Authors
Ann Borda, Jared Winton, Lyle Winton, and Gaby Bright (VeRSI - Victorian eResearch Strategic Initiative)
Abstract
With the internet being increasingly used for eLife (communication, commerce, social networking, information discovery) the potential for collaboration across boundaries, distance and time is greater than ever before. Many activities that fall under the title of eResearch have been addressing e-enabled collaborations and developing the tools to make this possible. But how do we ensure these tools are effectively crossing organisational boundaries and not establishing new barriers to collaboration? For large-scale eResearch projects, how do we plan for the best possible outcome before too much effort is invested and data is embedded in inappropriate infrastructure?
The presentation will discuss models of collaboration, case studies, and mechanisms to aid in designing for collaboration and collaboration infrastructure that VeRSI is investigating, which can be used early on within a project to increasing the likelihood of success. VeRSI will present a methodology for developing a framework tailored to the needs of a specific collaboration/project. These frameworks can be used to rapidly initiate a shared understanding of:
- collaboration goals;
- communication models;
- activity and workflow;
- functional requirements; and
- information architecture
We will also present a knowledge transfer activity, a part of the VeRSI outreach program, that uses the above methodology to inform research communities of existing models of practice and exemplars of collaboration. This activity aims to accelerate the uptake of eResearch, promote the use of eResearch infrastructure, and promote the reuse of ICT outputs from government funded eResearch projects.
About the speakers
Lyle Winton is the business development manager for VeRSI (http://versi.edu.au/) responsible for knowledge transfer and cross-project analysis. Lyle was formerly a senior research support officer with the eScholarship Research Centre (http://www.esrc.unimelb.edu.au/), supporting the research community and eResearch initiatives at the University of Melbourne, and also a consultant to the DEEWR(DEST)/JISC lead international e-Framework for Education and Research (http://www.e-framework.org/). Lyle’s background is in experimental high energy physics and in distributed computing, having worked as a research fellow at the University of Melbourne and involved in large-scale collaborative international research. For several years Lyle worked as an IT professional in software design, development and project management. Lyle was also involved with the university's high performance computing facility, the APAC National Grid, the Australian Partnership for Sustainable Repositories (APSR), the ARROW/ANDS persistent identifier project and the Victorian Life-Sciences Computation Initiative (VLSCI).