e-Research Collaboration

Researchinbothacademicandnon-academiccircleshasremainedvirtuallyiden- calinitsconductandorganizationoverthelastfewdecades. Disparategroupsof researchershaveworkedontheirideas,projectsandinventionsinisolatedclusters, withlittlesharingofinformationandsynergiesfromcollaboration. Theadventof social networks and Web technologies has led to the creation of new research networksthathavedramaticallyreducedthebarriersandobstaclestocollaboration forresearcherswhoaregeographicallyandorganizationallydistant. Webtechnologiesusebroadbandconnections,improvedbrowsers,and“rich” multimediainconcertwithanewgenerationofwebsitesthatencouragedusersto contribute to content. Blogs, forums, wikis, and other forms of user-generated contentare,inmanycases,themajorsourceofcontentforthesewebsites. Theevolutionofsocialnetworksbeganwiththetrulysocialnetworksoffriends pavingthewayforbusinessnetworks,whichinturnledtothecurrentresearch networksthatconnectacademicandnon-academicresearchersacrosstheworld. Beingmuchmorerobustthantheoriginalsocialnetworksandthebusinessn- worksthatfollowed,collaborativeresearchnetworkshavethepotentialtoeven- ate in technological advances, innovation, and economic contributions to both industryandnations. Currently,tensofthousandsofresearchersareusingresearchnetworks,ushering in a new paradigm for research. In this paradigm, collaboration is made much easier,andsharingofresearchknowledgeisinstant. Synergiesfromroutinecoll- oration will yield huge advances in research productivity and innovation. The challengeforadministratorsinbothindustryandacademiaistounderstandhow researchnetworksarechangingthepracticeofresearchandtodecidehowbestto embracesuchtechnologiesandusethemtotheirbestadvantage. v . Contents PartI e-ResearchCollaboration:Theory AnOverviewofe-ResearchCollaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2 SocialNetworksandResearchCollaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3 WebTechnologies,SocialNetworksande-ResearchCollaboration. . . . . . . . . 6 4 AnOverviewofThisBook. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 5 PartOne:e-ResearchCollaboration:Theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 6 PartTwo:e-ResearchCollaboration:Technologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 7 PartThree:e-ResearchCollaboration:Challenges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 8 Conclusions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 AnAnatomyofCollaborationWithintheOnlineEnvironment . . . . . . . . 15 1 IntroductiontoCollaborationTheory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2 De?ningCollaboration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. 1 Cooperation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 2. 2 Coordination. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2. 3 Collaboration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 3 EssentialElementsofCollaboration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3. 1 Communication. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3. 2 TrustandRespect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 3. 3 EqualityandPower. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 3. 4 StrategicAlliances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 3. 5 IncentiveandValue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3. 6 Negotiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 3. 7 Inter-organisationalKnowledgeSharing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 vii viii Contents 4 ComparisonofCooperation,CoordinationandCollaboration. . . . . . . . . . . . 25 5 PracticalImplicationsforCollaborationTheory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Time,PlaceandCyberspace:FoundationsforSuccessful e-ResearchCollaboration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2 Context:RoleofCommunicationinCollaborations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3 Methodology:CaseStudyofDigitalHumanitiesCommunity. . . . . . . . . . . . 39 4 Findings:e-ResearchCommunicationTools,UsesandDrawbacks. . . . . . . . 40 5 ImplicationsofResearchResults:FindingtheBalance Betweene-ResearchToolsandIn-personCommunications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 6 ConclusionsandRecommendationsforGlobalResearchTeams. . . . . . . . . . 46 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 GapsandBridgesinInterdisciplinaryKnowledgeIntegration . . . . . . . . 49 1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 2 KnowledgeIntegrationWithinandBeyondEpistemicCultures. . . . . . . . . . . 51 3 ThePuzzleofInterdisciplinaryKnowledgeIntegration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 4 ResearchApproach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 5 COMDEV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 6 CollaborationGapsandBridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 6. 1 CollaborationBridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 7 EntrepreneurialGaps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 8 EntrepreneurialBridges. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 9 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 BuildingaConceptualFrameworkforCreatingNewKnowledge ThroughaVirtualInterdisciplinaryEnvironmentProcess . . . . . . . . . . .