Web-based tools for collaborative research
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LHTN-08-2017-0062 |
| Pages | 8-19 |
| Published date | 02 October 2017 |
| Date | 02 October 2017 |
| Author | Stacy Brody |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Librarianship/library management,Library technology,Library & information services |
Web-based tools for collaborative research
Stacy Brody
Introduction
Internet-based tools can support
rising levels of collaborative research,
especially across geographic distances.
In this article, I describe categories
of Web-based collaborative tools,
providing free and low-cost examples
within each class. I also address
obstacles to collaboration and good
practices for virtual collaborations. I
conclude with a discussion of potential
roles for librarians.
Collaborative research on the rise
Increasingly, teams, rather than
single researchers, author scholarly
articles and patents (Larivière et al.,
2015;Wuchty et al., 2007;Cronin
et al., 2003). This rise is especially
significant in the sciences and
engineering, social sciences and patents
(Wuchty et al., 2007;Cronin et al.,
2003). There are dramatic increases in
papers authored by teams of 11 or more
members (Larivière et al., 2015).
Internet-based tools can lessen the
burdens associated with collaboration,
fostering further collaboration within
and across universities, industry and
other organizations.
Technology tools foster virtual
collaboration
As researchers collaborate within
and across institutions, they must
connect, communicate, coordinate and
create. These tasks, essential to
teamwork, may extend beyond
traditional disciplinary skills
researchers have honed in their
educational and professional careers.
Collaborators have expressed the desire
for tools to manage tasks and projects,
streamline information sharing,
facilitate communication, conversation
and simultaneous work and hold
meetings and offer presentations across
geographic distance (Cummings and
Kiesler, 2008). Many of the tools
discussed below fulfill these desires.
Web-based tools can help
researchers discover collaborators,
be discovered by collaborators,
communicate and manage projects,
brainstorm, share references and
documents and create content. Mobile
tools are also available. Below, I
describe free and low-cost tools in each
category.
Discover potential collaborators
Professional, social and scholarly
networking sites connect researchers
with individuals of shared interests and
complementary skills. The tools in this
section are free. However, to access
much of the content, researchers must
create user profiles.
ResearchGate. ResearchGate is
well-suited for finding other academic
researchers. Founded in 2008,
ResearchGate claims over 12 million
users as of May 2017 (ResearchGate,
2017). A majority of scientists and
engineers are aware of ResearchGate
and nearly half visit regularly. In total,
forty per cent of visitors use
ResearchGate to discover peers and
one-third post their work (Van
Noorden, 2014)(Figure 1).
Google Scholar. With Google
Scholar, researchers create personal
profiles and search for collaborators.
Whereas, scientists and engineers are
more likely to use ResearchGate,
researchers in the social sciences and
humanities are more likely to use
Google Scholar (Van Noorden, 2014)
(Figure 2).
Twitter and LinkedIn. Twitter and
LinkedIn are best used for discovering
collaborators across disciplines. Each
network sees similar awareness and
usage among scholars in the sciences
and engineering, social sciences and
humanities. Though both are used for
discovering peers, Twitter is used more
frequently for sharing work and
LinkedIn for contacting peers (Van
Noorden, 2014)(Figure 3).
Many conferences encourage
participation on Twitter by creating
hashtags. The Association of College
and Research Libraries used
#acrl2017 for their 2017 conference.
Searching this hashtag on Twitter
returns speakers, posters and other
conference items. Researchers can
use conference hashtags to find
collaborators (Figure 4).
Data-driven collaboration tools
The discovery tools listed in the
previous section require active
participation. Users create profiles, post
research and participate in discussions.
Other systems require little to no active
effort on the part of researchers. Instead
of relying on users to upload
information, these systems harvest
information from different sites to build
user profiles.
The premier example is VIVO.
Developed at Cornell University
Libraries in the early 2000s (Cornell
University, 2017) to enable
intra-institutional connection and
collaboration, VIVO is “an open
source semantic web application [. . .]
[that] enables the discovery of
research and scholarship across
disciplines” (VIVO Project, 2011).
Since its development at Cornell,
VIVO has been implemented at
institutions worldwide (Figure 5).
VIVO allows for intra-institutional
discovery and its uniformity facilitates
the development of networks which
connect participating institutions. For
instance, CTSAsearch, from the
University of Iowa, searches researcher
profiles across 80 institutions. Thus,
VIVO can help researchers discover
and be discovered by collaborators
within and across institutional
boundaries.
LIBRARY HITECH NEWS Number 8 2017, pp. 8-19, © Emerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-08-2017-00628
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