Split Research Software module

[LourensVeen]

The Research Software module discusses two things: what software is, and how it's used in research. Jaro likes small modules, so we should split this, and then we can add a bit about how software is developed to the first part too.

Order-wise, should we then first explain how software is used in research, and then what it is? May seem a bit weird, but how software is used really answers the question as to why it's relevant, and then dive deeper into what it is and isn't?

New titles: Software in Science, and What is Software?

[LourensVeen]

It turns out that there's some overlapping stuff in the FAIR software module too, although not a lot. Here's a potential refactoring:

Software in Science

(from: second half of Research Software)

• Explains why all this is relevant
• RS: Slides research software
  • Role of software in science
  • Research life cycle
  • FAIR4RS definition of research software: research software vs. software in research
• RS: Reading: Roles of research software
  • How it's used in science, part of instruments, analysis, presentation of results, etc.
• RS: Ex: research software vs. software in research
• RS: Ex: research life cycle

Views on software

(first half of Research Software, rewritten)

• Artefact (the Librarian's View)
  • Like data or a paper
  • Record describing the past
    • Data describes reality
    • Papers describe research
    • Software describes research (methods section, reproducibility)
  • Static, because the past doesn't change
• Machine or component (the Engineer's View)
  • Performs a (complex set of) function(s) to a user, imperfectly
  • Constantly improved and extended
  • Needs maintenance (but not quite like a mechanical device)
    • User's needs change
    • Improvements and fixes
    • Fixes to components, new version may have a different shape

FAIR software

(Cut off the overlap at the start with Software in Science, rest as-is)

• UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science

• FAIR principles

• Findability

• Accessibility

• Interoperability

• Reusability

• FAIR != quality

• FAIR is a spectrum

• Ex1: What is FAIR:

  • Listed as exercise, but is reading material

• Ex2:

  • Three software examples with statements, which letter do they belong to?

• Ex3:

  • Role playing exercise, present software and give feedback on making it more FAIR

How software is made (new)

• Writing instructions for a computer
  • In a (special) text editor
  • Tell the computer to run them
• Copy-paste and modify (e.g. tutorial)
• Reusing whole components
• Developing together

[LourensVeen]

After some discussion, here's the new plan:

Research and Software

The role of software in research

• Explains why all this is relevant
• RS: Slides research software
  • Role of software in science
  • Research life cycle
  • FAIR4RS definition of research software: research software vs. software in research
• RS: Reading: Roles of research software
  • How it's used in science, part of instruments, analysis, presentation of results, etc.
• RS: Ex: research software vs. software in research
• RS: Ex: research life cycle

How software is made (new)

• Explains the context of one particular class of "customer"
• Writing instructions for a computer
  • In a (special) text editor
  • Tell the computer to run them
• Copy-paste and modify (e.g. tutorial)
• Reusing whole components
• Developing together

Two views on software

(first half of Research Software, rewritten)

• Artefact (the Librarian's View)
  • Like data or a paper
  • Record describing the past
    • Data describes reality
    • Papers describe research
    • Software describes research (methods section, reproducibility)
  • Static, because the past doesn't change
• Machine or component (the Engineer's View)
  • Performs a (complex set of) function(s) to a user, imperfectly
  • Constantly improved and extended
  • Needs maintenance (but not quite like a mechanical device)
    • User's needs change
    • Improvements and fixes
    • Fixes to components, new version may have a different shape

FAIR software

(Cut off the overlap at the start with Software in Science, rest as-is)

• UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science

• FAIR principles

• Findability

• Accessibility

• Interoperability

• Reusability

• FAIR != quality

• FAIR is a spectrum

• Ex1: What is FAIR:

  • Listed as exercise, but is reading material

• Ex2:

  • Three software examples with statements, which letter do they belong to?

• Ex3:

  • Role playing exercise, present software and give feedback on making it more FAIR

So, this basically means that the Research (and) Software module gets rearranged, with the second half first and the first half second, and then the formerly-first-now-second-half gets rewritten a bit, and we also add a new bit in the middle. The FAIR software module has a few introductory bits cut off that overlap, to avoid duplication.

[JaroCamphuijsen]

Thanks @LourensVeen this looks great. In the end it looks like we are expanding/rewriting the current modules instead of splitting things up. Let's see how we can nicely structure this and not make the modules too long. I think we should make sure not to be too wordy and watch out for elaborating too much on the various topics. I'm really looking forward to this improvement though!

[JaroCamphuijsen]

New plan came up in discussion with Mateusz and Carlos. We want to take away the central role of FAIR research software because it breaks the flow and is out of proportion. We want to rebrand the FAIR module to be "Software in the Scientific landscape" and just now I realized this is more or less similar to what you meant by "Software in Science". It will just mention FAIR4RS as one of the initiatives or movements, next to FOSS, the RSE networks, etc.