Designing a Multipurpose Virtual Laboratory to Support Communities of Practice in Physics

Silvia Gabrielli, Markus Hodapp*, Roberto Ranon EiC71-Lab, Department of Math & Conzputer Science, University of Udine, Italy

*Department of Psychology, University of Mannheim, Germany gabrielli@dimi. uniud. it

Abstract

This paper reports our recent work within the EuroTe V project, uirned rrt designing u A iullipzlrpose Virtutzl Laborrrtory (1W'L) to szipport collaboration among several European institutes, working in the area ofphgics reseurch.

Specifically, we discuss the type of support MIX can provrde to knowledge creation and sharing within its cornnzunity of users. We also highlight how the digital resources mwilable in this environment might be reused by viriual conznzunities of learners, thus helping to bridge the gap between the worlds of ciscience work nnd edtrcution.

1. Introduction

In nod ern work organizations. such as those dedicated to scientific inquiry, knowledge and learning have become strategic imperatives, whose social foundations are widely recognized [2J. On the one hand, knowledge is continually created and tested through language and conversation within daily work activities, as well as by means of the shared use of artifacts [IS]. On the other hand, learning can be coiiceived as a process of social participation, where newcomers are legitimate to move from peripheral roles toward more central and fill1 participation to a community of practice, as they achieve the mastery of knowledgeable skills relevant to it [13]. In this paper we discuss main cliallcnges and opportunities of designing collaborative tools to support the acquisition, transfer, creation and sharing of expertise within (as well as among) research communities in the field of physics. We present as a case study our current work in tlie EuroTeV project [7 1, a design effort aimed at developing a Multipurpose Virtual Laboratory (MVL) to support collaboration among 27 physics laboratories and institutes (GAN - Global Accelerator Network) working at the

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realization of a next generation linear collider (an electrical device for the acceleration of subatomic particles used in high-energy physics experiments). A main motivation for the design of GAN-MVL, which builds on the collaboratories research tradition [19], is that multi-institutional collaborations need to be I'ormed. by means of large-scale projects, to face the level of complexity of nowadays scient~fic challenges in physics. In this way, sharing of key but expensive resources, such as people (and the different kinds of expertise required), scientific instruments and computing cquipments, allows to overcome inherent limitations of a single institution or research centre. In section 2 we briefly describe the kinds of computer- mediated interactions supported by GAN-MVL and its main functionalities. We also discuss them in terms of the categories of h~owledge [lo] that can be acquired, created and shared by using this tool. as well as in terms of the value of the support provided by MVL for the target community. In section 3 we propose and motivate the opportunity of capitalizing on the resources provided by GAN- MVL to support communities of learners in physics, particularly for augmented, bcyond the classroom activities of knowledge acquisition, creation and sharing. We conclude by encouraging future research bridging the worlds of eSciencc work and education, by supporting the formation of blended communities of practice in physics.

2. GAN-MVL collaborative features

The aim of GAN-MVL is to provide a collaborative environment where operators at the accelerator facility can contact and find support from remote experts on a series of tasks, such as the trouble shooting of accelerator hardware installations. MVI, should be able to connect to standard measurement equipments (scopes, network analyzers etc.) and to elements of accelerator controls and make these connections

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available to a remote client. In this way. remote experts from the GAN community arc enabled to participate in accelerator studies, assembly of accelerator components, trouble shooting of hardware or analysis ofon-line data as if they would be present on site.

Specifically, the tools provided consist of: a mobile collaborative unit, supporting synchronous audio-visual communication and cooperative work bet\veen a remote expert and a control room operator (for operations to be carried out on machines located in critical-to-reach environments). An equipped workplace in the control room, supporting synchronous audio-visual communication and shared visualization of information between expert-operator.

Key to the design of MVL is a deep understanding of the kinds of expert-operator collaboration and knowledge sharing to be supported.

