Dear Colleague, A year ago, we announced the formation of the new Network for Computational Modeling in the Socio-Ecological Sciences, CoMSES Net, building on the OpenABM pilot project. Today, we are happy to tell you that we have completed the first phase of CoMSES Net and are opening membership in the network. As a self-sustaining scientific community of practice, members of the CoMSES Network will have access to a suite of community resources and will also share a responsibility to contribute to the community. CoMSES Net aims to facilitate knowledge sharing, promote best practices, and serve as an advocacy group for computational modeling across the social and life sciences. CoMSES members will enjoy increased benefits as this international community grows and builds this resource base.
Initially, there are two categories of membership in the network: Affiliates and Full Members. Any scientific professional or student with an interest in computational modeling can apply for membership to CoMSES Net. All individuals that currently have an account on the OpenABM site will automatically become Affiliate Members of CoMSES Net and are eligible to apply for Full Membership. While the general public, OpenABM Guests, will continue to be able to read and download content from the OpenABM site, including forum posts, calendar events, educational materials, bibliographic references, and models from the library, membership in CoMSES Net is required for posting to the site. Both Affiliates and Full Members can: Upload new models to the Model Library. Contribute to the general CoMSES discussion forums (including jobs forum) and events calendar on the OpenABM website. Setup one's own member profile information. Only full members will have full access to other users' profile information. Full Members also can: Apply for access to the high performance computing cluster at Arizona State University for model execution. This is a special agreement with ASU's computing resources group for the CoMSES Network. Contribute to the Education section of the OpenABM website. Create special interest groups with web-pages and online collaboration tools. This will be facilitated in the OpenABM Community environment based on the OpenAtrium collaboration platform. Receive assistance in preparing complex models for submission to the Model Library. This will be on a per-application basis and dependent on available funds for RA support. Request one's models be certified by the CoMSES Model Review Committee. We will create review boards, similar to those for journal articles, to formally review models submitted for certification. Certified models are tested to run and produce the kinds of output that they claim to produce. They also will be accompanied by metadata and documentation that meets CoMSES approved standards and is sufficient to allow other scientists to understand the operations of the model. Add relevant modeling publications to the Bibliographic Library. Members can citations to publication written by themselves or by others that they feel would contribute to a better understanding of computational modeling in the social and life sciences. Access contributed datasets for model testing. We are establishing a data archive for test datasets to be contributed by CoMSES members. Apply for funds to organize symposia and training sessions related to computational models at professional meetings. These will be provided on a by-application basis and are dependent on available funds. Responsibilities of Network Members Both Affiliates and Full Members have the following responsibilities: Properly credit the research of scientists who submit models to the library through appropriate citation or acknowledgement in publications and presentation. Use scientific computational modeling in ethical ways that benefit the larger human community. Share expertise in computational modeling with other network members and helping them gain competence in applying these new approaches in scientific work. Full Members also are expected to assist the CoMSES community to develop and manage its common knowledge resources by: Participating in self governance of the network. Assisting with the evaluation of models submitted for certification. Contributing to the shared resources of the network through submitting models to the library, datasets for model testing, bibliographic references, education materials, or other model-related resources. Depending on expertise, full members may also become resource stewards who manage the OpenABM website and internet resources. Please pass the word about CoMSES Net to your colleagues who use or are interested in using computational modeling in the the social and life sciences. NOTE: If you have an account of the OpenABM site and do not wish to be an Affiliate or Full Member of CoMSES Net, please contact [email protected] or [email protected] to have your name removed from the CoMSES members list. Michael Barton Marco Janssen Lilian Na'ia Alessa ____________________ C. Michael Barton Director, Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity Professor of Anthropology, School of Human Evolution & Social Change Arizona State University voice: 480-965-6262 (SHESC), 480-727-9746 (CSDC) fax: 480-965-7671 (SHESC), 480-727-0709 (CSDC) www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton, http://csdc.asu.edu
