Significant output of the project for practice:
Other formal research outputs
See Research for research papers
produced by the project
Project Summary From Final Report:
Experimental particle physics has always worked with new technology
and their willingness to be pioneers has led to many new innovations, of
which the Web is perhaps the most notable. With the launch in 2010 of
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) particle accelerator at CERN (Europe's
particle physics laboratory based in Geneva) physicists are facing the
need to analyse the staggering 12-14 million gigabytes of data per year
this experiment is now beginning to produce. In preparation for this
they have developed a wholly new form of computer system to store and
process the data. This system is called a Grid and consists of many
distributed computers, storage arrays, and sensors working together so
that any person can use large amounts of computing power without needing
to know about how it works or where the computers and data are located.
The UK's particle physics community has been developing and building
part of this Grid, called GridPP, since 2001. However implementing new
information systems is always challenging and while pilot projects may
prove a technical success, things are often very different when the real
work starts.
The Pegasus researchers spent three years with GridPP to understand
the way they worked to construct their Grid, and how they introduced it
into use. Their methods, and their overall approach is distinctive and
potentially ground breaking, given that many more large distributed
systems will be developed in the future. Pegasus research has been able
to provide some useful lessons for improving the usability of all Grids
and for those involved in wider information systems research and
development. This work is useful for three particular reasons; first,
particle physicists are pragmatic in the way they construct technology
and tend to employ tools and techniques in different ways to other
developers such as software companies, government departments or big
firms. Second, particle physicists are distributed across the globe and
have for a long time worked together as a "virtual organisation";
something which is of great interest to other fields. Third, because
these developers were under great pressure to be ready in time for the
LHC launch Pegasus was able to observe the compromises and decisions
made to construct a usable system to a deadline. Through these
perspectives the research provides a revealing juxtaposition to
contemporary research into other innovative systems development
approaches, e.g. Open Source Development and Agile Methods. Thus Pegasus
has developed a distinctive description of the physicists work practices
based on the idea of paradox and tensions, which we call "collective
agility".
In doing the research a method called Ethnography was employed.
Ethnography essentially means observing, listening and recording what is
going on. Researchers attended the main meetings of GridPP, read their
documents and interviewed the people involved. They also undertook a
survey. From all this work they were able to produce an extensive set of
research papers for conferences and journals. Most of these are focused
on the work practices of those involved in GridPP, identifying the
paradoxical way they operate, and how they created "clusters of
competence" in response to the challenge of distributed working. The
researchers conceptualised their communication technology, their history
and their social structures as providing a "knowledge infrastructure"
for the project which supports these working practices. Finally the
researchers identified how the physicists in the LHC experiments also
develop and use their own software which shapes the Grid for their own
gain - and which can challenge its underlying fabric. Drawing on this
work we produced a framework of guidance for people in areas of science
who are developing Grids for their work as well as in other fields
including engineering, healthcare, businesses and government.
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