Virtual Collaboration

Virtual Collaboration Rebecca Frost Davis AMICAL Conference May 28, 2008 Agenda • Introductions (9:00) • Defining terms • Collaboration and Culture (10:15) – Social presence and survey tools • Project Management (13:00) – Collaborative Documents and Project Management tools • Technology (14:45) – Live communication tools • Conclusion Introductions • • • • • Name Institution Title / role Preferred mode of communication Interest and Experience in virtual collaboration Defining Terms • Virtual Collaboration – What does this term mean? – Give examples. Realms of Virtual Collaboration • Business – Distributed teams – Communities of practice – Organizational theory • Higher Education – – – – NSF Virtual Organizations; Cyberinfrastructure Consortia Research collaboration Grant collaboration • Online communities Characteristics of Virtual Collaboration • Sharing of something • Geographically dispersed • Cuts across existing boundaries of institutions, disciplines, departments, etc. • Technology-enhanced • Synchronous and asynchronous • Dynamic / emergent Illustrating Virtual Collaboration Planning 2008 AMICAL Conference What are the benefits? • Sunoikisis – Community – Pooling expertise – Improved academic offerings – Stimulus to change pedagogy – See Sunoikisis Evaluation report What are the benefits? • National Science Foundation – An Enabler of System-Level Science – Facilitator of Access – Enhancer of problem-solving processes – Key to Competitiveness What are the benefits? • NITLE – – – – – – – Advance liberal education Share resources and infrastructure Build community Share expertise Compete with larger institutions Improve opportunities for faculty and students Get grant money Why Virtual? • Distance • Costs – Time – Money – Carbon footprint • Culture Experience Virtual Collaboration An Exercise Challenges to Collaboration? • What are the challenges to virtual collaboration? • Three types – Cultural or Social – Project management – Technology Challenges: Cultural & Social • • • • Proving expertise to other collaborators Equal access Commitment to common goal Willingness to – Accept new technologies – Work Virtually – Work together • Language, terms, vocabulary • Priorities Motivation • Motivation – Rewards – Benefits – Fears http://www.despair.com Challenges: Project Management • • • • • • • • Being Productive Inefficiency—using time well Organization Clear goals Scheduling Resources Geographic and time differences Monitoring progress Challenges: Technology • • • • • • Technology discomfort Distraction by technology Technology barriers, e.g., low bandwidth Training users Availability, access and cost Time consuming Collaboration and Culture Social Science How Collaboration Happens • Social science approach – Emergent organizations – Trust: dynamic; affective vs. cognitive; role of cultural differences – Transactive Memory Systems: knowing who knows what and putting them in the right role – Legitimate peripheral participation Emergent organizations • Self-organizing, e.g., disaster response • Challenges – Interoperability – Reconciling different goals – Shifting composition • Privacy and security • Authority • Establishing trust How well does this model work? • Think about your virtual collaboration • Which of these issues are relevant for you? Building trust • Dynamic (proved in action) • Cognitive (based on knowledge and logic) • Affective (based on emotion and social relations) • Shared identity – May have conflicts with established organizational identity – Shared goals Working in Teams • Transactive Memory: knowing who knows what in a group – Leads to efficient action • How do you build transactive memory? – – – – Assumptions? Interactions Surveys Legitimate peripheral participation (lurking) Cultural Difference • Geert Hofstede™ Cultural Dimensions: http://www.geert-hofstede.com/ – – – – – Power Distance Index Individualism Masculinity Uncertainty Avoidance Index Long-Term Orientation Technology Tools Finding times and places for interaction Social Presence • Twitter: twitter.com – http://del.icio.us/rebeccadavis/twitter – Twitter in plain English – Twittervision • Facebook – social networking – www.facebook.com • Virtual Worlds Surveys, polls and schedules • • • • SurveyMonkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com Doodle: http://www.doodle.ch/main.html Dopplr: http://www.dopplr.com/ Google Calendar Asynchronous Communication • Email • Discussion boards / threaded discussion – http://moodle.nitle.org/course/view.php?id=122 • Blogs • Wikis • Snail Mail Allocating Space & Time • What work is best to do with my real-world immediate presence? • What work is best to do without my real-world immediate presence? • How can my students connect with this work when I'm not with them between classes so they can continue their projects? • How can this work then be connected back to the classroom process? – Trent Batson, "Paper-Based Materials Distorted Ways of Learning," Campus Technology, 5/21/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=62916 Meta-Collaborators • Someone who will keep the collaboration moving • Attention to social aspects • Project management • Who is that person for you? Project Management Organization Project Management Vocabulary • NITLE Research wiki on Project Management – Bryan Alexander, NITLE Director of Research • Project Manager • Project plan or project charter – ―A Real Charge for Faculty Service‖ • Responsibility Matrix • Project Context – Two Cultures: A Social History of the Distributed Library Initiative at MIT Project Management Software • What does a Project Manager look for in an application? • Support for – – – – documentation visualization communication collaboration PM Software Types • • • • • PMware Repurposed office productivity tools Blogs Wikis Multipurpose tools – Course Management Systems: Moodle – Google suite • Digital Repository: DSpace Practice • Use tool to produce responsibility matrix – http://www.quest-pipelines.com/newsletterv6/0105_E.htm Technology Tools and Practices Practical Collaboration Live communication • • • • Telephone Multipoint Interactive Videoconferencing (MIV) Skype IM / chat – Whiteboards Live Communication • MIV vs. Face to Face Some Tools to Help • Choosing Tools – – – – – – Goal/function of tool Ease of use Comfort-level of users Cost Sustainability Accessibility / availability Tools Matrix Practice • Choose your tools and explain why using MIV, Google Docs or Moodle • Make your project charter – the participants, background, institutional context, charge, scope statement, assumptions, constraints, deliverables, communication plan, budget, and timeline Best Practices • Thinking ahead – Common vocabulary – Cultural issues • • • • Project management rules Designing collaboration in from the beginning Collaboration champions Use face-to-face wisely