Abstractions, Accountability and Grid Usability

M. Hartswood, R. Procter, J. M. Schopf, R. Slack, J. Ure and A. Voss

M. Hartswood, R. Slack, J. Ure and A. Voss
School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK.

R. Procter
National Centre for e-Social Science, University of Manchester, UK.

J. M. Schopf
National e-Science Centre, Edinburgh, UK.

Email address of corresponding author: rob.procter@ncess.ac.uk

When having discussions about the usability of Grid technologies we often hear colleagues remark that if it is to be widely taken up then, like the Web before it, the Grid must become invisible to its users. In this paper, drawing upon our studies of HCI and of collaborative work, we examine the desirability of taking this aim literally and give examples of an alternative approach which seeks to provide ways in which users can make sense of the behaviour of complex socio-technical ensembles that are Grids, their administrators, technical support and user communities.