The CAMPWS Collaboratory: A Space for Research, Teaching, Learning, and Problem-Solving

Bertram C. BruceLibrary & Information Science

U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Roles for the CAMPWS collaboratory

• Develop tools to support individual research as well as collaborative research (III.2)

• Enhance opportunities for minorities and women in research and science learning (III.2.1)

• Support the education mission (III.2.2)• Provide a platform for knowledge transfer

(III.2.3)

Outline

1) Why collaboratories?a) What is a collaboratory?b) Human-computer interaction (a history)

2) Overview of plansa) CAMPWS collaboratoryb) Community inquiry labsc) Research on collaboratory use

3) Your questions and suggestions

1a) What is a collaboratory?

Today's challenges require • large, multidisciplinary teams• complex instrumentation• vast amounts of data from multiple sources in

multiple formatsaddressed by• new information & communication

technologies

A center without walls…

in which the nation's researchers can perform their research without regard to geographical location – interacting with colleagues, accessing instrumentation, sharing data and computational resources, and accessing information in digital libraries

–Kouzes, Myers, & Wulf (1996)

Examples

• Windows to the Universe – SPARC instruments, computer models, real-time data, and theories

• Collaborate! – alternative to the "adversarial academy"

• The Collaboratory Project – enables schools, museums, libraries and other cultural institutions to share information

• Inquiry Page – Inquiry Unit Generator, contacts with other teachers

• Urban Legends Reference Pages – track unlikely stories that appear in the media

Attributes of collaboratories

• Shared inquiry – common goals, problems, issues

• Intentionality – recognized as a joint venture • Active participation/contribution • Access to shared data, articles, and tools • Technologies – instruments; symbol systems• Boundary-crossings – bridge across geography,

time, institutions, disciplines – Lunsford & Bruce, "Collaboratories: Working

Together on the Web"

Questions about collaboratories

• How can new technologies reduce coordination costs and provide more effective ways to collaborate?

• How do new modes of collaboration support inquiry in diverse communities?

• How do knowledge, technology, and community co-evolve?

1b) Human-computer interaction(a history)

New digital tools

Computer-mediated work

Ubiquitous computing

Collaboratory model

2a) CAMPWS collaboratory

Access to…• tools (data aggregation & visualization,

remote instrumentation, …)• information (digital libraries, e-

publishing, curricula, databases, images, …)

• people (email, blogs, teleconferences, groupware, …)

Profiles (people, groups, projects, …)

Repository model

contribution via web form

URL of stored entry

database of entries

Stone soup (Robins, 1999)

Next steps: Collaboratory tools

• Lab notebook for water purification device• Water quality simulation tool• Digital library• Bibliography tool• Profile management; social agent system• Extended search: VisIT, VIBE, IKNOW• Web logs (blogs)• Distributed Inquiry Page

Collaboratory in context

• A cycle of asking, investigating, creating, discussing, and reflecting; each question leads to further questions

• Dialogue (two-way communication)• Connect to life• Active learning based on the learner's

purpose

2b) Community inquiry labs

• Resources for inquiry teaching & learning

• Support for communities

• Tools for everyday problem-solving (personal websites, to-do lists, events calendars, …)

A cycle: The Inquiry Page

Dialgue: Two-way communication

• Cholera kills tens of thousands of people/year

• Rita Colwell: copepods harbor the bacterium; 200-500x larger

• a folded sari cloth can remove the plankton

• 65 Bangladesh villages; cholera reduced by half

• effective as nylon filters• less diarrhea, cheap and

convenient, easily adopted

Connected to life

Active learning

Inquiry involves people as active learners. Students in inquiry classrooms may experience anything from running a business, to writing stories, to growing and hatching chickens.

Example partners

• Living on the Prairie • Paseo Boricua• Sisternet• Corrales, New Mexico• East St. Louis Action

Research Project• Urbana Middle School

• Marshall Islands• U Chicago Lab School• K-12 and college courses• National Science Digital

Library• Distributed Knowledge

Research Collaborative

Surface water quality unit

2c) Research & evaluation

Design through use or participatory inquiry aims to respond to human needs by democratic processes. Through creation of content, contributions to interactive elements, and incorporation into practice, users are not merely recipients of technology, but participate actively in its ongoing development.

User groups

researchersuniversity facultyuniversity studentsteachersK-12 studentsscience & nature centers

librarianscommunity members people in industry policy makers

Design through use techniques

• User interviews• Workshops• Inquiry group meetings• Retreats• Email/bboard discussion• Feedback forms

Evaluation methods

• Front-end evaluation (needs assessment)

• User and usability research• Participatory design• Situated evaluation• Online evaluation tools• Social network analysis• Summative evaluation

Co-evolution

Knowledge Technology

Community

3) Your questions and suggestions