The Long and Winding Road to Success in Science Collaboratories Gary M. Olson Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine Ticer Summer School August 5, 2009
Many  Collaborators G. Olson, PD J. Olson N. Bos A. Zimmerman S. Teasley T. Finholt J. Hardin D. Cogburn D. Atkins M. Hedstrom E. Yakel P. Knoop E. Hofer D. Cooney J. Herbsleb (CMU) J. Trimble (Howard) Zillions of grad students
What I Work On Last 20+ years: Collaboration in science and engineering Focus on geographically distributed collaboration Recently Emerging interest in scholarship more broadly, especially in social sciences and humanities
Overview of Talk Collaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship Including roles for librarians
Overview of Talk
Collaboration in Science & Engineering Increasingly complex problems Division of labor Diverse expertise, specialization Larger or specialized resources Expensive equipment Larger data sets Vast computational resources Funding Opportunistic Mandate  Personal Like to work with certain people
Collaboration at a Distance Has been a feature of science and engineering for a long time Asynchronous (hand-off) can be supported by many “old” technologies Synchronous since late 19 th  century Steady growth in capabilities available
Value of Colocation Clear Much research on why Special case of “radical co-location” But will not have a Manhattan Project again Has been proposed in some research areas (e.g., vaccine for HIV/AIDS)
Overview of Talk Collaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
Definition of a Collaboratory A collaboratory is an organizational entity that  spans distance , supports rich and recurring  human interaction  oriented to a  common research area , and provides  access  to data sources, artifacts and tools required to accomplish research tasks.
Nomenclature Collaboratories – term of historical interest, especially in NSF Context W. Wulf in 1989 Series of NSF reports But other roughly equivalent terms eScience Cyberscience Science Portals gridScience Virtual environments for science Distributed Knowledge Work Environments etc.
What is Needed for Collaboration? Communication Voice, video – e.g., VoIP Shared artifacts E-mail, IM Remote access to Instruments – teleobservation, teleoperation Expensive Remote Availability of Computational Resources Supercomputing GRID Shared Repositories Data Laboratory notebooks Digital libraries Coordination Shared calendars Awareness tools
Overview of Talk Collaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
Some Classic Examples UARC/SPARC Upper Atmospheric Research Collaboratory Space Physics and Aeronomy Research Collaboratory NEESgrid Network for Earthquake Engineering and Simulation IARC International AIDS Research Collaboratory
 
UARC -- 1993 Sondrestrom, Greenland
UARC Multi-Instrument Screen Shot
SPARC Scope: 1998
 
George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation NSF program Major Research Equipment (MRE) System Integration (NEESgrid collaboratory) 2000-2004 Consortium development 2004-2114 NEESgrid Collaboratory
 
UIUC U of Colorado
Electronic Notebook
 
Challenge:    Collaboratories in Africa? Less developed technical infrastructure More mixed experience with relevant applications But very high motivation
Two Similar Projects in Southern Africa Basic research on the nature of HIV-C Clinical trials Mother-infant transmission Antiretroviral (ARV) Therapies Vaccine candidates Education Members of the public Health care workers
South Africa 1. Project Participants Partners AIDS Research  Center, Harvard U Nuffield Dept. of Clinical  Medicine, U of Oxford Nelson Mandela College of Medicine, U of Natal, Durban
Botswana 2. Project Participants School of Public Health, Harvard University Ministry of Health, Republic of Botswana
What is being supported? Lab meetings Clinical meetings Remote colloquium speakers Our own project coordination with collaborators in the region
 
Increasing use of Tools
Overview of Talk Collaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
 
 
 
 
 
www.collate.de
 
 
 
