78 Building Virtual Research Communities Using ...

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Building Virtual Research Communities Using Web Technology KRISHNA B. SINGH

ABSTRACT

also presented. Finally, how integrating information technology might harmonize biomedical education and research and its potential significance are discussed.

Exchanging information and building communication channels are critical ingredients of biomedical education and research. Collaboration tools can help researchers work in harmony and learn together at a distance. This category spans a wide variety of applications from simple text-based e-mail clients to complex online meeting tools. E-mail is the oldest, most widely used, and effective collaboration tool. Online discussions go by various formats and names such as discussion groups, bulletin boards, and discussion forums. The Internet and web technologies have the potential to increase the productivity of biomedical research. The Internet collaboratories can support expensive equipment to address complex problems, which can speed up discovery and innovation in research. Having the right tools and technology is a necessary foundation and building a community needs conscious effort among website designers, community promoters, and leaders. Integrating electronic collaborative tools into routine scientific practice can be successful but requires further research. Key Words: Internet, World Wide Web, Online education, Biomedical research, Groupware, Collaboratory.

TERMINOLOGY Many collaboration tools use the server–client architecture or its variants on a network of computers. In technical terms, a client is a computer system that accesses the service on another computer called a server using network connections. The client–server model is still used today on the Internet, where a user may connect to a service operating on a remote system through the Internet protocol suites. Web browsers are clients that connect to web servers and retrieve web pages for display. Most people use e-mail clients to retrieve their e-mail from their Internet service provider’s mail storage servers. E-mail list servers are a popular Internet tool for online discussions. Instant messaging consists of instant communications between two or more people on the Internet. Instant messaging requires the use of a client program that hooks up an instant messaging service. An instant message differs from e-mail in that conversations happen in real time. Popular instant messaging services include Microsoft’s MSN Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger, Google Talk, and iChat for Apple computers. An older and still popular online chat medium is known as Internet Relay Chat or IRC. Technically, instant messaging typically boosts communication and allows easy collaboration among participants. Online chat can refer to any kind of communication over the Internet, but generally refers to a direct one-on-one chat in chat rooms, or using tools such as instant messenger applications (visit http://en.wikipedia.org). Web-based virtual learning (also called electronic learning or e-Learning) can be defined broadly as any use of the Internet and web technologies to create teaching and learning experiences. Web-based training (WBT) is individualized or group tutoring or mentoring delivered over public or private computer networks and displayed by a web browser. WBT is an example of on-demand interactive online training stored in a server and accessed across a network of computers. WBT can be updated very rapidly, and the training provider administers access to the training. The phrase virtual community or online community is often hyped in different ways (visit http://en.wikipedia.org). The digital divide is a term that describes the differences between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not because of economic reasons, lack of computer competency or self-efficacy, or different knowledge management styles.

INTRODUCTION Advances in Internet and web technologies over the past decade have resulted in increased opportunities for consumers and the medical community to become more innovative in biomedical research. These innovations have allowed instantaneous access to medical information at the point of need. Web-based applications have unique attributes to provide new and updated teaching materials in an interactive format. By capitalizing on technologies such as laptop or notebook computers, personal digital assistants, and web-based applications people have portable and remote access to biomedical information almost instantaneously. In the literature, several types of virtual collaboration tools have been described.1–5 The use of electronic tools such as e-mail, bulletin boards, and web messaging for collaboration is also emerging in the medical practice and allied fields.6–9 This chapter explains the terminology and reviews potential uses of a wide range of Internet and web-based collaboration tools. Information on how some institutions have used the technology to develop large-scale collaborative research initiatives is From: Source Book of Models for Biomedical Research (P. M. Conn, ed.), © 2007 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ.

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Table 78–1 Synchronous collaboration tools for real-time virtual meetings Tool

What it does

Instant messaging/chat

Real-time one-to-one text messaging delivered over the Internet Internet relay chat Real-time many-to-many text messaging system delivered over the Internet Whiteboarding/annotating Real-time display screen that is shared and viewed by multiple users over the Internet and on which users can write or draw Application and Allows multiple users to view and share desktop sharing a computer desktop or application over the Internet Audio conferencing Allows multiple users to talk with each other in real time over the Internet Video conferencing/video Allows multiple users to see and hear chat each other in real time using streaming video and audio over the Internet Interactive web These tools combine many of the collaboration tools applications listed above and enable users to interact in a number of ways Source: Roberts S. Choosing tools for real-time virtual meetings. Available at http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/sitools/index.htm.

