facilitating collaboration

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Facilitating collaboration: a review Dr Hazel Hall Professor of Social Informatics Edinburgh Napier University http://hazelhall.org @hazelh Presentation made at the doctoral defence of Monica Lassi, University of Borås, Sweden, 11th June 2014

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Presentation delivered at the doctoral defence of Monica Lassi, University of Borås, 11th June 2014. There is a full narrative to accompany these slides at http://hazelhall.org/2014/06/12/facilitating-collaboration-a-doctoral-defence-in-sweden/

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Page 1: Facilitating collaboration

Facilitating collaboration: a review

Dr Hazel HallProfessor of Social InformaticsEdinburgh Napier University

http://hazelhall.org@hazelh

Presentation made at the doctoral defence of Monica Lassi, University of Borås, Sweden, 11th June 2014

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Facilitating collaboration: a reviewAn opportunity to situate

Opponent Research background Institution

Work examined Research questions Four studies that develop the thesis The thesis’ contribution to knowledge

Then on to the questioning…

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http://hazelhall.org/about

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Mirifici Logarithmorum Canonis Descriptio (1614)

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http://www.social-informatics.org/uploadi/editor/1158776249plakat%20ENG1.pdf

Socio-technical view

• Technology affects

people

• People affect

technology

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http://hdl.handle.net/2320/13583

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Collaboration and LIS

1. How can collaboration be facilitated?

2. How can collaboration be stimulated?

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What do members of the LIS community perceive to be (a)

benefits, (b) facilitators, (c) challenges of an LIS

collaboratory? What are the current attitudes amongst members of the LIS community towards practices of creating, sharing, using and

re-using data collection instruments? How can the social actors model

and the online community life-cycle model contribute to the understanding of perceptions and practices related to data collection instruments and a potential LIS collaboratory?

3 PhD research questions

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Two theoretical models1. Online community life-cycle

Gives a perspective on designing social aspects of a collaboratory For example, with reference to interaction between actors, it reveals factors

that contribute to the success of an online community

2. Social actors model

Helps understanding of potential collaboratory actors with regards to: The context of the organisations where they work Their professional roles

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Focus of the studyScientific collaboration as related to data collection instruments, e.g.

Interview guides Questionnaires Observation protocols

Specific activities related to the handling the data collection instruments

Creating Sharing Using Re-using

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Thesis developmentFour studies

Each builds on the one that precedes it Each contributes to the next one

A prototype collaboratory Online facilities for collaboration Designed as part of the work

The research process is thus also a design process

Socio-technical viewTechnology affects peoplePeople affect technology

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Paper 1: literature review (2010)“Identifying factors that may impact adoption and use of a social science collaboratory: a synthesis of previous research”

Analyses the literature of scientific collaboration and collaboratories Not LIS-specific, also includes material from:

Communication Studies Computer Mediated Communication Computer Science Computer Supported Cooperative Work Psychology Sociology Social Studies of Science

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Paper 1: findingsSix factors are important to adoption and use of a collaboratory

3 individual factors related to: Impact of collaboratory engagement on career progress, e.g. citations Personal factors (other than those related to career progress) e.g. fun Cost of participation

3 group factors related to the extent to which: The collaboratory advances the discipline/science The collaboratory has an impact on the community it seeks to serve The cost of developing and maintaining the collaboratory represents “good

value”

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Paper 2: empirical study on perceptions “Sharing data collection instruments: perceptions of facilitators and challenges for a Library and Information Science collaboratory”

Explores factors that may affect a collaboratory Design, adoption and use

Details current practices related to data collection instruments Creating, sharing, using, re-using

Based on perceptions of 16 interviewees from across the LIS community Benefits, facilitators, challenges of collaboratory for sharing data collection

instruments

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Paper 2 findings (1): 2 main benefitsA collaboratory would be useful to the LIS community/discipline

Resources held would make it possible to build on previous work, e.g. Develop and improve a data collection tool Compare results across studies

Contributors would feel a rise in personal esteem when their tools are re-used

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Paper 2 findings (2): 2 main challengesValue of tool re-use

Research is often unique: how useful is one person’s tool in another person’s work?

Need for rich meta data about the tool in question for users to determine the value of an existing tool

The opportunity to modify a shared data collection tool is not necessarily positive

Could this actually lower its value?