 
Overview of Talk Collaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
What Have We Learned So Far? www.scienceofcollaboratories.org NSF CISE ITR grant
MIT Press, 2008
Breadth & Depth Strategy Collaboratories at a Glance Collect a large set of collaboratories We have identified more than 200 examples Collect a basic set of information In-depth studies Few projects documented in detail Interviews, observations, site visits About 18 so far
Taxonomy of Collaboratories Research focus Distributed Research Center Shared Instrumentation Community Data Systems Open Community Contribution System Practice focus Virtual Community of Practice Virtual Learning Community Expert Consultation
What is Success? Use of the collaboratory tools Software technology Direct effects on the science Science careers Effects on learning, science education Inspiration for other collaboratories Learning about collaboratories in general Effects on funding, public perception
Challenges to collaboration Alignment of  goals  and  incentives Establishment of  common ground Creation of mutual  trust  among participants Costs of  coordination  and  communication Appropriate  division of labor , with associated allocation of resources Appropriate  technology (user-centered) & support  infrastructure Effective  management  plan Leadership Legal  &  regulatory  issues Long-term  sustainability   Cultural  issues
Summary of These Factors Theory of Remote Scientific Collaboration (TORSC) Ch. 4 in book Refinement in progress How to weight the factors Interactions, tradeoffs among them Wizard – on-line survey with feedback Extension to Corporate Collaboration (CorpTORC)
Overview of Talk Collaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
Future of Collaborative Scholarship (1) Consolidation of knowledge about successful collaborations SOC findings Book Wizard Several other recent books  Cummings & Kiesler study of NSF ITR, KDI More sophistication    more realistic expectations PIs Funding agencies
The technology itself Computational power Networking Mobile options Better applications Especially re data Analysis Visualization Scale Future of Collaborative Scholarship (2)
Social technologies Wider range of communication tools More flexibility Better support for informal interaction Awareness technology Validation of emerging social tools Especially understanding sociotechnical interplay Better social ergonomics Video – eye contact, gaze direction, quality Audio – 3D Future of Collaborative Scholarship (3)
Cohort changes Striking differences among age groups Collaboration skills from game world? Example Grudin vs. Palen & Grudin studies of calendaring Future of Collaborative Scholarship (4)
Distributed Scholarship Will spread to all areas of scholarship Social sciences & humanities are beginning to see the opportunities Disappear as infrastructure? But, distance will always matter
Roles for Academic Libraries Management of digital repositories Beyond just books and journals Folksonomies vs taxonomies Metadata Expertise on emerging search technologies Much uninformed behavior Intercultural collaboration Expertise on collaborative technologies DOW Chemical UM Library
Further information [email_address] www.scienceofcollaboratories.org