Communication technologies can be broken down into two basic categories: (1) those that allow asynchronous collaboration in which communication does not occur in real time, and (2) those that allow synchronous collaboration in which communication takes place over networks in real time. Examples of asynchronous technologies include traditional correspondence courses, e-mail, database, and message boards. There are advantages to asynchronous learning when using the web-based technologies because hypermedia and hyperlinks can provide large amounts of information in distant locations. Examples of synchronous technologies include instant messaging and chat applications, Internet relay chat, whiteboarding, application sharing, and audioconferencing and videoconferencing using the streaming technology (Table 78–1). These media are expensive to buy or build but permit more collaborative work, brainstorming, learning, or tutoring in real time, and may also be more productive than asynchronous communications.2–5 Exchanging information and building communication channels are critical ingredients of biomedical education and research. Biomedical researchers face hard constraints for managing the vast amount of information produced during research projects. Collaboration tools can help researchers work in harmony and learn together at a distance. Most researchers desirous of creating a virtual space to share common experiences with colleagues can use the tools described below.

COLLABORATION TOOLS

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This category spans a wide variety of applications from simple text-based e-mail clients to complex online meeting tools. The collaboration tools let participants share their ideas, and are essential for collaborative online learning and knowledge management

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initiatives. Providing a collaborative environment may require several separate tools using the Internet and web technologies. E-mail is the oldest, most widely used, and effective collaborative tool preferred by patients and doctors alike.6,7 The literature contains several articles in which the uses of bulletin boards and instant messaging have been described.8,9 Online discussions go by various formats and names such as discussion groups, bulletin boards, and discussion forums. These applications are provided in a general-purpose server such as Microsoft Exchange Server. Alternatively, they can be part of an institution-wide virtual learning system such as Blackboard (blackboard.com). Simple bulletin boards and forums can also be integrated at websites using site development tools such as NetObjects Fusion (see Chapter 77, this volume). With tools known as groupware, researchers can communicate easily with one another to perform difficult tasks even though they are remotely located or rarely overlap in time. There are several groupware applications such as Lotus Notes (IBM, Armonk, NY), eRoom (EMC Corporation, Pleasanton, CA), and Groove (Microsoft, Inc., Redmond, WA). Groove is a secure, peer-to-peer collaborative tool that integrates with a wide variety of applications such as file sharing, threaded discussions, web links, document review, and calendar into a single workspace. The product also integrates well with Microsoft Office suite. Because of its peerto-peer architecture, the administrative overhead is much lower than that of some server-based applications such as Lotus Notes. For a list of groupware tools, visit http://www.grantbow.com/ groupware.html. With modern technology, research collaborations have advanced beyond simply providing shared access to documents on the Internet. Researchers engaged in complex initiatives have realized that running collaborative projects with great efficiency needs far more structure and organization than a basic shared network can manage. This problem is further compounded because research projects often span departments, divisions, and institutional boundaries on a global scale. Examples of newer and promising collaboration tools used in the medical and allied field include wikipedia, blogs, syndicated media, podcasting, and webcasting using streaming technologies.10–15 Interactive tutorials on several tools and technologies for building virtual communities are available at http://www.imarkgroup.org/moduledescrC_en. asp. The next section describes custom-built collaborating systems, called collaboratories, and discusses what they are and what research domains they serve.

COLLABORATORY COMMUNITIES The term collaboratory was first coined in the late 1980s to describe large-scale collaborations among researchers using the Internet infrastructure and tools. A collaboratory can be defined as an information technology large-scale infrastructure that supports cooperation among individuals, groups, or organizations in pursuit of a shared goal by simplifying communication and knowledge sharing.16–18 Recently several collaboratories have been developed for online education and biomedical research. Using collaboratories, researchers can share access to large datasets and shared environments, support expensive equipment to address complex problems, and speed up discovery and innovation. They can also use an emerging class of advanced networkbased applications referred to as “grid” computing. This approach

