eCollaboration

eCollaboration, specifically the use of communication tools such as instant messaging and video conferencing, has become increasingly prevalent in industry, education and social contexts, but most particularly in research. The value of eCollaboration in overcoming the ‘tyranny of distance’ may prove particularly important to Australian researchers, if its full capacity can be realised.

VeRSI is undertaking a research project to learn more about aspects of eCollaboration by biomedical research teams, specifically the effective use of internet and web-based tools to support the teamwork of researchers. This work is being done in partnership with Dr Kathleen Gray, Senior Research Fellow in Health Informatics, and Ardis Cheng, and is supported financially by the Melbourne University Health Informatics Network.

The key questions this research seeks to answer are:

• What knowledge, beliefs and skills do researchers have regarding eCollaboration processes in general and about specific tools and techniques for e-collaboration?
• What factors influence researchers’ choices about whether, when and how to use e-collaboration tools in their projects?
• How do researchers experience and communicate the impacts of e-collaboration in relation to their project plans, processes, outputs, outcomes?

This project is drawing on conceptual frameworks and methodologies within the field of Computer Supported Collaborative Work to investigate and report on these questions in the form of case studies.

A poster of the preliminary work was presented at the UK e-Science All Hands Meeting in 2009.