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Virtual Knowledge Studio Collaboratory - Linking Scholarly Networks and Disciplines
Scholarly Communication - SURFshare Tenders
Status: Completed
This project encompasses a guided pilot in which a software system for collaboratories, SURFgroepen / SharePoint, is being developed for use by researchers. The system is being tested by researchers from the Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences (VKS).
The project was very much user centered. Through interviews, forum discussions, web survey, mini symposium, workshops, discussion board, use cases and distant support via AdobeConnect interactions with the research groups were created.
The demands on the system are complex due to multiple dimensions having to work simultaneously and in interaction with each other; it is an interdisciplinary, multi-sited, national and international collaborative venture within which, moreover, several already existing collaboratories have to be supported. To allow researchers from different disciplines to work together, the software must be capable of supporting different work patterns and styles of research. Finally there is the major challenge of anticipating and recognizing the impact of the technological configuration of the collaboratories on the work patterns and work styles within the research group concerned.
Although the technical implementation has given us problems a number of times, we regard this project more as a social and organisational challenge than as a technical one. The project has, primarily, provided a major stimulus to joint thinking and discussion on the virtual research environment. The mini-conference proved crucial to the development work. It appears that the organisation of physical meetings is essential in promoting virtual collaboration.
A good organisation of the collaboratory itself promotes clarity and ease of use. Good contracts, user instructions, a help desk and a central management deserve the highest attention. But the most crucial element for achieving success is a properly set up rights management. In a research environment one works with confidential information. It is important that some parts of the collaboratory can be shared and that others remain restricted. One must be able to determine this for each component regardless of one’s place in the hierarchy of the collaboratory.
It appears that the permission structure contains ambiguities so that initially user rights were not properly set up, seriously delaying the project. A properly set up rights management is essential for scientific cooperation because users must be able to rely on the system and the support team.