Academic research practices have remained virtually identical in its conduct and organization over the last few decades.  Disparate groups of researchers work on ideas, projects and inventions in isolated clusters, with little sharing of information and synergies from collaboration.  However a new shift in paradigm is not only changing how researchers collaborate, but changing the standards by which researchers choose academic institutions and in some cases, how those institutions win funding.

The shift of paradigm from collaborations of convenience to collaborations of opportunity using Web 2.0 technologies is called Research 2.0.  Research 2.0 is becoming a critical component in research management and collaboration and has led to the creation of new research networks such as MyNetResearch.

Many universities are familiar with the concepts of Web 2.0 including Wikis, blogs, and social networking tools, but have not implemented these tools holistically in a research setting.  Unfortunately, many researchers  have a difficult time either understanding how to implement the change in paradigm associated with online collaboration, or else cannot convince the university administrators of the value of a  research cyberinfrastucture.

Universities are under increasing pressure to embrace the Research 2.0 paradigm in order to stay competitive, attract the best students and faculty, publish, apply for research grants, and empower their stakeholders in all aspects of research. 

If evaluating Research 2.0 cyberinfrastucture for your department or school or university seems daunting, consider these five steps:

1)      Take the time to trial:  Most research cyber infrastructure software companies will offer trials that allow Universities to use the software for little or no cost in order to understand first-hand how the software will benefit their work

2)      Assess the overall cost:  Along with the investment in research cyber infrastructure software, there are typically maintenance issues and staffing that will be required for updates and troubleshooting.  Research 2.0 software requires far less maintenance cost overall, as they will likely be maintained by the vendor.  This is an advantage to any University that does not wish to hire more IT staff to run secure systems.  Evaluate your needs before investigating software vendors

3)      Ask for references:  How do your colleagues in other Universities find the performance and customer service standards of the vendor you are evaluating? 

4)      Work with your vendor:  Help Research 2.0 vendors like MyNetResearch understand the individual needs of your University.  Be clear on your structure, concerns, goals, and budget and even ask for a customized demonstration of the Research 2.0 software to ensure your vendor understands the requirements you have outlined

5)      Ensure a working relationship:  Ask vendors how they manage upgrade suggestions from their customers.  Users are the best source of research and development for software development companies.  Ask for examples of upgrades the vendor has made based on client feedback.

The paradigm shift to Research 2.0 will evolve, not disappear. In the competitive world of research, there are many advantages to shifting to this new paradigm.  Starting the process of changing your University’s research practices will only help as the Research 2.0 cyber infrastructure becomes the norm.  An in-depth assessment of your department or University’s needs will go a long way to helping prepare your research faculty for the future of global collaboration.

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Stimulus Funding Can Lead to Cyber Infrastructures

Murugan Anandarajan, Ph.D

The recent announcement by President Obama to dedicate U.S.$5 billion in federal stimulus funding for scientific and other research is a an enormous opportunity for our field.   Funding will not only help scientists and researchers to work toward cures and other scientific and scholarly discoveries, but modernize infrastructure within their institutions to harmonize and globalize the very practice of research.

Research grants are a major part of the Recovery Act’s overall investment of $100 billion  in innovative research and advancing science and technology infrastructure.  These grants can play a major role in leveling the research resources playing field which exist between universities.  Researchers lacking the massive physical research infrastructures and capital expenditures of top-ranked research universities have had few options to compete with their more financially-endowed colleagues. 

In my upcoming book, “e-Research Collaboration”, I discuss the opportunities these research grants can provide, including the chance for universities to move to a low cost cyber research infrastructure.  These Web 2.0 based cyber infrastructures can help universities to compete effectively with better-funded universities without spending millions on new research buildings.  With the aid of Web 2.0 research infrastructures universities can unleash the synergies of research collaboration. 

The support of the U.S. government to ensure that researchers have the resources they need to innovate and discover new solutions to health, social, and historical concerns is very encouraging to our field The collaboration infrastructure provided by Web 2.0 can enhance universities existing research structures by bringing together its researchers and others to maximize funding opportunities, promote and support new research projects, encourage the formation of collaborative and multidisciplinary research groups, stimulate their participation in international consortia, and position the university to take a lead role in national research initiatives.

These new cyber infrastructure will lie beyond any that currently exists and stretch the frontiers of what future research infrastructures will look like!

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Enterprise instant messaging applications have started gaining attention from businesses, even though a majority of businesses in Asia Pacific uses consumer instant messaging tools.

Findings of this report are based on Springboard’s interviews with 469 CIOs, IT managers and business managers in over 400 large and SMB enterprises in Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore.

“IM is now recognized as an important communication tool and in many organizations, IM complements or even replaces relatively more expensive phone calls as a means of long distance intra and inter-organization communication,” said Balaka Baruah Aggarwal, senior research manager — Emerging Software at Springboard Research. “Consumer instant messaging tools are a key catalyst for organizations that go on to deploy more integrated and advanced communication and collaboration platforms.”

By Computerworld Hong Kong staff

Created 2009-09-08 02:38PM

Published on InfoWorld (http://www.infoworld.com)

The findings of this report are in direct contrast to many of my experiences - people are still uncomfortable with email and instant messaging, preferring face-to-face or phone calls. I wonder if it is related to a simple issue such as typing ability. Typing was traditionally a gender-based skill, dominated by women, at least in the United States. Confounding the gender is the generation. More millenniums and generation X’ers are comfortable with the virtual world than Baby Boomers are. I wonder what the results would be if this study were replicated in Japan, the United States or Western Europe? More differences or similarities?

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Date: Friday 18 September 2009 09:00 – 17:30

Location: Said Business School, Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HP. If you would like to attend please email your name and affiliation, if any, to: events@oii.ox.ac.uk

With corporations, governments, newspapers and universities embracing blogs and Twitter feeds as key elements in their communication strategies, social media have finally come of age. Yet research shows that the landscape of social media use and impact is a complex one, quite unlike the simple depiction of ubiquitous use and democratisation of content production that was widely heralded with the advent of Blogger ten years ago. This conference will look back at the evolution of blogs and other social media to give a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which such tools have or have not made a difference at the social, political or economic level. In addition, speakers will be asked to look forwards to identify the trends and developments which will most likely shape our experience of these technologies in the near future.

This conference highlights the many avenues open for research in collaboration and the future of social and research media.

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Such research is a result of collaborative efforts between Canada and India.  With the advent of online research portals such as MyNetResearch, we are beginning to see more multilateral collaborative efforts among researchers across the globe.

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Now in its ninth year, The Wainhouse Research Collaboration Futures Summit is a unique experience for attendees to learn from and interact with industry experts, technology leaders, WR analysts, and fellow conferencing and collaboration and IT managers. The agenda covers the major technologies and applications that are driving the future of the industry. The two-day program will include discussions on the future of audio, video, and web applications and the social and environmental factors forcing changes at work, as well as the networking and computer technologies fundamental to enterprise unified communications.

http://www.wainhouse.com/boston09/

As academics, we teach and research about the past and the present, but juxtaposition it with how the future will be different. Our worlds of work as well of our students’ worlds of work are changing. Where do we see ourselves – as early adopters, middle of the pack, or as late adopters? What do we take with us from the previous and how do we integrate it into the future? Many questions, but fortunately we are coming together in arenas like this conference and in places like MyNetResearch.com. What an exciting and challenging time in our changing world.

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