Scripps Institution of Oceanography

The Eighth European Computer Supported Cooperative Work conference (ECSCW 2003), a biannual forum that brings together the social and technical aspects for supporting collaborations, provides a venue this year to gather researchers interested in the study of scientific collaborations and their technology support. The response to the call for papers for the Computer Supported Scientific Collaboration workshop (CSSC) is evidence of the CSCW community members shared interest in the elements of collaboration particular to scientific communities and in the challenges they present for designing computer-based support systems. Like the Three Smiths of Nylund's statue in Helsinki, we three organizers came together to work jointly at crafting an understanding of a scientific network, the Long-Term Ecological Research program. Having hammered out a workshop agenda, we welcome the CSSC participants. Through the position papers collected here and with our diverse case studies, from ecological teams and human genes to digital streams, we add shape to the characterization of CSSC.