Informal Communication in Collaboratories

This study examines how collaboratories affect informal scientific communication. Collaboratories are virtual organizations, where various information technologies are adopted to support distributed scientific work. In this paper, a framework to understand factors affecting informal communication are presented and how these factors play out in collaboratories are discussed. The results of data analysis suggest that collaboratories bring about new opportunities, but there are also barriers to informal communication in collaboratories. Peripheral scientists encounter more barriers than their partners in US and Europe. The paper concludes with a discussion of areas for future research and implications of this study.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57320/1/14504301187_ftp.pd

Information and Communication Technologies and Informal Scholarly Communication: A Review of the Social Oriented Research

This article reviews and analyzes findings from research on computer mediated informal scholarly communication. Ten empirical research papers, which show the effects and influences of information & communication technologies (ICTs), or the effects of social contexts on ICTs use in informal scholarly communication, were analyzed and compared. Types of ICTs covered in those studies include e-mails, collaboratories, and electronic forums. The review shows that most of the empirical studies examined the ICTs use effects or consequences. Only a few studies examined the social shaping of ICTs and ICT uses in informal scholarly communication. Based on comparisons of the empirical findings this article summarizes the ICT use effects/consequences as identified in the studies into seven categories and discusses their implications

Communication and Digital Content in Research Network Collaboratories

In this paper, we explore Collaboratories as a space of communication for research networks between institutions whose focus is on research, development and technological innovation (PD&I). Collaboratories are used to promote communication, increase learning, encourage collaborative construction of knowledge and share information, knowledge and technologies. We also conduct a discussion about communication as a guiding process of the relationships between the participants of the research networks in the Collaboratories. Based on a model of digital content organization, which is part of a transmedia perspective, we also identify the media and the content that can be exchanged.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Planning Support Systems: Progress, Predictions, and Speculations on the Shape of Things to Come

In this paper, we review the brief history of planning support systems, sketching the way both the fields of planning and the software that supports and informs various planning tasks have fragmented and diversified. This is due to many forces which range from changing conceptions of what planning is for and who should be involved, to the rapid dissemination of computers and their software, set against the general quest to build ever more generalized software products applicable to as many activities as possible. We identify two main drivers – the move to visualization which dominates our very interaction with the computer and the move to disseminate and share software data and ideas across the web. We attempt a brief and somewhat unsatisfactory classification of tools for PSS in terms of the planning process and the software that has evolved, but this does serve to point up the state-ofthe- art and to focus our attention on the near and medium term future. We illustrate many of these issues with three exemplars: first a land usetransportation model (LUTM) as part of a concern for climate change, second a visualization of cities in their third dimension which is driving an interest in what places look like and in London, a concern for high buildings, and finally various web-based services we are developing to share spatial data which in turn suggests ways in which stakeholders can begin to define urban issues collaboratively. All these are elements in the larger scheme of things – in the development of online collaboratories for planning support. Our review far from comprehensive and our examples are simply indicative, not definitive. We conclude with some brief suggestions for the future

Communication and Digital Content in Research Network Collaboratories

In this paper, we explore Collaboratories as a space of communication for research networks between institutions whose focus is on research, development and technological innovation (PD&I). Collaboratories are used to promote communication, increase learning, encourage collaborative construction of knowledge and share information, knowledge and technologies. We also conduct a discussion about communication as a guiding process of the relationships between the participants of the research networks in the Collaboratories. Based on a model of digital content organization, which is part of a transmedia perspective, we also identify the media and the content that can be exchanged.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

The ecological system of innovation: A new architectural framework for a functional evidence-based platform for science and innovation policy

Models on innovation, for the most part, do not include a comprehensive and end-to-end view. Most innovation policy attention seems to be focused on the capacity to innovate and on input factors such as R&D investment, scientific institutions, human resources and capital. Such inputs frequently serve as proxies for innovativeness and are correlated with intermediate outputs such as patent counts and outcomes such as GDP per capita. While this kind of analysis is generally indicative of innovative behaviour, it is less useful in terms of discriminating causality and what drives successful strategy or public policy interventions. This situation has led to the developing of new frameworks for the innovation system led by National Science and Technology Policy Centres across the globe. These new models of innovation are variously referred to as the National Innovation Ecosystem. There is, however, a fundamental question that needs to be answered: what elements should an innovation policy include, and how should such policies be implemented? This paper attempts to answer this question.Innovation; Delphi Method; Balanced Scorecard; Quadruple Helix Theory; Analytic Hierarchy Process; Ecological System of Innovation, Framework, Systems Dynamics

Supporting participation in communities of practice by scientists from developing countries — The case of high energy physics

Over the last decade, researchers have hypothesized that a new form of scientific organization, the “collaboratory” holds promise to greatly benefit scientists from developing countries by allowing them to reach remotely located experts, instruments, and databases. However, there have been no empirical studies to prove or disprove this hypothesis. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study examines how collaboratories affect one of the factors that purportedly lead to scientific productivity—communities of practice. Results of data analysis indicate that collaboratories bring about new opportunities for scientists from developing countries to access scientists from developed countries and their practices, but barriers also exist. The full value of collaboratories can be achieved only after the technologies themselves and the social practices surrounding the use of technologies are improved.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63070/1/1450450288_ftp.pd