Journal Article

Walking the Tightrope: The Balancing Acts of a Large e-Research Project

Thumbnail Image

Fulltext URI

Document type

Text/Journal Article

Additional Information

Date

2006, 2006

Authors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Source

Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 15, No. 4

Publisher

Springer

Abstract

Although e-Research has received much attention and acclaim in recent years, the realities of distributed collaboration still challenge even the most well-planned endeavors. This case study of an e-Research project examines the ‚balancing acts’ associated with multidisciplinary, geographically distributed, large-scale research and development work. After briefly describing the history and organizational design of this information technology and atmospheric science research project, I identify five paradoxical challenges that cannot be resolved: research versus development, harmony versus conflict, consensus versus top-down decision making, frequency and modes of communication, and fast versus slow pacing. Although collaboration and communication technologies supported the project’s management and organization, most of the complexities faced by the team were not technological in nature. From the five paradoxical challenges associated with the project, I distill three cross-cutting issues that could be relevant to other e-Research projects of this magnitude: satisfying the multiple needs of a multidisciplinary project, managing information, and engaging all participants. I identify the practical implications of these challenges and issues, specifically that organizational and low-tech solutions – not the introduction of more sophisticated technology tools – are needed to solve these challenges and to better streamline coordination.

Description

Lawrence, Katherine A. (2006): Walking the Tightrope: The Balancing Acts of a Large e-Research Project. Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW): Vol. 15, No. 4. DOI: 10.1007/s10606-006-9025-0. Springer. PISSN: 1573-7551. pp. 385-411

Keywords

collaboration technology, communication, distributed work, e-Research/cyberinfrastructure, geographic dispersion, information management, multidisciplinary scientific research, paradox, project management, technology development

Citation

DOI

10.1007/s10606-006-9025-0

URI

URI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10606-006-9025-0
 https://dl.eusset.eu/handle/20.500.12015/3692

Collections

JCSCW Vol. 15 (2006)

