collaborative science: designing the future dr. susan winter university of maryland, college park...
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Collaborative Science: Designing
the Future
Dr. Susan WinterUniversity of Maryland, College Parksjwinter@umd.edu
National Science Foundation
“…promote the progress of science… advance the national health, prosperity and welfare… secure the national defense…”
– National Science Foundation Act of 1950
EPSCoR goals stimulate sustainable improvements in
participants’ R&D capacity and competitivenessadvance science and engineering capabilities in
EPSCoR jurisdictions
US R&D Fragmented: Difficult to Influence, Much
Less Control Universities Inherently Parochial Government Jurisdictional Issues Private Sector Competitors
Advance Science and Engineering Capacity
Complex intellectual challenges
Multi-disciplinary collaboration among diverse teams sharing common resources
Distributed Geographically
Virtual Organizations!
Organization of Scientific Work
Old Science Lab, Researcher + Assistants Division of Labor Narrow Focus of Work
New Science Complex Problems Shared Resources Interdisciplinary Teams Global Operations, Distributed,
Asynchronous
Science Infrastructure Development
Enabling TechnologiesOrganization of Work
Exploitation of Capability
Principles for Designing Collaborative Science
Organizations
Informed and Reflective Choices General PrinciplesUnderstand Specific Contexts
Organizations Likelihood of Success for Kinds of
Alliances Knowledge-based Alliances Least Likely Leadership and Processes are Important
Silos are Hard Interactions Incentives Insights
• Building Cultures• Building Spanning Roles
Knowledge Management/ Group and Team Science
Trust is KeyAbsorptive Capacity
Tacit vs. Explicit Knowledge
Sociotechnical Systems “If You Build it, They Will Come”
Myth
Crowdsourcing/Social ParticipationCitizen SciencePrizes/Contests/CompetitionsGamification
Incentives NOT well understood
3 Aspects of Scientific Work
AssetsWhat do you have to work with?
Knowledge FlowsWho tells who about what and when?
GovernanceWho can make what decisions?What are the incentives?
3 Aspects of Scientific Work
Dimension Assets
Knowledge Flows
Governance
Collaboration Success Knowledge-based
Alliances vs. Sharing Equipment or Data
Silos Impede Knowledge Flows
Mandating Use vs. Incentives
Types of Collaborations
Lifecycle and EnduranceTemporary, Recurring, Permanent
BoundednessProblem-focused vs. Group-enabling
Scale and Scope2 vs. 2,000 Scientists
Determinants of Enablers Degree of Shared Context
Discipline, Department, Organization, Country, Language, Culture
Task and Actor InterdependenceDivisible, Serial Dependence, Co-
creation
Determinants of Enablers Regulatory Environments
Degrees of Freedom?
Technical and Human Infrastructure Tools
• Custom, Off-the-Shelf, End-User Developed• Heterogeneous Environments (Platforms,
Networks)• Poor Fit to Tasks• Technical Difficulties are the Norm!
Human• Large Gaps in Expertise on Teams
Mix Modalities to Enable Knowledge Flows
OralFace-to-Face, videoconference,
phone Written
Manuals/Wikis, Contracts, Journal Articles Pictures/Graphics (drawing boards), Meta-data, MOUs, email, Text Messages, Blogs, Tweets
Is this easy? No! Hitting a Moving Target
Will Eventually Sort it OutGoal = Accelerate Process so Get Sorted Faster
Hard and Persistent Problems even with the Help of the Organizational Sciences
Resources are Sparsely Distributed and Poorly Connected (Who do you call for help?)Hard to Disseminate Lessons Learned
Problems Are Tractable If
Committed & Not Easily Discouraged
In It for the Long Run Issues Play out Over Time Iterative Process of Doing & Learning Synthesis Across Instances for Patterns
Know why you are invested in thisComplementary Assets
Engage Really Good People to Work on Them
Designing Collaborative Research Organizations: Smart Learning by
Doing Bring Assets to Bear on the Problem
Research Evidence Industry Lessons LearnedAssessment for Continuous Improvement
Support Leaders and Members for Knowledge Transfer/DeploymentWorkshops, Manuals, Online ResourcesMore Research/Translation to Practice
Questions?
Understanding Innovation Communities
Building Innovation Communities
Realizing the Potential
Translational science
Research Evidence: Creation/Synthesis/Agenda
Tailored suite of materials: - Practices, tools, processes…- Scale, Disciplinarity, Pedagogy
Funding Good PracticesHuman Capital
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