English

Software and Sociology in UK Astronomy

Astrophysics 2009-11-07 v1 Physics and Society

Abstract

I discuss the remit of Starlink's software strategy groups and a particular item on the agenda of a meeting of the image processing software strategy group held on 26th January 2001: `Why don't people use Starlink software?'. The answer to this question was speculated to be primarily a sociological effect: those people supervising UK astronomy Ph.D. students are largely people who had learnt their trade at a time when Starlink had a less than perfect reputation. I report on the recommendations made to Starlink to counter this effect.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0112026,
  title  = {Software and Sociology in UK Astronomy},
  author = {Kevin A. Pimbblet},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0112026},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

3 pages. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Geophysics (formerly QJRAS)