Endorsement

Review

Supplemented By

Referenced By

Number of citations to item: 53

  • Sean Kross, Philip Guo (2021): Orienting, Framing, Bridging, Magic, and Counseling: How Data Scientists Navigate the Outer Loop of Client Collaborations in Industry and Academia, In: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction CSCW2(5), doi:10.1145/3476052
  • James Howison, James D. Herbsleb (2011): Scientific software production, In: Proceedings of the ACM 2011 conference on Computer supported cooperative work, doi:10.1145/1958824.1958904
  • Betsy Rolland, Drew Paine, Charlotte P. Lee (2014): Work Practices in Coordinating Center Enabled Networks (CCENs), In: Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Supporting Group Work, doi:10.1145/2660398.2660408
  • Drew Paine, Charlotte P. Lee (2020): Coordinative Entities: Forms of Organizing in Data Intensive Science, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3(29), doi:10.1007/s10606-020-09372-2
  • Lina Markauskaite, Mary Anne Kennan, Jim Richardson, Anindito Aditomo, Leonie Hellmers (2000): Investigating eResearch, In: Collaborative and Distributed E-Research, doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-0125-3.ch001
  • Deborah A. Garwood, Alex H. Poole (2018): Project management as information management in interdisciplinary research: “Lots of different pieces working together”, In: International Journal of Information Management, doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2018.03.002
  • Kerk F. Kee, Larry D. Browning (2010): The Dialectical Tensions in the Funding Infrastructure of Cyberinfrastructure, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3-4(19), doi:10.1007/s10606-010-9116-9
  • Armin Kashefi, Simon JE Taylor, Pamela Abbott, Anastasia Anagnostou, Ousmane Moussa Tessa, Omo Oaiya, Boubakar Barry, Damien Alline (2018): User requirements for national research and education networks for research in West and Central Africa, In: Information Development 4(35), doi:10.1177/0266666918774113
  • Jilian C. Wallis (2012): The Distribution of Data Management Responsibility within Scientific Research Groups, In: SSRN Electronic Journal, doi:10.2139/ssrn.2269079
  • Deana D. Pennington (2010): The Dynamics of Material Artifacts in Collaborative Research Teams, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 2(19), doi:10.1007/s10606-010-9108-9
  • James Howison, James D. Herbsleb (2013): Incentives and integration in scientific software production, In: Proceedings of the 2013 conference on Computer supported cooperative work, doi:10.1145/2441776.2441828
  • Uta Renken, Angelika C. Bullinger (2011): IT-basierte interaktive Forschung – über die Verwendung von Social Software in der Forschung, In: Enabling Innovation, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-24299-1_45
  • Marianne Kinnula, Netta Iivari, Leena Kuure, Tonja Molin-Juustila (2023): Educational Participatory Design in the Crossroads of Histories and Practices – Aiming for Digital Transformation in Language Pedagogy, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 4(32), doi:10.1007/s10606-023-09473-8
  • Geoffrey C. Bowker, Karen Baker, Florence Millerand, David Ribes (2009): Toward Information Infrastructure Studies: Ways of Knowing in a Networked Environment, In: International Handbook of Internet Research, doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9789-8_5
  • Uta Renken, Angelika C. Bullinger (2011): IT-based Interactive Research – on the Use of Social Software in Research, In: Enabling Innovation, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-24503-9_45
  • Christine L. Borgman, Jillian C. Wallis, Matthew S. Mayernik (2012): Who’s Got the Data? Interdependencies in Science and Technology Collaborations, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 6(21), doi:10.1007/s10606-012-9169-z
  • Phuong L. Mai, Sharon R. Sand, Neiladri Saha, Mauricio Oberti, Tom Dolafi, Lisa DiGianni, Elizabeth J. Root, Xianhua Kong, Renee C. Bremer, Karina M. Santiago, Jasmina Bojadzieva, Derek Barley, Ana Novokmet, Karen A. Ketchum, Ngoc Nguyen, Shine Jacob, Kim E. Nichols, Christian P. Kratz, Joshua D. Schiffman, D. Gareth Evans, Maria Isabel Achatz, Louise C. Strong, Judy E. Garber, Sweta A. Ladwa, David Malkin, Jeffrey N. Weitzel (2020): Li-Fraumeni Exploration Consortium Data Coordinating Center: Building an Interactive Web-Based Resource for Collaborative International Cancer Epidemiology Research for a Rare Condition, In: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 5(29), doi:10.1158/1055-9965.epi-19-1113
  • Claus Bossen, Timo Leimbach (2017): Project Management Practices as a Subject of Research for CSCW, In: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction CSCW(1), doi:10.1145/3134660
  • Paul C. van Fenema, Vinay Tiwari, Paul W. L. Vlaar (2008): Requirements analysis in offshore is development: remote bridging of differences in understandings, In: Outsourcing Global Services, doi:10.1057/9780230227415_9
  • Malcolm Wolski, Louise Howard, Joanna Richardson (2017): The importance of tools in the data lifecycle, In: Digital Library Perspectives 3(33), doi:10.1108/dlp-11-2016-0042
  • Nina Ockendon-Powell, Alice Beck, Diane Hird, Helen Thomas-Hughes, Neil Boonham, Gary Foster, Andy Bailey, Bruce Cronin (2025): Network Dynamics In Developing Interdisciplinary Research Capacity And Collaboration: A Case Study In Vector-Borne Plant Virus Research, doi:10.2139/ssrn.5052664
  • Mrinalini Mulukutla, A. Nicole Person, Sven Voigt, Lindsey Kuettner, Branden Kappes, Danial Khatamsaz, Robert Robinson, Daniel Salas Mula, Wenle Xu, Daniel Lewis, Hongkyu Eoh, Kailu Xiao, Haoren Wang, Jaskaran Singh Saini, Raj Mahat, Trevor Hastings, Matthew Skokan, Vahid Attari, Michael Elverud, James D. Paramore, Brady Butler, Kenneth Vecchio, Surya R. Kalidindi, Douglas Allaire, Ibrahim Karaman, Edwin L. Thomas, George Pharr, Ankit Srivastava, Raymundo Arróyave (2024): Illustrating an Effective Workflow for Accelerated Materials Discovery, In: Integrating Materials and Manufacturing Innovation 2(13), doi:10.1007/s40192-024-00357-3
  • David Ribes, Geoffrey C. Bowker (2009): Between meaning and machine: Learning to represent the knowledge of communities, In: Information and Organization 4(19), doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2009.04.001
  • David Ribes, Charlotte P. Lee (2010): Sociotechnical Studies of Cyberinfrastructure and e-Research: Current Themes and Future Trajectories, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3-4(19), doi:10.1007/s10606-010-9120-0
  • L. Siemens, E. Burr (2012): A trip around the world: Accommodating geographical, linguistic and cultural diversity in academic research teams, In: Literary and Linguistic Computing 2(28), doi:10.1093/llc/fqs018
