Collaboratories
A collaboratory is a web-based collaborative electronic environment that enables researchers based in different locations to work together and share their knowledge and facilities, thus enriching and speeding up both national and international research.
Outside the hard sciences, collaboratories are something relatively new in higher education. They are basically suitable, however, for all kinds of research, specifically including smaller and interdisciplinary fields, where they can provide an incentive by making it possible to pool knowledge and bring researchers together.
In order to facilitate participation in collaboratories, SURFshare is developing a digital workbench for researchers. This environment will comprise an integrated set of tools to help the researcher create, register, and distribute his/her results. The digital workbench will also include facilities for creating enhanced publications.
Foresight studies
SURFfoundation had two short foresight studies carried out early in 2007:
• Foresight study to investigate the interest in enhanced publications and collaboratories among scientific/scholarly researchers.
• Foresight study on what is possible (and what is not) using Sakai and SharePoint for collaboratories for university research.
Tenders
SURFshare put out calls for tender in 2007 and 2008 in the context of “collaborative research”. This resulted in four projects in 2007 and three in 2008. For more information on the tender projects, go to SURFshare Tender Projects.
More information and contact
For more information, contact John Doove on +31 (0)30 234 6600.