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Data Collaboration in the Wild. A Review of its Uses at the University of Michigan. Erik C. Hofer ehofer@umich.edu Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work School of Information University of Michigan. Overview. The challenge ahead Confronting the Tsunami
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Data Collaboration in the Wild • A Review of its Uses at the University of Michigan Erik C. Hofer ehofer@umich.edu Collaboratory for Research on Electronic Work School of Information University of Michigan
Overview • The challenge ahead • Confronting the Tsunami • Some specimens from the Wild • Some lessons
The challenge • Why this talk? Why now? • Many reasons • An exploding market • An exploding demand • We have to sort this all out for our users
The tsunami • A convenient metaphor • Web conferencing and data collaboration products are a giant wall of water, headed straight for us, that will cause great destruction if we are not prepared • We have to understand how this wave is going to hit us
Some tsunami background • A series of massive waves • Energy is constant • function of height and speed • grow rapidly in size as they approach shore • Caused (typically) by earthquakes or other seismic activity • Can cause massive destruction
Our tsunami • There are seismic changes underway in how research and education are conducted • Forces have been building for a long time, but we are about to see major motion as those forces release • To prepare for this tsunami, we must understand the source of the wave, more so than the wave itself
Seismic changes • There is wide belief that the education and research community is poised to embrace new applications enabled by advanced IT infrastructure • The cyberinfrastructure perspective has some concrete thoughts on how this should work for higher ed. • Atkins et al., 2003 • K-12 is not far behind • Fortunately, there have been some tremors that we can look to to understand what lies ahead
Some examples • Remote instrumentation • UARC/SPARC and NEESgrid • Data discussion • GLR CFAR and NEES ES-TF • Distance education • GIS Global Graduate Seminar and Anthrax Virtual Briefings
A note about the examples • Standing on the shoulders of giants • A huge number of people have been involved in each of these projects and I know I will not give due credit to each, but I’ll try
UARC / SPARC • NSF-funded Upper Atmospheric Research Collaboratory and Space Physics and Aeronomy Research Collaboratory projects • Remote instrumentation of facilities for upper atmospheric science • Provided simultaneous viewing of multiple instruments, archival data and model visualizations in a collaboratory environment
NEESgrid • Collaboratory component of the NSF-funded George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation • Provides access to major earthquake engineering infrastructure at 15 research facilities in the US • Enables remote participation and integration of numerical and physical simulation
GLR CFAR • NIH-funded Great Lakes Regional Center for AIDS Research • A virtual center connecting researchers at • Connected through various collaboration technology
NEES ES-TF • Regular virtual lab meeting for equipment sites in NEES • Typically 15-20 sites • Content ranging from roundtable discussions to presentations
Global Graduate Seminar • Graduate-level course taught between several universities • University of Michigan, American University, Howard University, University of Witwatersrand, University of Fort Hare, University of Pretoria • Professor spends time in each place • Each student is a participant in a web conferencing session
Rapid Response Collaboratory • A public-health related project organized in October, 2001 as a response to concerns about anthrax • Core group of 10 people affiliated with GLR CFAR organized virtual briefings • Used Placeware and commercial conference call provider • Over 1200 participants in 8 states
Some lessons • Not all uses of data collaboration are the same • No silver bullet in technology choice • Effort required depends largely on what activities need to be supported • There are many ways to do this!
Some themes • Remote instrumentation • Data is the focus • Low technological barriers to entry • Data discussion • Conversation is the focus • Specialized hardware may be necessary • Distance education • Need to be extremely fault tolerant
Conclusion • The tsunami is heading for us • We have to understand the seismic changes in work that are sending the water our way • Task and infrastructure requirements can yield very different collaborative environments for different users • There is no single integrated solution right now, but we can piece things together
Acknowledgments • National Science Foundation • SPARC - ATM-9873025 • UARC - IRI-9216848 • NEESgrid - CMS-0117853 • National Institutes of Health • GLR CFAR - 5 P30 CA79458
Ack: GGS • W.K. Kellog Foundation • CSIR • University of Michigan • School of Information • Center for Afroamerican and African Studies • Alliance for Community Technology • International Possibilities Unlimited • Microsoft Research • Cisco Systems • Orbicom • National Science Foundation
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