  • Franz Barjak, Julia Lane, Zack Kertcher, Meik Poschen, Rob Procter, Simon Robinson (2009): Case Studies of e-Infrastructure Adoption, In: Social Science Computer Review 4(27), doi:10.1177/0894439309332310
  • Lynne Siemens, The INKE Research Group (2019): Developing an Open Social Scholarship Collaboration: Lessons from INKE, In: KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies, doi:10.5334/kula.9
  • Netta Iivari (2016): Coordinating, Contributing, Contesting, Representing: HCI Specialists Surviving Distributed Design, In: COOP 2016: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on the Design of Cooperative Systems, 23-27 May 2016, Trento, Italy, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33464-6_13
  • Alex H. Poole, Deborah A. Garwood (2018): Interdisciplinary scholarly collaboration in data-intensive, public-funded, international digital humanities project work, In: Library & Information Science Research 3-4(40), doi:10.1016/j.lisr.2018.08.003
  • Alexandra Soulier, Anne Cambon-Thomsen (2016): Promesses de biobanques : se soucier de l’avenir dans l’éthique de la recherche biomédicale, In: Revue française d'éthique appliquée 2(N° 2), doi:10.3917/rfeap.002.0029
  • Kanu Priya Singh, Isa Jahnke, Prasad Calyam (2024): Entangled collaborations: tensions in cross-disciplinary user experience studies in cyberinfrastructure projects, In: Behaviour & Information Technology 2(44), doi:10.1080/0144929x.2024.2315325
  • Betsy Rolland, Briana R. Smith, John D. Potter (2011): Coordinating Centers in Cancer Epidemiology Research: the Asia Cohort Consortium Coordinating Center, In: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 10(20), doi:10.1158/1055-9965.epi-11-0391
  • Marianne Kinnula, Netta Iivari, Minna Isomursu, Sari Laari-Salmela (2018): ‘Worksome but Rewarding’ –Stakeholder Perceptions on Value in Collaborative Design Work, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3-6(27), doi:10.1007/s10606-018-9328-y
  • Drew Paine, Charlotte P. Lee (2014): Producing Data, Producing Software: Developing a Radio Astronomy Research Infrastructure, In: 2014 IEEE 10th International Conference on e-Science, doi:10.1109/escience.2014.41
  • Lynne Siemens (2015): “More Hands” Means “More Ideas”: Collaboration in the Humanities, In: Humanities 3(4), doi:10.3390/h4030353
  • Yun Huang, Brian Dobreski, Huichuan Xia (2017): Human Library, In: Proceedings of the 2017 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, doi:10.1145/2998181.2998312
  • Netta Iivari (2019): Power Struggles and Disciplined Designers - A Nexus Analytic Inquiry on Cross-Disciplinary Research and Design, In: Proceedings of the 2019 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, doi:10.1145/3290605.3300626
  • Lisa M. Given, Rebekah Willson (2015): Collaboration, Information Seeking, and Technology Use: A Critical Examination of Humanities Scholars’ Research Practices, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-18988-8_8
  • Shawn Jordan, Robin Adams (2016): Perceptions of success in virtual cross-disciplinary design teams in large multinational corporations, In: CoDesign 3(12), doi:10.1080/15710882.2016.1146303
  • Deana D. Pennington (2011): Bridging the Disciplinary Divide: Co-Creating Research Ideas in eScience Teams, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3(20), doi:10.1007/s10606-011-9134-2
  • Yaoli Mao, Dakuo Wang, Michael Muller, Kush R. Varshney, Ioana Baldini, Casey Dugan, Aleksandra Mojsilović (2019): How Data ScientistsWork Together With Domain Experts in Scientific Collaborations, In: Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction GROUP(3), doi:10.1145/3361118
  • Netta Iivari (2013): Usability Specialists as Boundary Spanners – An Appraisal of Usability Specialists’ Work in Multiparty Distributed Open Source Software Development Effort, In: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40480-1_40
  • David Ribes, Jessica Beth Polk (2012): Historical ontology and infrastructure, In: Proceedings of the 2012 iConference, doi:10.1145/2132176.2132209
  • L. Siemens, R. Cunningham, W. Duff, C. Warwick (2011): A tale of two cities: implications of the similarities and differences in collaborative approaches within the digital libraries and digital humanities communities, In: Literary and Linguistic Computing 3(26), doi:10.1093/llc/fqr028
  • Will Venters, Avgousta Kyriakidou‐Zacharoudiou (2012): Interventionist grid development projects: a research framework based on three frames, In: Information Technology & People 3(25), doi:10.1108/09593841211254349
  • Dimitrina Spencer, Ann Zimmerman, David Abramson (2011): Special Theme: Project Management in E-Science: Challenges and Opportunities, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 3(20), doi:10.1007/s10606-011-9140-4
  • David Ribes, Steven Jackson, Stuart Geiger, Matthew Burton, Thomas Finholt (2013): Artifacts that organize: Delegation in the distributed organization, In: Information and Organization 1(23), doi:10.1016/j.infoandorg.2012.08.001
  • Daniel Gooch, Asimina Vasalou, Laura Benton (2016): Impact in interdisciplinary and cross‐sector research: Opportunities and challenges, In: Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 2(68), doi:10.1002/asi.23658
  • Javier Faulin, Angel A. Juan, Fernando Lera, Barry B. Barrios, Alex Forcada (2000): E-Mentoring, In: Collaborative and Distributed E-Research, doi:10.4018/978-1-4666-0125-3.ch011
  • Matthew S. Mayernik, Jillian C. Wallis, Christine L. Borgman (2012): Unearthing the Infrastructure: Humans and Sensors in Field-Based Scientific Research, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 1(22), doi:10.1007/s10606-012-9178-y
  • Deana D. Pennington (2011): Collaborative, cross-disciplinary learning and co-emergent innovation in eScience teams, In: Earth Science Informatics 2(4), doi:10.1007/s12145-011-0077-4
  • Lynne Siemens (2010): Time, Place and Cyberspace: Foundations for Successful e-Research Collaboration, In: e-Research Collaboration, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-12257-6_3
  • Bo Yang, Ronald Rousseau, Xue Wang, Shuiqing Huang (2018): How important is scientific software in bioinformatics research? A comparative study between international and Chinese research communities, In: Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 9(69), doi:10.1002/asi.24031
Please note: Providing information about citations is only possible thanks to to the open metadata APIs provided by crossref.org and opencitations.net. These lists may be incomplete due to unavailable citation data.source: opencitations.net, crossref.org