation of Earth Science Information Partners (ESIP) Summer Meeting elicited recommendations on community activities to improve practices for the sustainability of scientific software. These suggestions fell into three broad themes – (1) improving collaboration and community engagement through publications and presentations (2) developing workshops, training, and documenting best practices and (3) creating incentives and motivation with awards, citation and a reviewed software repository. In addition to the recommendations coming out of the roundtable activity, this paper highlights how community-led groups such as ESIP are key to move a sustainable software effort in its various forms from concept to reality.

Author Biographies

Robert R. Downs, Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University

Dr. Robert R. Downs is the senior digital archivist and acting head of cyberinfrastructure and informatics research and development at CIESIN, the Center for International Earth Science Information Network, of the Earth Institute of Columbia University.

W. Christopher Lenhardt, Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

W. Christopher Lenhardt is a domain scientist of environmental data science and systems at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Erin Robinson, Foundation for Earth Science

Erin Robisnon is the Executive Director of the Foundation for Earth Science.

Ethan Davis, Unidata, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR)

Ethan Davis is a software engineer for Unidata, at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).

Nicholas Weber, University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana

Nicholas Weber is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

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Published

2015-11-18

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Issues in Research Software

Categories

License

Copyright (c) 2015 The Author(s)

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