ITR: Sustainable and Generalizable Technologies to Support Collaboration in Science

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Collaboratories are new organizational forms to help scientists who are geographically dispersed to work closely together. A number of collaboratories have been built, and their successes and failures have been due to a combination of technical and social factors not yet fully synthesized. This project will define, abstract, and codify the underlying technical and social mechanisms that lead to successful collaboratories. It will provide the vocabulary, associated principles, and design methods for propagating and sustaining collaboratories across a wide range of circumstances. This project will enhance both the practice of science and the training of new scientists. These goals will be achieved through three coordinated activities: (1) The qualitative and quantitative study of collaboratory design and usage, examining both technical and social aspects of performance; (2) creation and maintenance of a Collaboratory Knowledge Base, a Web-accessible archive of primary source material, summaries and abstracts, and relevant generalizations and principles, a database of collaboratory resources, and other related material; and (3) the abstraction and codification of principles, heuristics, and frameworks to guide the rapid creation and deployment of successful collaboratories, including principles of design or customization.