2.1 Expert-Operator collaboration

A useful categorization of the types of knowledge which characterize expertise in a certain field, is described in [ I 01, which we will refer to for analyzing key aspects and requirements of expert-operator collaboration within GAN-MVI,. It is worth considering that all the categories which follow include knowledge that can be either in a tacit or explicit form. Specifically, they consist of:

a) the transfer or sharing of information needed to solve a specific problem (what). which is mainly based on contents and facts useful to find a proper solution.

b) The acquisition of skills or procedural knowledge required to perform a task (how), which is often referred to as the 'know how ' or ability to apply infornlation in a specific task setting.

c) The acquisition and sharing of judgments about whcn a piece of information is useful or a skill is effective to apply and whcn spccific skills and information need to be combined (when). Experts typically learn this kind of judgment from experience [I61 or cases [12]; judgment has a tacit, intuitive component which is often based on the use of heuristics [1 11.

d) The development of an ability to retlect on what one is doing, to question prevailing mental models and procedures, and if necessary. develop a new course of action (wjy), which is related to ethics and wisdom in applying knowledge, especially in scientilic fields.

In addition, within highly distributed collaborative projects, support should be provided to the development of shared mental models among project

teams. where each part develops not only judgment about matters of content, but also knowledge about how to work with others in the team.

As part of EuroTeV user requirements analysis, we recently conducted a study based on 27 in depth interviews with key stakeholders and target users from 3 partners organizations of the GAN community [GSI Darmstadt. DESY IIamburgh, Cermany; INFN Frascati, Italy] to assess their needs, attitudes and expectations about the type of support provided by MVL, main functionalities to their collaborative work activities of knowledge sharing. In the next section we report the results from this study that are most relevant to the categories of knowledge introduced above.

2.2 GAN-MVL support to knowledge sharing

The core iunctionalities of the first GAN-MVL prototype presented to our interviewees for disc~ission and feedback, are the following: I. C70mmunication and groupware support,

consisting of videocotifcrence tools (e.g., a chat. a people browser..), desktop sharing and elogbook.

These features are particularly suited to support what, whet? and why types of knowledge that can be acquired by interacting with an expert, as well as the ability to work in distributed work groups. 111 a sense, communication-collaboration tools can support a community's transactive memory [17], which is given by "a combination of the knowledge possessed by particular group members and an awareness of who knows what" [14]. The interviewees highly valued these tools for the possibility of contacting experts worldwide. thus enabling a faster resolution of problems in very specialized areas of investigation (where the type of expertise required typically is very rare and difficult to access). This was expected to speed up processes of knowledge creation and sharing. by also reducing the need for physicists to travel abroad for pro-jects meetings. In particular, the chat and the people browser, thanks to their peripheral awareness clues, were considered essential to provide straightforward access to expert support and knowledge without intruding too much on their ongoing work activities. Informal means of comrn~tnication (e.g., a chat) can facilitate distant collaboration by contributing to remove psychological barriers that prevent effective interaction, such as the lack of familiarity or confidence with experts working in other countries, or difficulties in comrn~micating in a foreign language. Acquisition of familiarity and mastery of these skills were expected to improve as part of the use of these tools in the daily work practice.

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The Electronic logbook wh~ch can be considered an information repository about events, measures, results collected during physics pro,jects and experimentations is most relevant to what kinds of knowledge, but also to the developn~ent and maintenance of shared mental models and activity awareness [S] about work processes going on in the control room. Our interviewees claimed that an electronic logbook provides much easier and effective access to the information there contained, if compared to the more traditional paper logbook. Physicists reported a posslble Issue concerned with d~ffcrences found in the practice of updating and maintaining the eLogbook among different research communities involved in joint intemational projects. However. they considered large scale projects as enabling factors for the acquisition of best practice by organizations less familiar with the exploitation and maintenance of these resources. It is evident that usability issues are to be deserved special attention when designing effective eldogbook functionalities for very large and differentiated communities of users. 2. Remote insbtrments control. enabling remote and

shared control of physics instruments, like oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers. digital rnultimeters.. .

Particularly relevant to the acquisition and sharing of what. how and when types of knowledge, these features were considered to allow a faster discovery of problems and system malfunctioning. as uell as the repairing of scientific instrumentation, thanks to the possibility of sharing visual information about the current state of instruments control panels during expert-operator interaction. Also, a new requirement uncovered during the interviews was physicists' need to access 3D visualizations or sim~ilations of the internal parts (and their functioning) of the instruments used. This possibility was expected to improve the technical expertise of operators about different types of machines and types of control systems used in remote (and less familiar) research sites. This was claimed to reduce the risk of mistakes by experts or operators when doing a repairing, as well as to compensate for the potential risk of knowledge fragmentation (or differentiation) oficn implied by the introduction of changes into the preexisting organizational practice and transactive nletnory. 3. High Resolut~on video capturing, to support

mobile work by allowing transmission of lnaintenance issues to the central control facilities using video, and enabling the retrieval of archived video streaming about expert-operator collaborations later on.