LIS context “Sharing resources is not in LIS culture” (p. 53) Practitioners lack time, confidence and personal incentive to become

active collaboratory users

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Paper 3: prototype design (2013)Presents the design of a prototype collaboratory built in MediaWiki around “use cases”

Join the collaboratory Create a research profile

Handle data collection instruments Share one Find one Post a comment/question about one Create a new one

Volunteer to be a reviewer Provide a recommendation letter for a collaboratory member

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Paper 4: empirical study to evaluate design“Evaluation of a prototype collaboratory for sharing data collection instruments in Library and Information Science”

Investigates how a group of librarians perceives the prototype collaboratory

“Think aloud” sessions Semi-structured interviews on “think aloud” sessions

Examines the potential of a collaboratory for the sharing of data collection instruments in LIS

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Paper 4: findingsLibrarians who tested the prototype

Encountered initial difficulties with the interface, but were confident that these could be overcome

Drew attention to high cost of participation Learning the mark-up language Working in English (not Swedish) Becoming familiar with research methods vocabulary

Liked the facility for sharing and commenting Suggested the value of a collaboratory for their end users

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What do members of the LIS community perceive to be (a)

benefits, (b) facilitators, (c) challenges of an LIS

collaboratory?

Research question 1

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Perceptions of an LIS collaboratory

Value Resources held would make it

possible to build on previous work

The research process would accelerate

Contributors would feel a rise in personal esteem when their tools are re-used

Researchers from other disciplines could learn from/contribute to LIS

New ways of working with LIS data collection tools could be disseminated in teaching

Challenges How do you meet the needs of

a diverse audience? How do you ensure the quality

of collaboratory content? How do you reward

participation? Benefit of participation needs

to be greater than cost Different users prefer different

rewards (e.g. time to engage, citations for esteem)

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Perceptions of an LIS collaboratory

Value Resources held would make it

possible to build on previous work

The research process would accelerate

Contributors would feel a rise in personal esteem when their tools are re-used

Researchers from other disciplines could learn from/contribute to LIS

New ways of working with LIS data collection tools could be disseminated in teaching

Challenges How do you meet the needs of

a diverse audience? How do you ensure the quality

of collaboratory content? How do you reward

participation? Benefit of participation needs

to be greater than cost Different users prefer different

rewards (e.g. time to engage, citations for esteem)

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What are the current attitudes amongst members of the LIS community towards practices of creating, sharing, using and

re-using data collection instruments?

Research question 2

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Attitudes towards collaboratory practice

Embracing practice

Positive attitudes towards more sharing and re-use of data collection instruments

Tensions

Desire to support LIS versus the desire to maintain control of one’s own resources

Page 30: Facilitating collaboration

Attitudes towards collaboratory practice

Embracing practice

Positive attitudes towards more sharing and re-use of data collection instruments

Tensions

Desire to support LIS versus the desire to maintain control of one’s own resources

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How can the social actors model and the online community life-cycle model contribute to the understanding of perceptions and practices related to data collection instruments and a potential LIS collaboratory?

Research question 3

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Theoretical models

Social actors

Empirical material too diverse and complex to categorise and generalise according to this model Different actor roles Varied organisational contexts

Online community life-cycle

Contribution to a design framework with a focus on social interaction in a collaboratory

Insight into the creation stage of the online community life-cycle model Goal established Target audience determined

Both models

• Illustrate difficulties when dealing with too

complex a target group for design

• This factor is stressed in the online

community life-cycle model – need for a

clearly defined target group

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Contributions of this studyCollaboration in general

Review of the literature on the design, adoption and use of collaboratories Greater depth of coverage of the theme in a social science domain

Previous work is largely in the domain of science Focus on initial design of online collaborative space

Previous work primarily considers what affects/stimulates use

Collaboration and LIS New knowledge on the sharing of data collection instruments Inclusion of practitioners in the study Understanding of LIS community’s perceptions of the potential of

collaboratories Identification of needs of an LIS collaboratory

e.g. tailored provision, interface design

Page 34: Facilitating collaboration

Facilitating collaboration: a review

Dr Hazel HallProfessor of Social InformaticsEdinburgh Napier University

http://hazelhall.org@hazelh

Presentation made at the doctoral defence of Monica Lassi, University of Borås, Sweden, 11th June 2014