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Table 78–2 Collaboratories in the United States and their domains of expertise Name

Purpose

Web reference

Biomedical Informatics Research Network Biological Collaborative Environment Molecular Modeling Collaboratory National Laboratory for the Study of Rural Telemedicine Visible Human Project Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Data sharing across neuroimaging databases in the United States

http://www.nbirn.net

Molecular modeling and simulation

http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/research/biocore

Extensible, interactive molecular modeling software

http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/research/collaboratory

Established the first virtual hospital

http://www.vh.org

Three-dimensional representations of the normal male and female bodies New communications technologies

http://vhp.med.umich.edu

is flexible, secure, and provides coordinated resource sharing among many individuals and resources. The Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) is a new national user facility housing various expensive scientific instruments. Development of the EMSL collaboratory is a symmetric collaboration between computer scientists, domain scientists (physical and biological sciences), and sociologists. The collaboratory relies on developing new communications technologies—shared computer displays, electronic notebooks, and virtual reality collaboration spaces with an integration of these technologies with videoconferencing and e-mail abilities. Table 78–2 provides a list of unique research projects incorporating collaboratory technologies in the United States.

DISCUSSION The number of virtual communities that focus on healthcare topics has recently exploded. For example, Yahoo Groups (http:// groups.yahoo.com) shows thousands of virtual communities related to healthcare and alternative medicine. Explosive growth of the Internet and web technologies at affordable costs plus consumer satisfaction with communities partly explain this phenomenon. The implications of rapidly growing health-related virtual communities need further research.19–21 Conducting online Internet-based research raises several ethical questions, especially about privacy and informed consent.22–24 Researchers and peers from institutional review boards primarily decide whether research is intrusive and has the potential for harm, how confidentiality can be protected, and whether and how informed consent should be obtained.21 Developing private intranet communities and websites internally provides administrative control and choices for leasing or buying hardware and software. However, it may be more proper to use the services of a community aggregator or application service provider depending on the aims of the project and available finances. Application service providers can offer a rich collection of templates and tools to those who want to run their own online community. Internet service providers and major search engines

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http://collaboratory.emsl.pnl.gov

also offer a wide range of collaborative tools at no extra cost to end users. For example, MSN provides different types of webbased e-mail servers, MSN messenger, chat rooms, and an application called spaces for creating weblogs or blogs. The benefits of having an online community are real, but building a virtual community is not always straightforward. Having the right tools and technology is a necessary foundation, but does not guarantee that a community will work as expected. Building a community needs conscious effort among website designers, community promoters, and leaders. The builder of a virtual education and research community needs to determine what will hold it together as it expands with partnerships in the future. Interactive websites for patient communication called patient portals may improve communication between patients and their clinics and physicians. In a randomized controlled trial, portal group patients demonstrated increased satisfaction with communication and overall care. Patients in the portal group particularly valued the portal’s convenience, reduced communication barriers, and direct physician responses. More online messages from patients contained informational and psychosocial content compared to telephone calls, which may enhance the patient–physician relationship.25 Institutions and organizations must promote cost-effective methods for researchers to communicate and collaborate efficiently with peers. The major barriers to virtual networking include lack of time and motivation and negative attitudes to information technology among participants. Other factors for implementing virtual networks are related to technical and logistic issues. Integrating electronic collaborative tools into routine scientific practice can be successful, but requires further research on the technical, social, and behavioral factors influencing the adoption and use of collaboration tools.18 Personal digital assistants, mobile telephones, fast services by direct mail, fax machines, and audioconferencing and videoconferencing are common tools for modern communication. For more demanding needs, researchers now have many choices for combining interactive tools with the traditional systems.

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CONCLUSION Web-based applications have unique attributes that provide new and updated teaching materials in an interactive format. Today many off-the-shelf communication tools for information gathering and biomedical research can be integrated at websites or used as stand-alone applications. With rapidly advancing information technology, the biomedical research community continues to harness trends in an emerging cyberspace infrastructure. These trends include collaborative scientific experiments and integration of resources from diversified fields. Developing a collaboratory empowers teamwork and collaborative approaches that support large-scale and information-rich biomedical investigations. Scientific research at regional and national collaboratories provides new insight into the biology of health as well as the prevention and cure of diseases.

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