University of Southampton and MIT launch WWW research collaboration

From: Joyce Lewis <jkl2_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2006 15:40:02 -0000

University of Southampton and MIT launch World Wide Web research
collaboration

 

Joint initiative will analyse and shape Web&#8217;s evolution

 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Nov. 2&#8212;The University of Southampton and the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology today announced the launch of a
long-term research collaboration that aims to produce the fundamental
scientific advances necessary to guide the future design and use of the
World Wide Web.

 

The Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) will generate a research
agenda for understanding the scientific, technical and social challenges
underlying the growth of the Web. Of particular interest is the volume of
information on the Web that documents more and more aspects of human
activity and knowledge. WSRI research projects will weigh such questions
as, how do we access information and assess its reliability?  By what
means may we assure its use complies with social and legal rules?  How
will we preserve the Web over time?

 

Commenting on the new initiative, Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World
Wide Web and a founding director of WSRI, said, &#8220;As the Web
celebrates its first decade of widespread use, we still know surprisingly
little about how it evolved, and we have only scratched the surface of
what could be realized with deeper scientific investigation into its
design, operation and impact on society.

 

&#8220;The Web Science Research Initiative will allow researchers to take
the Web seriously as an object of scientific inquiry, with the goal of
helping to foster the Web&#8217;s growth and fulfill its great potential
as a powerful tool for humanity.&#8221;

 

The joint MIT-Southampton initiative will provide a global forum for
scientists and scholars to collaborate on the first multidisciplinary
scientific research effort specifically designed to study the Web at all
scales of size and complexity, and to develop a new discipline of Web
science for future generations of researchers.

 

Professor Wendy Hall, head of school at Southampton University School of
Electronics and Computer Science and also, along with Professor Nigel
Shadbolt of ECS, a founding director of WSRI, said: &#8220;As the Web
continues to evolve, it is becoming increasingly clear that a new type of
graduate will be required to meet the needs of science and industry. 
Already we are seeing evidence of this, with major Internet companies and
research institutions lamenting the fact that there are simply not enough
people with the right mix of skills to meet current and future employment
demands.  In launching WSRI, one of our ultimate aims is to address this
issue.&#8221;

WSRI will be headquartered at the Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT and at the School of Electronics
and Computer Science (ECS) at the University of Southampton. Initial
plans call for joint research projects, workshops and student/faculty
exchanges between the two institutions.

The initiative will have four founding directors: Tim Berners-Lee,
director of the World Wide Web Consortium, senior research scientist at
MIT and professor at the University of Southampton; Wendy Hall, professor
of computer science and head of the School of Electronics and Computer
Science at the University of Southampton; Nigel Shadbolt, professor of
artificial intelligence at the University of Southampton and director of
the Advanced Knowledge Technologies Interdisciplinary Research
Collaboration;  and Daniel J. Weitzner, Technology and Society Domain
leader of the World Wide Web Consortium and principal research scientist
at MIT.

About MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is dedicated to advancing
knowledge and educating students in science, technology, and other areas
of scholarship that will best serve the nation and the world in the 21st
century. The Institute has more than 900 faculty and 10,000 undergraduate
and graduate students. It is organized into five Schools -- Architecture
and Urban Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences;
Sloan School of Management; and Science.Current areas of research and
education include neuroscience and the study of the brain and mind,
bioengineering, the environment and sustainable development, information
sciences and technology, new media, financial technology, and
entrepreneurship. 

 

About the University of Southampton

The University of Southampton is a leading UK teaching and research
institution with a global reputation for leading-edge research and
scholarship.  It is one of the UK's top 10 research universities,
offering first-rate opportunities and facilities for study and research
across a wide range of subjects in humanities, health, science and
engineering.  The University has around 20,000 students and over 5000
staff.  Its annual turnover is in the region of £310 million. With around
500 researchers, and 900 undergraduate students, the School of
Electronics and Computer Science at Southampton is one of the world's
largest and most successful integrated research groupings, covering
Computer Science, Software Engineering, Electronics, and Electrical
Engineering. ECS has unrivalled depth and breadth of expertise in
world-leading research, new developments and their applications.

 

_________________________________________________

 

Joyce Lewis

Marketing and Communications Manager

School of Electronics and Computer Science

University of Southampton

Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK

T +44(0)23 8059 5453

E j.k.lewis_at_ecs.soton.ac.uk

 

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Received on Fri Nov 03 2006 - 11:45:13 GMT