Ticer Summer School

  • 1.
    The Long andWinding Road to Success in Science Collaboratories Gary M. Olson Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine Ticer Summer School August 5, 2009
  • 2.
    Many CollaboratorsG. Olson, PD J. Olson N. Bos A. Zimmerman S. Teasley T. Finholt J. Hardin D. Cogburn D. Atkins M. Hedstrom E. Yakel P. Knoop E. Hofer D. Cooney J. Herbsleb (CMU) J. Trimble (Howard) Zillions of grad students
  • 3.
    What I WorkOn Last 20+ years: Collaboration in science and engineering Focus on geographically distributed collaboration Recently Emerging interest in scholarship more broadly, especially in social sciences and humanities
  • 4.
    Overview of TalkCollaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship Including roles for librarians
  • 5.
  • 6.
    Collaboration in Science& Engineering Increasingly complex problems Division of labor Diverse expertise, specialization Larger or specialized resources Expensive equipment Larger data sets Vast computational resources Funding Opportunistic Mandate Personal Like to work with certain people
  • 7.
    Collaboration at aDistance Has been a feature of science and engineering for a long time Asynchronous (hand-off) can be supported by many “old” technologies Synchronous since late 19 th century Steady growth in capabilities available
  • 8.
    Value of ColocationClear Much research on why Special case of “radical co-location” But will not have a Manhattan Project again Has been proposed in some research areas (e.g., vaccine for HIV/AIDS)
  • 9.
    Overview of TalkCollaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
  • 10.
    Definition of aCollaboratory A collaboratory is an organizational entity that spans distance , supports rich and recurring human interaction oriented to a common research area , and provides access to data sources, artifacts and tools required to accomplish research tasks.
  • 11.
    Nomenclature Collaboratories –term of historical interest, especially in NSF Context W. Wulf in 1989 Series of NSF reports But other roughly equivalent terms eScience Cyberscience Science Portals gridScience Virtual environments for science Distributed Knowledge Work Environments etc.
  • 12.
    What is Neededfor Collaboration? Communication Voice, video – e.g., VoIP Shared artifacts E-mail, IM Remote access to Instruments – teleobservation, teleoperation Expensive Remote Availability of Computational Resources Supercomputing GRID Shared Repositories Data Laboratory notebooks Digital libraries Coordination Shared calendars Awareness tools
  • 13.
    Overview of TalkCollaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
  • 14.
    Some Classic ExamplesUARC/SPARC Upper Atmospheric Research Collaboratory Space Physics and Aeronomy Research Collaboratory NEESgrid Network for Earthquake Engineering and Simulation IARC International AIDS Research Collaboratory
  • 15.
  • 16.
    UARC -- 1993Sondrestrom, Greenland
  • 17.
  • 18.
  • 19.
  • 20.
    George E. Brown,Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation NSF program Major Research Equipment (MRE) System Integration (NEESgrid collaboratory) 2000-2004 Consortium development 2004-2114 NEESgrid Collaboratory
  • 21.
  • 22.
    UIUC U ofColorado
  • 23.
  • 24.
  • 25.
    Challenge: Collaboratories in Africa? Less developed technical infrastructure More mixed experience with relevant applications But very high motivation
  • 26.
    Two Similar Projectsin Southern Africa Basic research on the nature of HIV-C Clinical trials Mother-infant transmission Antiretroviral (ARV) Therapies Vaccine candidates Education Members of the public Health care workers
  • 27.
    South Africa 1.Project Participants Partners AIDS Research Center, Harvard U Nuffield Dept. of Clinical Medicine, U of Oxford Nelson Mandela College of Medicine, U of Natal, Durban
  • 28.
    Botswana 2. ProjectParticipants School of Public Health, Harvard University Ministry of Health, Republic of Botswana
  • 29.
    What is beingsupported? Lab meetings Clinical meetings Remote colloquium speakers Our own project coordination with collaborators in the region
  • 30.
  • 31.
  • 32.
    Overview of TalkCollaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
  • 33.
  • 34.
  • 35.
  • 36.
  • 37.
  • 38.
  • 39.
  • 40.
  • 41.
  • 42.
  • 43.
    Overview of TalkCollaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
  • 44.
    What Have WeLearned So Far? www.scienceofcollaboratories.org NSF CISE ITR grant
  • 45.
  • 46.
    Breadth & DepthStrategy Collaboratories at a Glance Collect a large set of collaboratories We have identified more than 200 examples Collect a basic set of information In-depth studies Few projects documented in detail Interviews, observations, site visits About 18 so far
  • 47.
    Taxonomy of CollaboratoriesResearch focus Distributed Research Center Shared Instrumentation Community Data Systems Open Community Contribution System Practice focus Virtual Community of Practice Virtual Learning Community Expert Consultation
  • 48.
    What is Success?Use of the collaboratory tools Software technology Direct effects on the science Science careers Effects on learning, science education Inspiration for other collaboratories Learning about collaboratories in general Effects on funding, public perception
  • 49.
    Challenges to collaborationAlignment of goals and incentives Establishment of common ground Creation of mutual trust among participants Costs of coordination and communication Appropriate division of labor , with associated allocation of resources Appropriate technology (user-centered) & support infrastructure Effective management plan Leadership Legal & regulatory issues Long-term sustainability Cultural issues
  • 50.
    Summary of TheseFactors Theory of Remote Scientific Collaboration (TORSC) Ch. 4 in book Refinement in progress How to weight the factors Interactions, tradeoffs among them Wizard – on-line survey with feedback Extension to Corporate Collaboration (CorpTORC)
  • 51.
    Overview of TalkCollaboration in Science Collaboratories Definition Classic examples Recent social science & humanities What We Know about Success Future of Collaborative Scholarship
  • 52.
    Future of CollaborativeScholarship (1) Consolidation of knowledge about successful collaborations SOC findings Book Wizard Several other recent books Cummings & Kiesler study of NSF ITR, KDI More sophistication  more realistic expectations PIs Funding agencies
  • 53.
    The technology itselfComputational power Networking Mobile options Better applications Especially re data Analysis Visualization Scale Future of Collaborative Scholarship (2)
  • 54.
    Social technologies Widerrange of communication tools More flexibility Better support for informal interaction Awareness technology Validation of emerging social tools Especially understanding sociotechnical interplay Better social ergonomics Video – eye contact, gaze direction, quality Audio – 3D Future of Collaborative Scholarship (3)
  • 55.
    Cohort changes Strikingdifferences among age groups Collaboration skills from game world? Example Grudin vs. Palen & Grudin studies of calendaring Future of Collaborative Scholarship (4)
  • 56.
    Distributed Scholarship Willspread to all areas of scholarship Social sciences & humanities are beginning to see the opportunities Disappear as infrastructure? But, distance will always matter
  • 57.
    Roles for AcademicLibraries Management of digital repositories Beyond just books and journals Folksonomies vs taxonomies Metadata Expertise on emerging search technologies Much uninformed behavior Intercultural collaboration Expertise on collaborative technologies DOW Chemical UM Library
  • 58.
    Further information [email_address]www.scienceofcollaboratories.org

Editor's Notes

  • #17 This is a picture of the Sondrestrom research facility that is maintained by SRI International under contract with the National Science Foundation (NSF). The large antennae is the facilities Incoherent Scatter Radar (ISR). Other instruments at the site include a magnetometer, a LIDAR, all-sky camera, Fabry-Perot Inferometery, Imaging Riometer and Imaging Spectrometer, Normal Beam Riometer, etc. The facility’s Internet access is via NASA Science Internet by satellite to NASA Goddard.
  • #20 An advanced users view of SPARC; lots of information in multiple SPARC pages! The typical SPARC collaboration features down the left hand side, page information, resource list, active user list, and chat Streaming video in the lower left. Lots of data and model views throughout the rest of the screen shot.
  • #48 One of the major accomplishments of the past year is realizing there are some major categories of collaboratories. We focus on seven types, some of which, you will notice, are dead center in our definition of collaboratories, and some which relax some key features. The first set are clearly focused on research, the second more on practice. Our primary focus is on those that involve human-human interaction as well as access to instruments or information…but some, as you will see, are light on the human-human interaction, and some are loose, like the community of practice, and some have to do with learning or remote access to an expert, not centrally human-human interaction. So, these are the seven. We’re now going to go through the definition of each with an example.