Social capital in distributed system development: A case of grid development in particle physics

Abstract

This paper examines dimensions of social capital in the distributed collaborative development of the UK particle physics Grid. It is shown that the GridPP project effectively draws upon social capital rooted in the tradition and culture of particle physics experiments, characterized with trust, equality, shared vision, collaboration, and pragmatism. These factors contribute to overcoming the challenges in the creation and sharing of knowledge in the development of the Grid, a cutting-edge technology that has to be delivered as a working system with limited time and resources. This case sheds lights on, and provides a good example of, the importance of social capital in distributed systems development.