With the development of the computer, science and engineering research has changed fundamentally. Computers are used to simulate experiments and process empirical data. These simulation and processing procedures are themselves researched intensely. But how should such complex computational processes be published and communicated effectively?
A dozen researchers at SEP develop and test methods to image the subsurface from seismic data. For years, SEP has published scores of research papers to record their findings and communicate them to the interested geophysical community. These written scientific reports often lack the implementation details a fellow researcher would need to reproduce and verify the published results effectively. Often the author himself cannot reproduce his own findings that he produced a few months earlier because parameter values committed to memory are forgotten or his processing sequences or program versions have changed. On the other hand, it is hard for an autor to formulate and maintain a scrutinizing listing of all implementation details. Additionally such a listing makes dire reading material for humans.