Social Networks in the Virtual Science Laboratory
Located at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the High Field Magnetic Resonance Facility (HFMRF) houses 11 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers. Additionally, the Virtual Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility (VNMRF) provides on-line Internet access to these HFMRF spectrometers. Through the VNMRF and its suite of computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) tools, researchers may collaboratively set the controls of an NMR spectrometer, execute an NMR experiment, acquire data, analyze results, and communicate with other researchers all from the comforts of their home institutions and their own offices. Virtual science laboratories like the VNMRF promote a compelling vision. Consistent with Wulf's notion of a "collaboratory," a virtual science laboratory is a "'center without walls', in which the nation's researchers can perform their research without regard to geographical location." Such a laboratory strives to provide an open research environment in which scientists from different disciplines may collaborate on advanced research using leading-edge instruments and tools, while reducing the physical, organizational, and political boundaries that confront researchers as they amass their collective skills, capabilities, and brainpower to solve the world's most challenging scientific problems. In this article, we describe the social networks that have emerged from the VNMRF and the impacts and influences that CSCW technologies have had upon those networks. The development of social networks depends on various factors including personal and professional objectives, work functions, organizational roles, and afforded collaborative capabilities. As such, our results serve as a useful point of comparison and contrast in the analysis of social networks and CSCW impacts that evolve from scientific contexts as well as from other collaborative settings such as in business and education.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 15001395
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-35242; KJ0102000; TRN: US200404%%104
- Journal Information:
- Communications of the ACM, 45(8):87-92, Vol. 45, Issue 8
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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