Digital Economy

6. Research in the digital era

This line of inquiry deals with the transformation of research through access to cyberinfrastructure, distributed computing resources, digital libraries and repositories, new data access facilities, and tools, often requiring specialized expertise over and above domain expertise in the social sciences and humanities.

Potential research questions

Leveraging advanced networks

Ultra-high-speed networks, such as CANARIE, enable researchers to collaborate, share and manage large amounts of data, and to develop and use sophisticated tools and programs to tackle increasingly complex problems. The advanced network capabilities enable the rapid transmission of, and access to, high-de­finition two-way streaming video, audio, complex 3D models and simulations, and ultra-complex 3D images. Such networks are transforming research and may also transform education. 

• What access measures and tools would facilitate increased and effective use of advanced networks for Canadian research in the social sciences and humanities? What are the implications for network capacity? 
• How can Canadian advanced research networks better support scholar communities, their research needs and their institutional contexts?
• How will such ubiquitous, high-performance networks impact the delivery of course material in the Canadian postsecondary education system? What would this mean for courseware development, the modus operandi of postsecondary education institutions, the nature of learning and interactions among students, and the evolution of the advanced research networks?
• In light of this, what other or complementary, digital infrastructure is required in order for Canada to become a leader in cyberscholarship in the social sciences and humanities and in the delivery of competitive course content?
• What are the trends and transformative potential of high-speed and ultra-high-speed networks in the larger context, outside the research world?

Data-driven inquiry

Data-driven inquiry has changed the nature of inquiry across many disciplines and is opening up rich new areas of inquiry and application. Similarly, it is transforming modes of interaction and dissemination among researchers, and between researchers and stakeholders external to their institutions. 

• What are the trends in data-driven research and data consumption among fields of research, in particular the social sciences and humanities?
• What new questions about individuals and society, and what new insights into our world, can be gained through data-driven research? What unexpected and novel associations can be explored through cyberscholarship?
• What improvements are needed to access key Canadian datasets for research use, and how could that access be improved?
• What contributions can be made to contextual semantic interpretation on the web to facilitate its use as an integrator across different content applications and as a mode of sharing information?
• What new digital media, multimedia and text-based computing tools should be interpreted, analyzed and integrated into humanities and social sciences research, and through what means?
• How should such emerging research needs in the social sciences and humanities as a) the use of spatial data in the social sciences and humanities, and b) web-based manipulation and visualization of research data, be advanced and supported?