Designing the myExperiment Virtual Research Environment for the Social Sharing of Workflows

Many scientific workflow systems have been developed and are serving to benefit science. In this paper we look beyond individual systems to consider the use of workflows within scientific practice, and we argue that the tremendous scientific potential of workflows will be achieved through mechanisms for sharing and collaboration - empowering the scientist to spread their experimental protocols and to benefit from the protocols of others. We discuss issues in workflow sharing, propose a set of design principles for collaborative e-Science software, and illustrate these principles in action through the design of the my Experiment Virtual Research Environment for collaboration and sharing of experiments.