Collaboration in a distributed research program. Islands of intensity in a sea of minimal interaction
| Published date | 06 March 2019 |
| Pages | 334-348 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2018-0078 |
| Date | 06 March 2019 |
| Author | Magdalena Haman,Morten Hertzum |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
Collaboration in a distributed
research program
Islands of intensity in a sea of
minimal interaction
Magdalena Haman and Morten Hertzum
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
Purpose –Researchers need to collaborate to address grand challenges such as climate change, poverty and
sustainable food production. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the researchers in a globally
distributed research program interact to move their research forward.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors interviewed 14 participants in the research program.
Findings –In spite of the spatial di stribution of the researchers the output f rom the research program is
predominantly colla borative; as much as 79 percent of t he publications are co-author ed by researchers from
multiple countries. However, the researc hers mostly work alone on their contributio ns to their joint work
and spend minimal time in teracting. This stra tegy of minimal interact ion is punctuated by isl ands of
intense interaction wh en they occasionally mee t in person. Interaction fe els natural, producti ve and
satisfying to them when t hey are co-located but less so when they are dist ributed, probably because they
experience technolo gy-mediated interaction over a distanc e as somewhat impoverished. The interviewe es
mention that the minimal -interaction strat egy incurs the risks of crack s in common ground and of
misconstruing minim al interaction as lack of commitment. But t he strategy is generally well-liked.
Research limitations/implications –The experience of technology-mediated interaction as impoverished
points to an explanation for the finding of less interaction in distributed than co-located research. It should be
noted that the study is restricted to one research program.
Originality/value –By questioning widely touted recommendations for ongoing, regular and sustained
interaction this study provides a fresh look at scientific collaboration.
Keywords Research work, Scientific collaboration, Information science, Global research,
Distributed work, Minimal interaction, Team science
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
No single research institution can address all the interdependent issues posed by challenges
such as climate change,poverty and sustainable food production. To engage these challenges
researchers mustcollaborate. While scientific collaboration has become increasingly common
and researched( Bennett et al., 2010; Olson et al., 2008; Sonnenwald, 2007; Stokols,Hall, Taylor
and Moser, 2008), large-scale scientific collaboration remains a challenge in its own right.
This challenge stems, in part, from the spatial distribution of the collaborating researchers
(Olson and Olson,2014). In this study we investigate a globally distributedresearch program
and ask how the researchers interact to move their research forward.
Previous work on scientific collaboration finds that “without ongoing communication,
tasks will not be coordinated, scientists will not learn from each other, research results will
not be integrated, and perceptions of distrust may emerge”(Sonnenwald, 2007, p. 667).
This finding summarizes the widely held conviction that in scientific collaboration more
interaction is better (e.g. Cummings and Kiesler, 2005; Larivière et al., 2015; Stokols, Misra,
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 2, 2019
pp. 334-348
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-05-2018-0078
Received 22 May 2018
Revised 6 October 2018
Accepted 7 October 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
This study has not received external funding. The authors declare that at the time of the interviews the
first author worked part-time as a consultant for CGIAR, but not for the Flagship. The authors are
grateful to CGIAR and the Flagship for allowing us to conduct the study. Special thanks are due to the
interviewees.
334
JD
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