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Our first
two workshops explored the general social and technical issues involved
in collaboratories. This third workshop presented for discussion our more
detailed investigations as we compare and contrast various collaboratories
to begin to build some principles "bottom up" about what makes
collaboratories successful. We did this at two levels of analysis: a broad
survey of basic facts about numerous collaboratories we identified, and
a more in-depth analysis of a smaller set of collaboratories.
The first
level is an effort we call collaboratories-at-a-glance, where we are working
to create an inventory of a large number of collaboratory projects that
are being, have been or will be carried out. Of course, this hinges on
what we mean by a collaboratory. We have been using the following definition:
A collaboratory
is a network-based facility and organizational entity that spans distance,
supports rich and recurring human interaction oriented to a common research
area, fosters contact between researchers who are both known and unknown
to each other, and provides access to data sources, artifacts and tools
required to accomplish research tasks
As we gather
examples of collaboratories in this "at a glace" effort, we
are relaxing some of the conditions in this definition so that we create
a broad set of examples that will help us refine our definition as well
as understand the issues pertaining to collaboratory success. The workshop
began with a presentation on this effort.
The second
level of our effort is an in-depth investigation of greater detail into
fewer collaboratories. We selected four collaboratory projects for initial
investigation. These four are:
- Upper
Atmospheric Research Collaboratory (UARC, 1992-1998)/Space Physics and
Aeronomy Research Collaboratory (SPARC, 1998-2002) - the collaboratory
in upper atmospheric physics that we have been working on since 1992
- Great
Lakes Regional Center for Aids Research (GLR CFAR) - a collaboratory
in HIV/AIDS research that links together researchers from four Big Ten
universities (Northwestern, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan)
- Environmental
Molecular Science Lab (EMSL) - a collaboratory at the Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory
- Bugscope
- a project at the University of Illinois that allows K-12 classrooms
to remotely operate a scanning electron microscope to examine bugs
We gathered
materials about these four projects guided by an extensive framework we
created based on a number of hypotheses about the factors that contribute
to collaboratory success. We have read papers, studied web sites, and
interviewed project principals for each of these projects. Our reports
from this effort constituted one of the major points of discussion at
the workshop. We also reflected on the process we are using, because these
four projects are just the initial set of roughly a dozen or so that we
intend to pursue in detail.
The workshop
was very much a working session, with lots of discussion and interaction.
Each session had presenters who were responsible for the data collection
and interpretation on each topic, and discussants who gave their reactions
to the presentations, raised issues, and led the group in discussion.
Workshop
Organizers
Tom Finholt
Gary Olson
Judy Olson
Stephanie Teasley
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