Relevant to all the types of knowledge mentioned above, these functionalities contribute to capture and store relevant information about collaborations carried out within the particle accelerator infi-astnicture that can support processes of knowledge discovery. Recorded events. like critical incidents occurred in the past while running physics experiments, could be accessed and reused later on by other users, as a source of inspiration to find solutions to relevant probletns. This was considered to increase operators' confidence and quality of decision-making in dificult situations (e.g., wlxn decisions must be taken on insufficient evidence or under conditions of uncertainty), as well as an important enabler of learning and professional growth in the daily practice.

3. MVL potential support to education

The integrated enkironment and resources for collaboration provided by MVL have the potential of bringing added value not only to the GAN professional community, but also to virtual communities of learners in the area of physics. There is. in fact, a growing intemational demand for advanced training enviro~iments supporting students to get the kind of expertise required in the professional world, by engaging them in relevant and practical learning activities within. as well as beyond, classroom teaching. Much work needs to be done to manage layers of participation that enable students and others to participate. at levels appropriate to their interest and competencies, in ways that do not intrude on the work of the others. yet make their results and activity accessible as appropriate 161. Building on previous research efforts addressed to dcvelop GRID infrastmcti~es to support disTant collaboration anlong laboratories for physics undergraduate students [3] [4][8][9][15]. new tools and resources are required today to bridge the gap, For example. between niodels and simulations used in the scientific and engineering practice and those used in education. Models used by practicing scientists tend to Ix highly detailed and require significant expertise and support to understand. although representing core instri~rnents of their daily practice. Also. expert kno%ledge is more than an accumulation of facts and skills; what makes it different from newconiers' knowledge is its being structured in ways that facilitate problem-solving and being embedded in a clear state-of-the-art. 'I'he added value of the large mounts of digital contents produced in collaborative environments such as GAN-MVI, (e.g., those stored in the ellogbook or video streaming arch~ves). is that if properly

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abstracted. simplified, annotated, and augmented, they can be transformed into valuable learning resources for students. In particular, they can support activities based on the development of case studies, where students are enabled to acquire vicarious apprenticeship experience by focusing not only on solu~tioas found to physics research issues, but also on the problem-solving skills and processes followed by experts to reach those solutions (that are more difficult to access, since mainly based on tacit form of knowledge). Moreover, the opportunity of making accessible to learners trial versions. as well as 2LI or 3D representations of physics instrumentation and data available in professional research centres (e.g.. in the form of 3D Learning Objects and dynamic visualizations of data patterns) could largely extend the range and quality of the learning experiences provided, going beyond typical budget constraints and resources of single schools. It is worth observing, howcver. that new methodologies of visual analytics and human- computer interaction research will be needed to analyze very large and complex information streanls (e.g.. structured or unstructured text documents, measurements. videos..) and make them easily accessible as well as usable to leaners, teachers or other stakeholders for educational purposes. At the same time, communication or groupware tools like the ones provided by MVL, could support the formation of virtual communities of learners fostering more large-scale educational projects, involving participants across countries and kinds of expertise. New forms of teaching or mentoring sulted to the requirements of these online communities should be studied and evaluated, together with the opportunity of bringing in experts worldwide. including members from the professional communities.

5. Conclusion

The design case study presented in this paper has shown an ongoing European efYort towards developing collaborative environments to support knowledge creation and sllaring within large-scale. highly distributed projects and research communities in physics.

Wc have also claimed the potential value of reusing adapted versions of the digital resources and functionalities provided by GAN-MVL for educational purposes and the creation of blended communities of experts and learners of physics.

This work strongly encourages future joint rescarch and design initiatives. particularly in Europe, that

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ivould further explore and validate the benefits of bridging the worlds of eScience work and education.

6. Acknowledgments

This work has been partially supported by the EuroTeV (European Design Study To~vards a Global 7 Linear Collider) ELI project [http://~~vw.eurote\i.org 1.

7. References

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